barca nova
Well-Known Member
Your rich - so what toy takes your fancy? Few of them are sailboats that can be used for anything but racing so I guess they grab the opportunities that appeal to them
RORC Transatlantic 2026
- Thread starter capnsensible
- Start date
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Raven's performance not only secures Monohull Line Honours and the IMA Trophy but also establishes her as a leading contender for the overall IRC corrected-time result, with few boats capable of matching her blend of speed, stability and consistency. Raven has set the benchmark IRC corrected time to beat, but the next boat likely to finish is the Mach 50 Palanad 4. The scow bow canting keeler is in a very good position to take the overall lead under IRC.
Isn't that sailing to a handicap?
An impressive performance in 6 days 22 hours. Benchmark set and crossed finish line at 30 knots!
flaming
Well-Known Member
Yes they are sailing to a handicap. But the IMA trophy, which was referenced in your first article, is NOT. It's just a line honours trophy. Same way Sydney Hobart had the big battle for line honours between the 100 footers, and then the handicap trophy as well. It's possible for the line honours winner to take the handicap win as well, but it's getting less and less common as the big boats indulge in their own battle for ultimate speed and the kudos of crossing the line first, at the expense of a rating that they can sail to.
Palanad 4 seems the most likely winner of the IRC trophy in this race, but that really shouldn't be surprising given it is a new design literally designed with the express purpose of winning Ocean races under IRC. Which was categorically NOT a design goal of Raven.
John_Silver
Well-Known Member
Life aboard Argo. From the lips of Sam G, amongst others. "The best racing machines in the world".........."You are locked in to True Wind Angle.....Too high, you're flipping over......and, if you stick it too low......you're pitchpoling."
dunedin
Well-Known Member
The difference was that the Sydney Hobart had 4 or 5 boats that could be considered contenders for line honours. On this race Raven was a dead cert for line honours before the race even started, unless they broke stuff and retired. Lovely boat - but no race for line honours, only the speed record.
They need more entries from similar sized boats if this is to maintain a credible place on the RORC race calendar.
And handicap racing really only works for fairly similar sized / speed boats. When sailing 1,000 miles apart and finishing up to a week apart it is a lottery in terms of whether conditions are similar or different.
flaming
Well-Known Member
Well yes, exactly.
Can't get over the fact that a transatlantic race is a significantly bigger commitment than a Hobart or a Fastnet though. I think RORC were hoping that significant numbers of the maxis that live in the med would come and do the race, and the C600 before returning to the med for the summer season. For whatever reason it hasn't quite happened. I suspect largely because the Venn Diagram of people who love sailing, have the money to buy a maxi, and the time to race it across the Atlantic has a very, very small intersection.
dunedin
Well-Known Member
The “clubhouse leader” on IRC is the 50 foot “scow bow” Palanad 4 - made incredible speed for a boat less than half the length of Raven and no foils.
Palanad 4 blasts home in RORC Transatlantic Race
Palanad 4 blasts home in RORC Transatlantic Race
Last edited:
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately there has been a serious incident with another boat with a crew member being taken off onto a commercial ship mid Atlantic (great seamanship) - hope all ends OK
RORC Transatlantic Race - Emergency incident on board Walross 4
RORC Transatlantic Race - Emergency incident on board Walross 4
Laser310
Well-Known Member
other reports are saying crewmember was "knocked unconscious".
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Yes it said that in sentence 2 of the article linked to. Sounds very worrying.
Hope wasn’t another of the crash gybe accidents that seem to be one of the biggest risks.
Laser310
Well-Known Member
i guess i missed that.
anyway - yes, i am hoping it's not too serious.
on that route, about 15 years ago, we gave some assistance (mostly comms) to another nearby boat with a head injury that ended in a fatality.
it was awful.
Roberto
Well-Known Member
dunedin
Well-Known Member
Very sad.
It does seem to confirm that such injuries are one of the biggest risks in sailing.
Laser310
Well-Known Member
which is why, for cruising boats, getting the mainsheet out of the cockpit is a huge safety matter.
I guess i am assuming it was a mainsheet issue - i think on that boat the boom is high enough that nobody in the cockpit could get hit by it.
I have seen _terrible_ mainsheet arrangements on some pretty good cruising boats.
I'm mostly a racing sailor, and for racing you need the main sheeted to a traveler that goes the width of the cockpit.
but for cruising, the few degrees of point you lose by having the main sheeted to the companionway, with or without a traveler, is nothing in comparison to the safety gain - especially on larger boats.
capnsensible
Well-Known Member
Poland 4 wins on...er....corrected time. 
Palanad 4 claims overall victory in RORC Transatlantic Race 2026
Palanad 4 claims overall victory in RORC Transatlantic Race 2026
flaming
Well-Known Member
This was unsurprising. Unless they broke it they were odds on favourite.Poland 4 wins on...er....corrected time.
Palanad 4 claims overall victory in RORC Transatlantic Race 2026
dunedin
Well-Known Member
But smashed it speed wise for a 50 footer - only a little behind Raven more than twice their size, with foils and perhaps 10x the cost - and way ahead of Volvo 65 on the water.