Sam Hall's Lombard 46 Pata Negra crossed the finish line at Cowes in the early hours of Thursday morning to provisionally win IRC One in the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race, concluding a race-long duel with Valdo Dhoyer's French Volvo 60 Challenge Ocean.
Pata Negra completed the 1,805-nautical-mile course in 10 days, 11 hours, 36 minutes and 48 seconds. Challenge Ocean followed just 13 minutes and 41 seconds later, with an elapsed time of 10 days, 11 hours, 50 minutes and 29 seconds.
The victory marks a significant result for the Halls. The boat won the race overall in 2018. This was the first Round Britain and Ireland campaign for Pata Negra since Andrew and Sam Hall took stewardship. The crew is notably young, with 25-year-old Sam skippering under his father's guidance.
"Well, that was a frustrating race," Andrew Hall said on Trinity Landing at 02:00. "To be fair, we have had our share of luck in previous races, but in this one, every time we turned a corner the wind seemed to turn against us. We even had to kedge at Beachy Head last night for 45 minutes."
Sam Hall noted the mental demands of the course: "Usually, you try to get into a rhythm during a race, but that is very difficult when the scenario is in a constant state of flux. This has not been a tough race physically, but mentally it has been exhausting."
The finish line is now seeing its busiest period, with numerous teams expected to complete the race throughout Thursday and into the night. Two Sun Fast 3300s are locked in a match race for both the IRC Two and IRC Two-Handed titles. At 1100 BST, Simon Bamford's Kestrel and Ian Hoddle's Sky Business - Game On were neck and neck with approximately 80 miles remaining. Sky Business - Game On holds the lower IRC rating and can afford to finish slightly behind Kestrel to take both titles.
The contest carries extra significance as the two sailors, Zeb Fellows and Willow Bland, were teammates at the 2025 Offshore Double Handed World Championship.
Further back, Rob Craigie's Sun Fast 3600 Bellino continues racing despite a broken boom that ended podium hopes. RORC Commodore Deb Fish, aboard as crew, reported that Joe Griffiths was tacking the boat down the Channel while Craigie managed navigation from below. "All credit to the crew. We have been pushing as hard since the breakage as we were before it," Fish said.
The fleet has also produced lighter moments. Crews marked birthdays at sea, including Emily Wright aboard Astrid with a freshly baked sponge cake. The Army Sailing Association's Fujitsu British Soldier rescued an exhausted barn owl, nicknamed "Little Regina," approximately 70 miles offshore east of Newcastle. The bird fell into the sea three times before collapsing on deck. Barn owls lack waterproof feathers, making further immersion potentially fatal. The owl was later collected by Caister Lifeboat and is recovering at East Winch Wildlife Centre.
A developing northerly breeze of 15 to 20 knots is forecast for Friday along the eastern UK coast, offering fast downwind conditions for boats still racing.
