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RTYC wins the Methuselah Trophy

Royal Thames Yacht Club wins the METHUSELAH TROPHY - The winning Team in IRC Groups 0 & 1 Round the Island 2008

Thomas Brennan - Captain of Racing, report from on board the super-maxi, Zana

The Royal Thames Yacht Club team made up of CHERNIKEEFF 2, ZANA & ICAP LEOPARD has won the 2008 Methuselah trophy for the Winning Team in IRC Groups 0 & 1.

A strong team was entered from RTYC - however, as anyone who has ever sailed the Round the Island Race will know, the results can never be guaranteed.

We rose onboard at 04:30 to get ready for the early start at 06:00.  The line was busy especially in a 100' super maxi where you need room to manoeuvre and need to plan accordingly.  There were a couple of incidents on the start line; one in particular led to Atomic being dismasted and Hugo Boss losing their bowsprit.

Zana had a conservative start but it did not take long for us to pull ahead of the TP52s and the Open 60s.  We were then chasing down the Volvo 70 KOSATKA who stayed ahead of us until just before the needles where they had to put an extra tack in allowing Zana to shoot through into second place - with ICAP Leopard in the foggy distance.

 Up with the ‘A' sail and we were soon flying along at an average 20 knots - we peaked at 27.8 knots amidst great whoops of delight from all aboard.  The Volvo 70 KOSATKA had their largest downwind sail up - however, they had to sail the angles and we managed to stay ahead of them until we reach Ryde.  This was a great achievement, as we knew they gave us a lot of time on handicap.

 As we headed up the Eastern Solent the sun came out for what turned out to be a one-sided beat for a finish some four hours and twenty minutes after we had started.  We were soon tied up and having a splendid lunch at the Royal Yacht Squadron. 

 Congratulations & thanks to Peter Harrison, Mike Slade and the crews aboard all three yachts.

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