Antoine Magre's Mach 50 Palanad 4 has emerged as the projected IRC Overall leader in the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race, overturning the on-water dominance of Johnny Vincent's Volvo 70 Pace as the fleet turns south from Muckle Flugga.
At 1100 BST on Saturday, Day 7 of the 1,805-nautical-mile marathon, Pace was just 204 miles from the Cowes finish and expected to claim monohull line honours early Sunday morning. The monohull race record of 4 days, 13 hours, 10 minutes and 28 seconds, set in 2014, remains secure—Pace is days beyond that benchmark despite her strong pace.
Yet corrected time tells a different story. VMG-based projections place Palanad approximately 6 hours 8 minutes ahead of Pace for the overall IRC prize, with Jens Kellinghusen's Ker 56 Varuna 6 a further 10 hours adrift in third among the IRC Zero contenders.
The turnaround stems from Palanad's superior performance on the brutal northerly leg. While Pace stretched her lead to almost 18 hours over Varuna between St Kilda and Muckle Flugga, Palanad recovered nearly 90 minutes on the same sector. At the northernmost mark, Varuna's advantage over Palanad had shrunk to just 3 hours 36 minutes—insufficient to defend against the Mach 50's pace under handicap.
Magre's crew had deliberately played the long game. With Pace and Varuna initially stretching away, Palanad concentrated on staying "within reach for when the breeze comes in." That patience now positions them to challenge for the race's biggest prize.
The projections remain provisional. Pace has hours, not days, remaining. Palanad and Varuna face considerably more distance and unpredictable North Sea weather and tides. The overall winner could still emerge from further back in the fleet.
Sam and Andrew Hall's Lombard 46 Pata Negra leads IRC One and remains in the wider overall equation despite carrying out sail repairs at sea. Nick Edmonds' J/45 Stickleback sits third in class. The double-handed Sky Business – GameOn, sailed by Ian Hoddle and Willow Bland, heads both IRC Two and the IRC Two-Handed division by a slender 33 minutes over Bellino. Mark Brown's JPK 1010 Jetpack leads IRC Three under pressure from Zanzibar.
The Class40 division presents a parallel chase. Pierre LeBoucher's Penfret leads Jon Tyrrel's Gambit and Greg Leonard's Swift south from Muckle Flugga, with all three ahead of the Class40 benchmark set by Imerys Clean Energy in 2018 of 8 days, 4 hours, 14 minutes and 49 seconds. To break the record, the leader must reach Cowes before approximately 17:44 BST on Monday.
Two boats have retired: the Class40 Tjoba and Graeme Lewis's maxi Venomous. All crew are safe.
