No need for pistols at dawn as Lloyd Thornburg's mighty green MOD70, Phaedo3 crossed the finish line off Quarantine Point, Grenada this morning, completing the RORC Transatlantic Race at UTC 10:56:03 in 5 days 22 hrs 46mins 03 secs. Waging a 'Master and Commander' style battle from the start in Lanzarote, Team Phaedo held onto their lead, finishing less than two hours ahead of Tony Lawson's MOD70, Ms Barbados (Concise 10) and taking Line Honours victory in the second edition of the race.

Ms Barbados (Concise 10), skippered by Ned Collier Wakefield was the second boat to finish at UTC 12:36:44 and the friendly rivalry ceased as Team Phaedo3 welcomed their transatlantic match racing partners alongside the dock.

Despite the dawn arrival, Phaedo3 had a huge spice island welcome in Grenada after over 3,500 miles at sea from the RORC Race Team, CEO of the Grenada Tourism Authority, Rudy Grant and General Manager, Glynn Thomas and his team from Camper and Nicholsons, Port Louis Marina - all there to greet the crews on the dock following much anticipation and excitement in Grenada for the first arrivals.

After champagne and a few cold beers, the whole team jumped into the pool and Phaedo3's Co-Skipper, Brian Thompson raved about the race: "It was a fantastic race. What could be better than two great islands to start and finish in (Lanzarote and Grenada); it is a really good race course and we had a great competitor in Concise! It's a fascinating course with different sections, through the Canaries and a leg to Cape Verdes (for us) and then the downwind section across. It was a great match race across the Atlantic and we were never more than 70 miles apart. That's only 2½ hours at the speeds we were going, equivalent of 20 miles apart on normal boats. We also did nearly 678 miles in one day and we averaged 28.3 knots which is fantastic. The last 18 hours were quite tense because when we were going south, our Satcom wasn't working so we had no idea where Concise was. You always think they are about to overtake you and it was only really an hour before the finish that we realised where they were. The last night was really quite hard as we were going through lots of squalls with gusts of 34 knots. Up until then we had it quite easy with very few squalls. Everyone shared the driving equally, so we had six really good drivers and then had three on each watch and when we needed to manoeuvre, we'd wake another person up or sometimes we'd wake everyone up. So it was quite a small team but it worked really well."

Also on board Phaedo3: Miles Seddon, Pete Cumming, Henry Bomby, Sam Goodchild and Paul Allen from California who thought it was the best race he's ever done, having competed in lots of Transpacs and other races in California which are famously downwind.

"This was better though," continued Brian Thompson. "Warmer water, great scenery and a longer course. "It's not like that every year of course and for some of the other competitors like Zed 6 who are really far north, they've got a totally different race to the rest of us. We are pretty happy with our southern course. It's a fantastic race and more boats should join."
Welcome to Grenada! Team Phaedo celebrate  © RORC/Arthur Daniel

After a great welcome from Team Phaedo on the dockside, Skipper of Ms Barbados (Concise 10), Ned Collier Wakefield said it was a massive learning curve but he was pleased with his race: "It was incredible, these boats just blow my mind. They chew up miles and they are relentless. It was pretty full on but it was really nice for us be able to stay in touch enough with Phaedo3 and to 'play' across the Atlantic. It was tough really as we had these grand ideas that we would be in shorts and t-shirts and that it would be a typical tradewind race, but it was full dry seal smocks, 20-28 knots of boat speed non-stop, and even though it was only for six days, it felt as though we'd been at sea for about three weeks! At the start, we got pretty schooled by Brian (Thompson) and we struggled to keep up for ages. It took us a little while to get into it and then we found our rhythm. The big tactical decision was going down to the Cape Verdes and we decided to go further east and it paid off a little bit. To be honest these guys (Phaedo3) were really quick. Every sked they were 0.7 of a knot quicker, so we had it all to do, but it was nice not to be too far behind for sure. It was a massive learning curve for us. We wanted to learn from Phaedo and sort of do a two boat test across the Atlantic. Having a years less experience in the boat, that was very helpful because we could really work on our modes a little bit more and try and glean as much info out of them as we could. We had the most amazing welcome from Grenada and having the Team Phaedo guys here and Sam (Goodchild) here on the dock to greet us too, was great. Sam and I have tried to do a few Transats together and haven't got far what with boat failures etc, so to have him here was really nice and the welcome we got from Grenada was amazing. We had cold beers and we jumped in the pool. What place to rock up! We will do it again for sure. We re already setting up our programme and I spoke to Brian in the Canaries and we are going to make it next year."

