Video highlights from the 2022 race, including footage from some of the teams taking part.
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club every four years, the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race is one of the most challenging offshore races in the world. The 1,805-mile course includes some of the most notorious waters, including: the Celtic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The 2022 edition was unusual in that high pressure dominated the weather for the race. This produced a highly changeable and complex weather scenario testing the 30 teams.
Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club every four years, the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race is one of the most challenging offshore races in the world. The 1,805-mile course includes some of the most notorious waters, including: the Celtic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. The 2022 edition was unusual in that high pressure dominated the weather for the race. This produced a highly changeable and complex weather scenario testing the 30 teams.
Kuba Szymanski’s First 40.7 Polished Manx II racing in IRC Two-Handed with Adrian Kucmin finished the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race on Thursday 25th August at 14:00:54 in an elapsed time of 18 days 01 hrs 50 mins 54 secs.
Polished Manx II was the 20th and final boat to succeed in completing the 1,805 mile race. Kuba Szymanski has raced his boat for over 100,000 miles but this was his first Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race. Adrian Kucmin has sailed with Kuba for two years but has never raced such a long distance. The team were met on the dock by the RORC Race Team with cold beers and also crew from Jangada, Snifix Dry and AJ Wanderlust welcomed the two Polish sailors back to dry land.
“I was intending to do this race in 2018 but sadly my father had a stroke so I had to pull out at the last minute,” commented Kuba. “Adrian (Kucmin) has picked up a lot of experience in this race. We thoroughly enjoyed the race; working together for three weeks you really need to like each other and we are still friends! Sailing is very popular in Poland; we have had teams in the OSTAR and TWOSTAR since 1974 and there were three Polish teams in the 1979 Fastnet. Polish sailors love offshore racing and I am sure there will be a number of Polish boats in next year’s Rolex Fastnet Race. Next for Polished Manx II will be the RORC’s Cherbourg Race on the 3rd of September.”
Peterson 43 Snifix Dry raced Two-Handed by Dirk Lahmann & Wilhelm Demel finished the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race on the 24th of August at 12:12:02 in an elapsed time of 17 days 0 hrs 2 mins 9 secs. Snifix Dry is the eleventh team competing in IRC Two-Handed to complete the race and the first German team for the 2022 edition. Built in 1978, the only real modification is an auto-tack system for the foresail. Snifix Dry is not set up for double-handed racing. While the mainsail is roller-furling, the headsail is fixed via a Tuff Luff, making sail changes hard work for a double-handed team.
Snifix Dry had S&S 34 Morning After as close opposition for much of the race. Two of the Morning After crew; RORC Admiral Mike Greville and Louise Clayton, as well as Jangada’s Richard Palmer, and Rupert Holmes were among family and friends greeting the Snifix Dry team at Trinity Landing. Snifix Dry skipper Dirk Lahmann became a RORC member after finishing the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race and intends to take part in many more RORC races.
“We had a wonderful battle with Morning After, AJ Wanderlust and Polished Manx II, but we did not have any autopilot for the last five days, which is hard on a boat like Snifix Dry as she is not designed for double-handed racing. The Irish Coast was great and we also made a stop in Fair Isle in the Shetlands to repair our foresail and halyard. The island is wonderful but I think the locals thought we were a bit crazy, sailing up and down the harbour! It took us two hours to fix the sail and Morning After over-took us again. We didn’t catch up until North Foreland, Kent.
“We are delighted to have finished the race with no medical issues and no major technical problems or damage. The race was much longer than we thought, but on the whole this race has been great. I remember asking Willie (Lahmann), what shall we say to people when they ask why we have done this race? We both agree that the answer is – because it is there! Like every good idea; it is a simple concept.”
