U.S. Sailing and the US-IRC Foundation are joining forces to organize a three-boat U.S. team for the 2010 Rolex Commodore's Cup in England next August.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), in association with Rolex, has announced the 2010 Rolex Commodore's Cup to be held in Cowes from August 15 to 21, 2010. This is one of the most prestigious international yachting events with a mix of inshore and offshore races over a 7 day schedule.

The Commodore's Cup specifies mainly amateur crews and IRC rating bands that cover popular mid-sized cruiser-racer yachts. Competitive boats are available for charter at a reasonable cost, and this event should therefore be of interest to a wide variety of US IRC racers.

The USA won the Cup in 1992 and in 1994, and Bill Heston and Steve Travis from Seattle, Washington are the first to have voiced interest in putting together a 2010 US team. US Sailing and US-IRC welcome others who might be interested in participating or forming a Team to represent the USA.

As was the case for the 2008 Cup, Endorsed IRC will be required. Each team will consist of three boats, with one boat from each of the following TCC brackets:

The three bands proved successful in 2008 and will remain the same for 2010. This arrangement promotes close racing on the water, while still ensuring that competing teams have a sufficiently large pool of yachts from which to choose. RORC will be making available shortly a list of boats in Europe that would be available for charter for this event.

The race format is broadly similar to 2008 except that the regatta will finish one day earlier so that teams will have the Sunday to travel home. The last Cup attracted 15 highly competitive teams from six nations including: Spain and Hong Kong along with multiple challenges from France, Ireland, the Netherlands and the UK. The RORC is confident that in 2010 even more teams will be participating. The US is not limited to a single team.

The 2010 NOR has not yet been published and RORC suggests referring to the 2008 NOR as a guideline only until the 2010 NOR is available. (2008 Commodore's Cup NOR)

Amateur/professional requirements/restrictions and the nationality requirements for crew members are explained in the NOR.

Planning needs to start soon. Entries are due mid-June.

For speed comparison purposes only, below is a list of representative boat designs rated in the USA that fall within the selected racing brackets:

Class 1: Farr 395*; J125; King 40*; Swan 45; Farr 40; J133; Melges 32; Swan 42

Class 2: Farr 395*; First 40.7*; J122; King 40*; Farr 30; J120; J44; Sydney 38

Class 3: Express 37; First 40.7*; First 36.7; J109

* Boats from these designs fall into two of the TCC brackets.

For more informatin or to express your interest, please contact Eric Baittinger (irc@ussailing.org) at US Sailing or Luiz E. Kahl (luiz@us-irc.org) at US-IRC.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 November 2009 )