Team Concise were: Ned Collier Wakefield, Helena Darvelid, Thomas Dawson, Paul Larsen, Jonny Malbon, Tom Smedley, Wouter Verbraak and Martin Watts.

Follow the progress of the rest of the fleet: Latest news, blogs from the boats and photos: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/

Follow the progress of the race via the fleet: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/tracking/2015-fleet-tracking.html

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS:

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FOLLOW THE FLEET: Follow the progress of the race via the fleet tracker:
The RORC Transatlantic Race started at 1200 local time (GMT +0) from Marina Lanzarote bound for Grenada. RORC Transatlantic Race YB Tracker: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/tracking/2015-fleet-tracking.html

RACE MINISITE: For more information visit the dedicated event minisite: http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/

RORC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoyalOceanRacingClub/

TWITTER:  #rorcrtr @RORCracing

VIRTUAL RACE: Well over 5000 armchair admirals have already signed up for the RORC Transatlantic Virtual Race: http://click.virtualregatta.com/?li=4540

THE RORC TRANSATLANTIC RACE:

    The second RORC Transatlantic Race starts in Lanzarote on Saturday 28th November 2015 and the 2,995 nautical mile race runs through the Canary Islands before crossing the Atlantic to arrive in Grenada
    The race is run in association with the International Maxi Association (IMA)
    The winner of the inaugural RORC Transatlantic Race Trophy for best elapsed time under IRC in 2014 was Jeremy Pilkington's Lupa of London. The Baltic 78 was also presented with the International Maxi Association's Line Honours Trophy at a prizegiving ceremony held at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina at the finish in Grenada

THE ORGANISERS:

    Established in 1925, The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) became famous for the biennial Fastnet Race and the international team event, the Admiral's Cup. It organises an annual series of domestic offshore races from its base in Cowes as well as inshore regattas such as the RORC Easter Challenge and IRC National Championships in the Solent
    The RORC works with other yacht clubs to promote their offshore races and provides marketing and organisational support. The RORC Caribbean 600 based in Antigua and the first offshore race in the Caribbean, has been an instant success and last year the RORC extended its organisational expertise by creating the new RORC Transatlantic Race from Lanzarote to Grenada in November 2014 
    The club is based in St James' Place, London and Cowes, Isle of Wight
    In co-operation with the French offshore racing club, UNCL, RORC is responsible for IRC, the principal international handicap system for yacht racing worldwide.The Spinlock IRC rating rule is administered jointly by the RORC Rating Office in Lymington, UK and UNCL Centre de Calcul in Paris, France. The RORC Rating Office is the technical hub of the Royal Ocean Racing Club and recognised globally as a centre of excellence for measurement. For Spinlock IRC rating information in the UK please see:  www.rorcrating.com 
    www.rorc.org
    http://rorctransatlantic.rorc.org/
    Follow us on Facebook and Twitter:  #rorcrtr

INTERNATIONAL MAXI ASSOCIATION (IMA):

