NEWS
KINGSPAN CHIEFTAIN WINS THE ROUND IRELAND AND BRITAIN RACE (Aug 2006)
On
15th August Ger O'Rourke brought his Kingspan - Chieftain across the Royal
Yacht Squadron finish line in Cowes to claim the overall prize for IRC
Division A in the Round Ireland and Britain race.
In winning this coastal classic, one of the flagship RORC races of the
season, O'Rourke adds to his impressive list of victories around the world
that started with a class win in the 2005 Rolex Sydney - Hobart Race,
a corrected time victory in the 2006 BMW Round Ireland Race and an outright
win in this year's Fortis IRC Nationals.
British crew-member of Kingspan - Chieftain, Tom Whitburn was full of
praise for the boat and his fellow crew members, saying: 'The boat is
just fantastic to sail. I have never experienced anything like it, on
the run down the east coast, we had an amazing amount of sail area up
for the conditions but the Cookson 50 was so stable and every time we
buried the bow into a wave she popped right back up.
It was just the most awesome sailing but I must admit that the stony silence
on deck had an element of fear factor in it.'