EAORA and the RORC North Sea Race

EAORA and the RORC North Sea Race

by Paul Wood 23 May 12:37 PDT

Any passionate Offshore sailor based on the East Coast of England, knows the 180 mile RORC North Sea race is not one to miss. When we plan the season, we always try to arrange two shakedown races, Pattinson Cup & Ralph Herring a couple of weeks before, to make sure that all the boats are functioning correctly and nothing has been forgotten during the winter refit.

This year we had nine of our regulars’ boats competing and it was great to have Richard Matthews on Oystercatcher XXXV racing his twenty fifth North Sea Race. An amazing second overall with an elapsed time of 18 hours, 41 Minutes and 40 seconds, line honours and a class win. Richard wins the Charlie Mills memorial trophy as the top scoring EAORA boat.

Titian the Elan 40 owned by the Galloway family was second overall on the EAORA scoreboard with Paul Scott’s Spirit getting a third from Haven Ports Yacht Club.

Magic Moments the Sigma 33 owned by Andy & Pelham Etherington raced two-handed and came 10th in the two-handed class and 4th in EAORA.

We also had Simon Ruffles racing with his J120 Jameerah, with his daughter Josie aged 20 who celebrates 10 North Sea crossings. Josie raced in the Fastnet in 2019 and that year she won EAORA’s Young Sailor of the year. Jameerah was fifth overall.

The second Sigma 33 Woozle Hunter, a regular of the North Sea race scored sixth in EAORA, Woozle Hunter won the North Sea race overall in 2016 under a different owner. It’s not unusual to see the Woozles on the podium racing for Pin mill Sailing Club

From the Medway Yacht club we had two boats, Ross Eldred with Mercury a Clubswan 42 getting a seventh. Eighth position went to Christian Buehrlen & Stephen Hendry with their Beneteau 40.7 Flying Fish of Cowes.

Arcadia of Harwich owned by Mark & Penelope Gillett from the Royal Harwich Yacht Club came ninth on the EAORA leaderboard.

Well done to everyone who raced in this year’s North Sea Race.

On the 15th June is our Offshore Regatta starting with the RORC’s East Coast starting from Harwich to Ostend, this leads onto a Race to Ramsgate on Saturday 17th and then back up to Harwich on Sunday. Again, for those yachts racing the Fastnet it’s a chance to qualify for those offshore miles.

Anybody who hasn’t participated in the Offshore Regatta before, please refer to our website www.eaora.org.uk

The fees include the berthing, EAORA Flag and complimentary drinks on Friday whilst we enjoy the traditional Pontoon party.