Sun Odyssey 45 AJ Wanderlust (USA), raced in IRC Two-Handed by Charlene Howard and Bob Drummond finished the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race on the 24th August at 11:54:02 in an elapsed time of 17 days 0 hrs 44 mins and 10 secs. Charlene Howard raced AJ Wanderlust in the 2018 edition (also Two-Handed) and despite the calm weather, this year AJ Wanderlust was over two hours quicker. Charlene and Bob have sailed the boat twice across the Atlantic and this is the second time this year that they have raced around Great Britain and Ireland!
AJ Wanderlust – “Let’s go for Lap Two!”
“As we were finishing, I wanted to send a message to the race WhatsApp group; let’s go for lap two!” joked Charlene. “It was great, we had a bit of competition this time; Morning After and Snifix Dry were with us and Polished Manx until they pulled in for a while due to the weather, but this year we just stayed with it. AJ Wanderlust doesn’t come to races to start, we come to finish, but if we won occasionally that would be great as well! My thought is that longest on the water wins! It does get a wee-bit frustrating when you don’t have wind, but I think there are worse places to be than sailing slowly around this course. It is a great place to be and Bob (Drummond) is good humoured, especially when I thought Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower was Snifix’s kite! Pitting yourself against nature is a challenge and something you cannot always control.”
Stuart Greenfield’s S&S 34 Morning After finished the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race on the 24th August at 06:56:51 in an elapsed time of 16 days 18 hrs 46 mins and 51 secs.
As dawn broke on the 18th day of the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland, Morning After crossed the finish line at the Royal Yacht Squadron. Launched in 1968, Morning After is the oldest boat in the race and is runner up in IRC 3. Morning After came third in the Sydney Hobart in 1968 and she has done at least four Fastnets and 50 RORC races. None of the team had done the race before, but RORC Admiral Mike Greville was planning to do the race 40 years ago before it was cancelled.
“The goal was to get to the start line and finish the race. We knew it was going to be tough, but in a way this race was a gift that kept giving to Morning After,” commented Stuart Greenfield. “We wanted 10-15 knots on the nose and we got that for the first week and we were winning the race (on IRC corrected time). The reason we didn’t do better was that at Muckle Flugga we were stopped dead for five hours. The top boats went round the mark and reached off. When we got going it was a southerly headwind and the other boats got away. Coming second in class is not bad though.”
“The boat performed brilliantly upwind; an Olin Stephens design you just can’t beat it. The crew were amazing and that is what made us go. We never gave up and there was no shouting. Each one of them could helm at top speed the whole time and they understood exactly what needed to be done. We were pushing it; we never stopped racing.
“I brought the boat back from the dead two years ago; rebuilt her completely with a new rig. Once again Morning After has proven that her hull shape is one of the most ultimate upwind performers, even to this day. One of great things about IRC racing is its creativity with different ideas in design and you race different boats. This adds a little bit of flavour and I have added a bit of that to Morning Glory,” concluded Greenfield.
In the 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race the battle to be the first Two-Handed team to finish was extraordinary, with two teams in sight of each other for 15 days of match racing.
Rob Craigie & Deb Fish racing Sun Fast 3600 Bellino was the first double-handed team to cross the line. After 1,805 miles of racing, JPK 1080 Mzungu! raced by Sam White & Sam North was just 10 minutes behind.
The two teams have huge respect for each other and shared a beer or two, as well as their thoughts in the RORC Clubhouse in Cowes.
The Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race came to a thrilling climax on the 16th day of the 1,805 nautical mile race. In a 14-hour flurry, 10 boats finished the race and a passionate dock party on Trinity Landing was followed by a hearty meal at the RORC Clubhouse in Cowes. Five boats are still racing but none of them can realistically better the IRC corrected time scored by JPK 1010 Jangada. The Royal Ocean Racing Club has declared Richard Palmer’s JPK 1010 Jangada, racing Two-Handed with Rupert Holmes, as the overall winner of the 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race.
The Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race came to a thrilling climax on the 16th day of the 1,805 nautical mile race. In a 14-hour flurry, 10 boats finished the race and a passionate dock party on Trinity Landing was followed by a hearty meal at the RORC Clubhouse in Cowes. Five boats are still racing but none of them can realistically better the IRC corrected time scored by JPK 1010 Jangada. The Royal Ocean Racing Club has declared Richard Palmer’s JPK 1010 Jangada, racing Two-Handed with Rupert Holmes, as the overall winner of the 2022 Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race.
James McHugh’s Tquila is the first Class40 to complete the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. Finishing on Saturday 20 August at 14:06:47 BST in an elapsed time of 13 days 2 hrs six mins and 47 secs. Tquila Crew: James McHugh, Brian Thompson, Alister Richardson.
The team received a warm welcome and cold beer at Trinity Landing in Cowes before walking up to the RORC Cowes Clubhouse for the first solid meal in nearly two weeks. The team spoke dockside about the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race.
“It was a fantastic race but very long,” commented James McHugh. “As we were passing Galway where my parents are from, a few boats had retired and the thought did cross my mind, but we carried on! It was a real change to see the scow bow boats pull out as it was interesting to match up against them to see how we would go against them. This is only my third Class40 race and it is a very different discipline to my Etchells sailing. Brian and Richard have been putting me through my paces to get up-to-speed. They are great sailors, really intuitive. It has been wonderful to do this race with them and work as a team. For me going around the Shetlands was something special; it is an incredible landscape.”
Multihull specialist Alister Richardson is fairly new to Class40 racing although he did finish the 2021 Transat Jacques Vabre in 11th place with Brian Thompson in Tquila: “I love the short-handed format and there is extremely good competition. It is a great boat to sail and it’s not too expensive. It is different to the very high performance boats I sail, but this is good fun racing. Even in the really light weather it requires a lot of concentration because every little bit of breeze is just a gain, so you concentrate, day in day out and it is nearly more tiring than when it’s windy as it wears you out mentally.”
The last time Brian Thompson did the race was setting the 60ft and under record on IMOCA 60 Artemis which completed the course in under six days.
“This time we were only up to the West Coast of Ireland after five days,” commented Brian. “It was a very tactical race and we made a big gain after Muckle Flugga which was unexpected as we had blown up our fractional halyard and had to do the leg with a jib in a lot of wind, but we ended up in a better position and good through a high pressure ridge. I have never seen so little wind on this course, but it did keep the whole fleet really close. It was fantastic to see the Two-Handed teams in such a tight race. If I had a hat I would take it off to them, battling it out like a Figaro race. It is so impressive to see the talent in that fleet and the high level of racing.”
IMOCA Medallia, skippered by Pip Hare, took Line Honours in the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race in an elapsed time of 10 days 13 hours 23 minutes and 22 seconds. High pressure had dominated the early part of the race causing the Medallia team to take over seven days to get to Muckle Flugga. The second half of the course was much quicker with Medallia taking just over three days to finish the race in the early hours of Thursday 18 August. As Medallia crossed the finish line at the southern extremity of the course, the tenacious teams at the back of the fleet were rounding Muckle Flugga to the very north with near gale conditions. James McHugh’s Tquila is leading the Class40s, but fickle breeze, 350 miles from the finish line is making for tense decisions in the North Sea.
IMOCA - Line Honours
“It is not often I go into a race wanting to take line honours, but that really was a goal, so we are very happy,” commented Pip Hare. “We were gutted that Ollie Heer’s IMOCA had to pull out as it would have been a great competition. Medallia is a newer generation boat, but Ollie’s is more suited to light airs. We concentrated on trying to extend from the other boats in the race and get around the course as quickly as possible. I am really stoked to get line honours in a race around Britain and Ireland."
"In the Vendée Globe it is a big deal to race around Cape Horn, but the Shetland Islands is way further north than Cape Horn is south. I'm very, very proud to have my name against line honours in this edition of the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. I have full admiration for everyone out there; this is a tough race for all of us, but the first cold beer when you cross the line makes it all worthwhile!” said a jubilant Pip.
