Royal Ocean Racing Club Long Distance Race 2008 La Rochelle

Campaign Price from £1500 (per person)

Including:

1 Training weekend
2 Qualifying races
La Rochelle Race
Fully qualified skipper
All food and drink
Race entry fees
Mooring fees
Crew shirt
Stage payments

Long Distance Race Cowes – La Rochelle

Windward Sailing has for the last 14 years successfully competed in numerous offshore racing including the infamous bi-annual Fastnet race and of course the ARC. Our clients not only want to compete on fast modern race yachts but also want to go that bit further and win. Over the last few years we have campaigned our race yachts in many events and have won numerous trophies - all achieved with individual sailors on board. We do always provide a core crew who know each other and the yacht inside out and therefore can spend their time teaching and showing and encouraging guest crew how to get the best from the boat and to mould the crew into a winning team.

The Farr 60 – Campaign cost £1,500

Venomous is full on offshore racing yacht with a comfortable interior. She comes complete with a 30 sail wardrobe. With her downwind sail area she will certainly get the adrenalin pumping and those muscles burning. The Farr 60 has been developed as a high performance and very sophisticated race machine intended to race in all the top regattas and win.

Venomous has just won her class in the ARC race across the Atlantic (December 2007) and is ready fro some more long distance racing that she so enjoys.

The Crew

The yachts will come with a skipper and 2/3 crew, all of whom will have extensive knowledge of the boat and all aspects of offshore yacht racing and tactics. The team will be then be made up of people such as you who are enthusiastic about sailing, racing, and winning. Full training in racing comes with the package and our aim come the end of the campaign is that any one of the crew members will have the ability and confidence to step onto any race boat and become a key member of any team.

The La Rochelle Package

One Training Week-ends	Food and drink on-board
Two Offshore Races	Race entry fees
La Rochelle Race	Mooring fees
Fully qualified skipper & crew/td>	Crew shirt

Qualifying Dates and Races

14-15 June Training Weekend

The training weekend will be based out of the Solent. The weekend will be used for sorting out crew positions and generally getting to know each other. During the weekend everyone will get a chance to have a go at all aspects of sailing the yacht and to find out whether offshore racing is for them. The boats that we use are technically advanced and we need each member of the crew to be fully conversant with all aspects of the yacht and her gear. For instance everybody will need to or hoisting and trimming any one of the many spinnakers. Therefore the training weekends will be physically demanding.

11th July Cowes to St Malo Race

A Friday afternoon start to this race, with St Malo being one of the most popular RORC destination races.

An eastward start out of the Solent then across the channel leaving the Casquets and Les Hanois buoy, to port before the final leg into the walled city of St Malo. The course distance is approximately 164 miles.

Depending on locking times will mean arriving back in the UK late Sunday early Monday morning, but a race well worth going for, plenty of time for extra training tips on the return trip. Plenty of time to take in the sights of this lovely French fishing port.

26th July Channel Race Cowes – Channel – Cowes

This race is designed as a 24-hour stamina-building race based on the sailing times for the average boat in the fleet. The race kicks off on Saturday morning. The course shown is an example only of the probable course the RORC will set. It will certainly have lots of corners and therefore plenty to do on deck. Tactically a difficult race as the legs are relatively short it gives no margin for error for the navigator and will test the teamwork of the crew. We should arrive back in Cowes sometime Sunday morning, so a relatively short time onboard but you should be exhausted at the end of the weekend.

10th August - Long Distance Race Cowes – La Rochelle

This is where all that we have learnt together as a team will come together. The La Rochelle Race is the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Bi-annual long distance race, the alternative Fastnet. The race is slightly shorter than the Fastnet at around 450 miles and going south into warmer weather all the time. The boat we have chosen have proved to be the suitable for this style of racing and she will take this race in her stride including racing in the Bay of Biscay. All the time the boat is sailing the crew will be expected to keep the racing spirit this is the way that races are won. During these long races you will have further opportunity to try out different roles on the boat as the watch system will take some crew members below decks leaving those on watch the task of racing hard and multi tasking. At the end of this race the crew should be well bonded and ready for a nice cold beer in one of the many bars at La Rochelle. A warm welcome can be expected from this very historic walled city.

After staying for a couple of days sightseeing in La Rochelle and restocking the boat with perhaps a trip to the laundry we will set home again. The round trip (Cowes to Cowes) should take around 1 week.

Payment Plan

If you would like to sign up with us to do our La Rochelle Campaign, please complete and return this booking form.

We are once again offering a staged payment plan, which will be 20% on booking, and then the balance spread out over 5 months from 1 March to 1 August.

We hope that you have found this of some interest and if you would like more in-depth information please do not hesitate to contact by telephone or email. We look forward to hearing from you soon. Once we have received your booking form and deposit we can confirm your place with us on our La Rochelle campaign.

Download the booking form