Midnight Blues Wins Cherbourg Thriller
Nautical Cloud Cherbourg Race (with JOG)
RORC Cherbourg Race 2026
Start: Friday 4 September 2026 Course: Cowes – Cherbourg, approximately 75 nautical miles Organised by: the Royal Ocean Racing Club and JOG, in association with the Yacht Club de Cherbourg and the Royal Yacht Squadron
Jean-Eudes Renier’s French Pogo RC Midnight Blues, racing double handed with Joe Lacey, produced the outstanding result of the Nautical Cloud Cherbourg Race, winning IRC Overall as well as taking Monohull Line Honours. Winning the Trophée de Manche, RORC Trophy and the Cherbourg Trophy for IRC Overall.
Pogo RC Midnight Blues © Paul Wyeth/RORC
The overall contest was exceptionally close. Gery Trentesaux’s Pogo RC Courrier Pogo finished just one minute seven seconds behind Midnight Blues on the water and took second overall by only two minutes three seconds after IRC correction. Simon Bamford’s Sun Fast 3300 Kestrel, competing with Ben Ibbotson, completed the overall podium, 21 minutes 20 seconds behind the winner on corrected time.
Pogo RC Courrier Pogo © Paul Wyeth/RORC
The depth of competition on the race to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin was remarkable, with the top 15 boats separated by barely more than an hour on corrected time. The victory gave Midnight Blues an impressive treble of IRC Overall, IRC Two and Monohull Line Honours.
“We knew the conditions suited Midnight Blues,” commented Jean-Eudes Renier. “The boat was conceived as a kind of mini Class40 and, in tight reaching conditions, she is very quick. But lining up against the great Gery Trentesaux and his excellent crew on Courrier Pogo, you know you are going to have a battle. We had the Code Zero and they had an A5, so at different stages each boat had an advantage. We were also trying to stay slightly west to use the stronger current approaching Cherbourg. At one point we were about two and a half miles apart, but Gery came back very strongly and at the finish they were only about 500 metres behind us. That made it really special. Gery and his crew are fantastic sailors and racing against them forces us to raise our level.
“I’m from Normandy and not too far from Cherbourg, and I’ve raced this race many times. I’ve won my class here before with different boats, but I had never won overall. So to finally do that, and after such a close battle with Gery, means a lot to me.”
IRC Two-Handed National Championship 2026 Decided
The 2026 IRC Two-Handed National Championship was decided over the Cowes – Dinard – St Malo Race and the Nautical Cloud Cherbourg Race, with 30 individual boats entered across the two races. The championship attracted an impressively varied fleet, including Sun Fast 3200s, 3300s and 3600s, JPK 1010s and 1030s, Pogo RCs, Figaro IIs, A40s, Sigma 38s, Swan 44s, a Nicholson 55 and a Contessa 32.
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Deb Fish and Rob Craigie © Paul Wyeth/RORC
Rob Craigie’s Sun Fast 3600 Bellino, racing with RORC Commodore Deb Fish, is the provisional 2026 IRC Two-Handed National Champion after combining victory in the Cowes – Dinard – St Malo Race with sixth place in Cherbourg. Jean-Eudes Renier’s Pogo RC Midnight Blues mounted a strong comeback in the deciding race, winning in Cherbourg to take second overall in the championship. The battle for the final podium place was much closer, with Diablo third, just 2.6 points ahead of Gavin Howe’s Sun Fast 3600 Tigris. Simon Bamford’s Sun Fast 3300 Kestrel completed the championship top five.
Rob Craigie: “The championship really came down to consistency over the two races. Bellino is a very good all-round boat, and that helps over a series because you know there will be conditions that suit you and others that don’t. Heavy reaching is probably our weakness, and Cherbourg was definitely a race where some of the faster-reaching boats had an advantage. The important thing is that when conditions suit you, you make the most of them, and when they don’t, you limit the damage. We knew the championship was on the line, so when we saw the other boats putting their Code Zeros up we had to push as well. There was no point playing safe.”