Team Medallia: Pip Hare, Paul Larsen, Nick Bubb, Kevin George, Ben Schwartz.
Pip Hare's IMOCA Medallia takes line honours in the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race - All Photos: Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com
IRC Class Update For the overall win under IRC, the competition is getting even more intense with less than four hours separating the top three after time correction. Eight of the top 10 ranked teams are all racing in IRC Two-Handed. Rob Craigie & Deb Fish on Sun Fast 3600 Bellino is still in pole position. Sam White & Sam North on JPK 1080 Mzungu! is second and Richard Palmer and Rupert Holmes on JPK 1010 Jangada is third. The most miles raced in the last 24 hours by a Two-Handed team is Gavin Howe and Maggie Adamson’s Sun Fast 3600 Tigris. One of the top performers of the fully crewed boats is the Army Sailing Association’s Sun Fast 3600 Fujitsu British Soldier, which is now ranked fourth overall.
By 0400 on Day 12 of the Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race all of the boats racing had rounded Muckle Flugga, with First 40.7 Polished Manx II raced by Kuba Szymanski & Adrian Kucmin, the 20th to feel the joy of making the top of the course. “Polished Manx is making sure that there is no one left behind, I can safely report,” commented Kuba as Polished Manx headed south.
The Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race Live! Blog reveals reports of up to 30 knots gusting from the north. The blog details the real ordeals of beating to Muckle Flugga and the tense moments as spinnakers are hoisted to send it south: https://roundbritainandireland.rorc.org/live
Nick Martin racing Sun Fast 3600 Diablo with Cal Finlayson: “Pleased to have rounded Muckle Flugga last night. A big spinnaker wrap at night cost us two hours; frustrating. All well on board.”
Deb Fish racing with Rob Craigie on Sun Fast 3600 Bellino: “A wild night last night. We rounded Muckle Flugga in a 25 knot northerly with overfalls from the tide. The most difficult helming I’ve ever done with a kite up and just trying to keep the boat under the rig in the big waves. Good progress until we wrapped and blew the kite which took a long time to fix. We waited for dawn to hoist our S3 and had yet more dramas. We started to round up and heeled rapidly, we eased the sheet and nothing happened - it was still in the jammer on the leeward side. Rob tried to free it but slipped into the guard rails. I grabbed him and helped him back; he freed the sheet and we were sorted. Rob is a tough cookie. We have now both got some sleep and are fine.”
Louise Clayton on board Stuart Greenfield’s S&S 34 Morning After: “Muckle Flugga let us through eventually! Amazing to be at the top of Great Britain! Not had signal or really seen any other boats for about four days. This must be the longest upwind leg I have ever done. We at least had some respite to dry everything out this afternoon, although this comfort meant the fleet running away from our lead that we have held for so long (Morning After was top of IRC for several days). All about to change around the corner though, so just keeping focused on keeping our boat as optimised as possible and the next block in front, not the destination. All well on board and fresh food is still going, but it won’t be long until the dry food comes out though.”
At 1000 BST on Day 11, sixteen teams have rounded Muckle Flugga and turned their bows south into the North Sea. Finally the majority of the fleet are enjoying fast downwind conditions. Four teams are still to round the lighthouse on the rocky outcrop on the 61st Parallel. Rob Craigie & Deb Fish racing Sun Fast 3600 Bellino are the latest team in pole position for the best corrected time under IRC. At least seven teams in IRC Two-Handed are still very much in contention for overall glory. Three Class40s are having an intense and tactical battle in the North Sea and Pip Hare’s IMOCA Medallia is 140 miles from the finish and expected to take Line Honours tonight (Wednesday 17th August).
Epic Duel in IRC Two-Handed
Rob Craigie racing Sun Fast 3600 Bellino with Deb Fish is ranked first in IRC Overall and in IRC Two-Handed. Second in the ranking is Richard Palmer’s Jangada racing with Rupert Holmes. Nick Martin’s Sun Fast 3600 Diablo is third. However, the battle in the double-handed warriors is not just among the top three; the class win and potentially overall victory is still wide open.