    The racing activities for the Maxi as a separate class started in Porto Cervo in 1980 with the first Maxi Yacht Cup. Immediately afterwards an association of the Maxi owners was founded under the name "International Class A Yacht Association" (ICAYA) with Baron E. de Rothschild elected the first President of the Class. The legal office was created in Geneva, Switzerland. "Class A" was the definition of a Maxi boat in the IOR rating system in force at that time. The following year Gianfranco Alberini was appointed first Secretary General of the Association. ICAYA organized the Maxi Yacht World Championship for many years in Porto Cervo as its European base, as well in other venues in USA - Honolulu, Newport R.I., Miami, St. Thomas, San Francisco. In Europe Puerto Portales, Antibes and Saint Tropez were selected as championship locations
    When the definition "Class A" disappeared with the change from IOR it was decided to rename the Class as "International Maxi Association" (IMA). The Class is now registered in Geneva (Switzerland), has a base in Porto Cervo and an office in the USA, for rating and technical matters. The Class is now expanding its activities, and in 2010 the first Mini Maxi World Championship took place in September in Porto Cervo, Italy,  In 2011 the new Rolex Volcano Race opened the Mediterranean sailing season
    Andrew McIrvine took over as Secretary General in 2013. In 2014 the pure racer Mini Maxis were reformed into the Maxi 72 Class. The IMA has organised previous Maxi Transatlantic races but this is the first in association with RORC. IMA has presented a vintage trophy for line honours for this new race
    IMA is a recognized member of the IRC Congress. Since November 2010 ISAF has recognised the Maxis as an international class. This means that the International Maxi Association is now the sole authority with the right to hold World and Continental Maxi Championships
    http://www.internationalmaxiassociation.com/

CALERO MARINAS:

    Calero Marinas has developed and manages three marinas in the Canary Islands, having accrued over 35 years' experience in the sector. The Canaries' warm climate and regular supply of breeze has lead Lanzarote to become a favourite training ground for offshore race teams, whilst the combination of good flight connections and easily available services has created a popular and reliable base for international sailors
    Marina Lanzarote is the newest addition to the group with secure berthing for vessels of up to 60m LOA, a wide range of services and the advantage of having the city and maritime quarter within a few minutes' walk
    The new shipyard is equipped to hoist superyachts and the inclusion of deep keel pits in the yard's design was considered especially to meet the needs of transoceanic racing yachts
    www.caleromarinas.com

Enquiries: msymes@caleromarinas.com

GRENADA TOURISM AUTHORITY:

    The premium yachting destination in the Southern Caribbean. Grenada and The Grenadines are widely considered to be the most unspoilt cruising grounds in the Caribbean. Famed for its people's warm and gregarious hospitality the 'Spice Island' of Grenada has a varied topography of mountains, rainforests and waterfalls, fringed by icing sugar beaches and cooled by trade winds
    www.puregrenada.com
    Facebook: www.facebook.com/discovergrenada
    Twitter:  www.twitter.com/puregrenada

WESTERHALL RUMS:

    http://www.westerhallrums.co.uk/

    The major operation of the company is the blending and bottling of rum, which has been in practice since the 1700s where Westerhall apply a secret family recipe to create their world famous rums. The company now produces seven brands of rum, with its flagship brand being Westerhall Vintage Rum. The company has always put great emphasis on maintaining high standards and quality control and today works to the highest international standards at every stage of the process from blending and bottling to labelling.
    https://www.facebook.com/Westerhall-Rums-Grenada

CAMPER & NICHOLSONS PORT LOUIS MARINA:

    Camper & Nicholsons is widely recognised to be one of the world's oldest and most prestigious yachting business names, with origins dating back to 1782 when boat building began at Gosport, in the south of England

    Owned and managed by Camper & Nicholsons Marinas, Port Louis Marina has transformed Grenada's yachting facilities. Overlooking the historic capital St Georges and designed to reflect the traditional Creole architecture, the marina offers 170 berths, including 30 superyacht berths for vessels from 25m to 90m LOA, and up to 7m draft
    http://www.cnmarinas.com

MEDIA ENQUIRIES & High res images/Interviews:
Trish Jenkins - RORC Transatlantic Race
Press Liaison
M: +44 (0)7880 518689
E:  press@rorc.org

RACE REPORTS:
Louay Habib
M: +44 (0)7801 800521
E:  louayhabib@gmail.com

RORC RACE ENQUIRIES:
Nick Elliott, Racing Manager
Royal Ocean Racing Club
T: +44 (0) 1983 295144
E:   racing@rorc.org
W:  http://www.rorc.org/

ROYAL OCEAN RACING CLUB:
20 St James's Place
London SW1A 1NN
Tel: 020 7493 2248
Fax: 020 7493 2470
E:  info@rorc.org