Sun Fast 3600 Bellino © Paul Wyeth/RORC
Deb Fish: “Winning the IRC Two-Handed National Championship is really the icing on the cake of a fantastic year. What has made the racing so good is the strength in depth. You look through the fleet and there are battles everywhere—Midnight Blues and Courrier Pogo at the front, the Sun Fast 3300s pushing each other incredibly hard, and then the group of 3600s doing exactly the same. That is what makes IRC racing so enjoyable.
“Cherbourg is also a great place to finish the season. RORC has such a long history of racing here and we always feel very welcome. There are a lot of friends here, the Yacht Club makes you feel at home, and it has become a really important part of RORC racing. It is a lovely place to finish a championship like this.”
Shuttleworth 34 Shockwave © Rick Tomlinson/RORC
Multihulls Fully Launched
Jon McColl’s Shuttleworth 34 Shockwave scorched across The Channel completing the 75nm race in a rapid 6 hours 33 minutes and 25 seconds. At an average speed of over 11 knots, Shockwave took Multihull Line Honours. However, Didier Bouillard’s Dazcat 1295 Minor Swing was less than 20 minutes behind on the water and after MOCRA time correction was the winner of the Multihull Class.
Mills 39 Zero II © Kristen Lloyd/RORC
IRC One and IRC Two
Thomas Wilson’s Mills 39 Custom Zero II was the sole finisher in IRC One winning the Quailo Cup. IRC Two provided the first two boats overall, with Midnight Blues taking the class victory from Courrier Pogo. Ross Applebey’s Lightwave 48 Scarlet Oyster completed the IRC Two podium.
Sun Fast 3300 Kestrel © Paul Wyeth/RORC
IRC Three – Kestrel
IRC Three produced an exceptionally close podium. Simon Bamford’s Sun Fast 3300 Kestrel took the class victory, beating Chris Hanson’s Sun Fast 3300 Rockit by one minute 49 seconds on corrected time. Ian Hoddle’s Sun Fast 3300 Sky Business – Game On, racing with Willow Bland, was third, just 10 seconds behind Rockit. The strength of IRC Three was also reflected in the overall results, with Kestrel third, Rockit fourth and Sky Business – Game On fifth IRC Overall.
Sun Fast 3200 Zanzibar © Paul Wyeth/RORC
IRC Four – Zanzibar winning the Jolly Brise Trophy
Inka Luhrs and Richard Bretherton’s Sun Fast 3200 Zanzibar took victory in IRC Four, finishing 31 minutes four seconds ahead of Mark Brown’s JPK 1010 Jetpack after IRC correction. Both teams competed in last month’s RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race, where Jetpack took the IRC Three win, making this a satisfying reversal for Zanzibar.
The fight for second was considerably closer, with Mark Kendall’s J/99 Jiro finishing just 16 seconds behind Jetpack on corrected time to complete the podium.
IRC Two-Handed – Midnight Blues
The two-handed division attracted 22 boats for the second and final race of the IRC Two-Handed National Championship and produced some of the strongest results in the fleet. Midnight Blues won the division as part of its overall race victory, with Kestrel second, 21 minutes 20 seconds behind on corrected time. Rockit was third, just 10 seconds ahead of Sky Business – Game On in fourth, while Zanzibar completed the top five.
The strength of the two-handed fleet was particularly evident in IRC Overall, where four of the top five boats—Midnight Blues, Kestrel, Rockit and Sky Business – Game On—were racing two-handed.
One More Race: RORC Pursuit Race
With Cherbourg bringing both the RORC Season’s Points Championship and the RORC Cowes Offshore Series to a close, there is still one more chance to get on the water. The RORC Pursuit Race on Saturday 19 September offers a final day of racing in Cowes, with IRC lower-rated boats starting first and the faster yachts setting off in pursuit. The format gives crews across the IRC rating range the chance to race directly against one another, with the fleet expected to converge towards the finish.
RORC Cowes Clubhouse © Millie Bundle/RORC
After racing, the focus moves to the RORC Cowes Clubhouse for the End of Season Prize Giving, celebrating the leading crews from across the season and presenting RORC medallions to competitors who have earned them during the year.
Get your crew together, enter the RORC Pursuit Race and join us in Cowes for one final race and a celebration of the 2026 RORC season. Enter RORC Pursuit Race here [link]