Sam White & Sam North racing JPK 1080 Mzungu! was the first Two-Handed team to round Muckle Flugga and was second after time correction. However, Mzungu! hit a wind hole just as the pair were readying for the downwind sleigh ride. The close nature of the race was exemplified by the fact that by just hitting one wind hole, it sent the team from second to fourth in a matter of a few hours. Mzungu! is the highest rated boat of the leading pack and has especially been battling through thick and thin for 11 days with Bellino. As Mzungu! wallowed in the wind hole, Bellino escaped to lead Mzungu! on the water by 11 miles.
“We are busy in the chase with Mzungu!,” commented Deb Fish from on board Bellino. “We are having such an incredibly close race, it's unbelievable. It's been like match racing and that has really kept us motivated, but everything is hard at 30 degrees of heel; getting your boots on, your jumper on and even going to the heads is a nightmare.”
“It's been such an epic race so far. We've seen Bellino other than when it was foggy since the start of the race,” said Sam White from on board Mzungu! “What a marathon battle, we've literally been cat and mouse, covering each other, working the boat up to its maximum.”
Video: Note satellite phone calls were made before the 1000 BST ranking.
After rounding Muckle Flugga, leading Class40 James McHugh’s Tquila gybed onto port and headed south east into the North Sea. Greg Leonard’s Kite followed for about 80 miles and then split onto starboard gybe heading south west. Tquila maintained their course for about three hours before gybing when the two converged. Kite looked to have gained about eight miles. Tquila still holds the lead by nine miles. James Stableford’s Mussulo 40 headed south east after rounding Muckle Flugga and has stayed on port gybe for 190 miles.
While the gradient wind is currently from the north, it is decreasing in speed and the split gybes are probably a result of searching for the best wind lines. By tomorrow the wind is forecast to go south and increase to over 20 knots. However, the centre of this high pressure system is directly on the rhumb line. Mussulo 40 will have sailed many more miles but may get fast downwind conditions around the high. Positioning for this major change is going to be a crucial strategy for the Class40s.
Danish Elliott 35 Palby Marine, skippered by Michael Møllmann sailed within 50 miles of the Norwegian coast before gybing south west. Palby Marine is the leading IRC rated boat on the water. Marie Tabarly’s 73ft ketch Pen Duick VI rounded Muckle Flugga just after midnight and is finally enjoying downwind conditions. At the 1000 BST sched. Pen Duick VI is 635 miles from the finish and leading IRC One.
Four boats still racing have yet to round Muckle Flugga. Dirk Lahmann & Wilhelm Demel are racing German Peterson 43 Snifix Dry is 20 miles from the landmark. Stuart Greenfield’s S&S 34 Morning After is 40 miles from Muckle Flugga and called in by satellite phone: “The boat is like a sponge, everything is soaked through,” commented Stuart. “It’s been hard going and we are running low on supplies but we should be fine. I was amazed to hear that two days ago we were leading overall. We didn’t have a clue as we have not seen or heard from anyone for four days. It looks like the Sun Fast boats have pulled the trigger downwind, so our lead is over for now, but the wind is due to go on the nose again tomorrow. Morning After is a great boat upwind so we still have high hopes.”
Charlene Howard’s Sun Odyssey 45 AJ Wanderlust is 60 miles from Muckle Flugga and you would be hard pushed to find anyone with a better positive mental attitude than the American skipper: “This has been a slow race so far but it is not mentally tough if you flip your thought progress,” commented Charlene. “AJ Wanderlust and her crew (Robert Drummond) love sailing, so longest on the water wins, right? We just try to enjoy all the magic of nature in its various moods. AJ Wanderlust does not come to start races, she comes to finish them!”
The final boat on the course still racing is Kuba Szymanski & Adrian Kucmin on the First 40.7 Polished Manx II. The Polish team have 100 miles to go to round Muckle Flugga.
