Competition will be at its highest level ever in the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Rolex Commodores’ Cup when racing gets underway next Monday with the first two inshore races. The principal reason for this, many believe, is due to a strong assault from the Irish.

Last time this biennial team event was held, Ireland led up until the final offshore race. Over the course of this double points scoring race, the Irish saw victory slip through their fingers again, the regatta eventually being won by the GBR Red Team. This time the Irish have returned with three teams, half of the boats they have entered are brand new and are crewed by talented personnel such as Britain’s Rob Greenhalgh. Freshly returned from winning the Volvo Ocean Race aboard ABN AMRO One, the former International 14 and 18ft skiff world champion is sailing on Colm Barrington’s brand new 50-footer Flying Glove.

The Irish onslaught has affected the campaigns from other nations, most noticeably France and Great Britain, both also fielding multiple triple boat teams.

“With the work the Irish have been doing, everyone has had to raise their game” believes the RYA’s Dave Atkinson, who was part of the panel selecting the British teams. “They probably started directly after the last event to plan what they were going to do, which has forced everyone to go down the same line.”

Unlike the Irish boats, where owners were allowed to set up their own teams, the RYA’s selection panel led by Olympic medallist Iain MacDonald-Smith chose the GBR squad. Once the three big, medium and small boats were chosen, the selection panel then grouped them together into teams. Like the Irish teams, the British ones are not divided according strictly to merit, but are all equally strong reckons Atkinson.

Alongside the two Farr 52s Bear of Britain and Chernikeef 2, the third British big boat competing is the brand new Ker 46 of John Shepherd. This will be Shepherd’s fourth Rolex Commodores’ Cup since he first raced his Mumm 36 in 2000. As with the Irish big boat Colm Barrington’s Ker 50 Flying Glove, so Shepherd’s new Fair Do’s VII was built for inshore and offshore racing in the UK, but primarily with competing in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup in mind.

“The Irish have gone about it in a very professional way,” says Shepherd agreeing that the Irish have raised the game. “They were miffed they didn’t win it last time. They want to win it, but we are happy to take them on. It is all good for competition.”

While Fair Do’s VII is a new boat and so potentially faster than her competition Shepherd says they are still attempting to iron out some small teething problems, something not the case with their Irish opposition. “We had a good run at the IRC Nationals, although we were second and consistently beaten by Tiamat,” he says of the Irish competition. “They are a year ahead of us but we are hoping we have worked out a few of the glitches and can take them on.”

Shepherd’s crew on Fair Do’s VII includes RYA Olympic Sailing Manager Stephen Park and Olympic coaching legend David Howlett. “We are sailing with the same Corinthian spirit we have always done and I hope we will be able to compete in a professional way but as amateurs.” Racing alongside Fair Dos VII in the GBR White team will be IMX 40 Maverick of Dominic Chappell and Quokka, the Elan 37 cruiser/racer of former RORC Commodore Peter Rutter.

In GBR Black is Peter Harrison’s Chernikeef 2, crewed by a mixture of young talent including two-time youth match racing national champion Nick Cherry. They are joined by Jack Pringle’s IMX 40 Mankie and Jim MacGregor’s Elan 40 Civils Building with Flair, both two solid campaigners on the UK circuit. Meanwhile Bear of Britain will be in the same GBR Red team as Ian Maclean’s brand new Ker 36 Software Mistress on which top world ranked British match racer Ian Williams is sailing, and No Doubt, one of the first examples of Beneteau’s brand new 34.7 cruiser/racer.

The British Rolex Commodores’ Cup team suffered some tragic news when earlier this week offshore yachtsman and Bear of Britain co-owner Kit Hobday died after a long battle against cancer. Hobday captained the winning GBR Red team to victory in the Rolex Commodores’ Cup two years ago.

“He was a staunch supporter of offshore sailing both in the Admiral’s Cup and Rolex Commodores’ Cup and his encouragement of youth sailing has brought forward a new generation of offshore sailors,” said RORC General Manager Peter Wykeham-Martin in tribute to Hobday.

The Rolex Commodores’ Cup will be held off Cowes, Isle of Wight, from 25th June to 2nd July 2006. Thirteen teams representing France, Ireland, Great Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium and Russia will participate.

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