RORC Cowes – Dinard – St Malo Race

Start: RYS Line Cowes | Friday 07 July 2023

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with UNCL – Pôle Course du YCF, Yacht Club de Dinard, Société Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo, Junior Offshore Group (JOG) and the Royal Yacht Squadron.

The biggest offshore race so far for 2023 will be a memorable one for RORC member Christian Zugel. Racing Tschüss 2, skippered by Johnny Mordaunt, the Volvo 70 has set a new Monohull Race Record for the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race. Tschüss 2 completed the 151nm course in an elapsed time of 10 hours 56 minutes 18 seconds winning the Sandison Memorial Salver. After IRC time correction was calculated for the 179 boats racing under IRC, Tschüss 2 completed the hattrick as overall winner of the Cowes Dinard St Malo Race, winning the King Edward VII Cup, dating back to 1906.

At the beginning of the year, Christian Zugel acquired the Volvo 70 formerly Rolex Fastnet Race winner Wizard earlier this year. Project Manager Johnny Mordaunt trusted in the talents of boat builder Jason Carrington and designer Juan Kouyoumdjian to get the boat back to race condition, including fixing a damaged canting keel.

“This is my first proper offshore race, I wanted to experience racing a Volvo 70 and when the opportunity came to buy this boat it looked like the perfect choice,” commented Christian Zugel.  “Back in January, we did not even know if the boat would be ready for this summer, so this first offshore race could not have been any better. We had great teamwork, especially calling the wind shifts which were called superbly. During the race, we had times when we were going well over 20 knots but she is so easy on the helm, until you push to the limit and then it gets a bit hairy! She is a joy to drive and to sail. I became a RORC member this year, I have stayed at the London Clubhouse and dinner was delicious. I am looking forward to visiting the RORC in Cowes during Cowes Week, where we will be competing in the Ker40+ Tschüss, so see you in Cowes!”

Tschuss 2 Crew © Al Fraser/Tschuss 2

Tschüss 2  Crew: Christian Zugel, Al Fraser, Campbell Field, Chris Mason, Christopher Welch, Jack Lawrence, Jeremy Elliott, Johnny Mordaunt, Lewis Fitzgerald, Neal McDonald, Oliver Bayes-Shelton, Simon Johnson, Trystan Seal.

Tschüss 2  Skipper Johnny Mordaunt commented: “Neal (MacDonald), Campbell (Field) and Jeremy Elliott played a stormer, but the whole team has to contribute, everybody was part of the win. Tactician Neal did a great job getting us going at the start; Tschüss is a big boat for the Solent but we had a good plan, which we kept to. Keeping calm and in good shape before we went into The Channel really paid dividends, both then and later on. Getting the right side of the shifts was key and well done to Campbell (Field) on that. Tschüss 2  is a new project but most of this team has raced together on the Ker40+ Tschüss and for me, working as a team is so important.”