Sam Hall's Lombard 46 Pata Negra has provisionally won IRC One in the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race, crossing the finish line at Cowes in the early hours of Thursday morning after 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.
Pata Negra won the race overall in 2018. This was the first Round Britain and Ireland Race for the Lombard 46 under the stewardship of Andrew and Sam Hall.
"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."
Skipper Sam Hall, 25, described the course as "complicated and constantly changing." He noted: "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 rush-hour traffic, with numerous teams expected to complete the race throughout Thursday and into the night. A tight contest is unfolding for both IRC Two and IRC Two-Handed honours between two Sun Fast 3300s.
Simon Bamford's Kestrel, with Zeb Fellows, and Ian Hoddle's Sky Business - Game On, with Willow Bland, were neck and neck with approximately 80 miles remaining at 1100 BST. The pair were teammates at the 2025 Offshore Double Handed World Championship, where they finished as runners-up. Sky Business - Game On holds the lower IRC rating and can afford to finish slightly behind Kestrel, setting up a potential match-race finish on Thursday night.
Sam White and Nathan Steffenoni's JPK 1080 Mzungu! remains in contention a few hours behind.
Further back, Rob Craigie's Sun Fast 3600 Bellino is racing on despite a broken boom that has ended podium hopes. RORC Commodore Deb Fish, aboard as crew, reported that Joe Griffiths was tacking the boat down the Channel past the Goodwin Sands while Craigie managed navigation from the chart table. "Morale on board is high, although tiredness is kicking in," Fish said.
The fleet has also produced an unusual rescue story. The Army Sailing Association's Sun Fast 3600 Fujitsu British Soldier took aboard an exhausted barn owl approximately 70 miles offshore east of Newcastle. The bird, named "Little Regina" by the crew, had fallen into the sea three times before collapsing on the side deck. She was later collected by Caister Lifeboat near Great Yarmouth and is recovering at the East Winch Wildlife Centre.
A developing northerly breeze of 15 to 20 knots is forecast for Friday along the eastern side of the United Kingdom, offering fast downwind conditions for boats still racing.
