A breezy session to round out a rugged series today (Friday) saw Patrick Boardman's immaculate Classic Half Tonner King One from Rush SC and Howth confirmed as overall winner of the RORC Half Ton Classics 2022 at Cowes from a fleet of 17 boats. Johnny Swan's Harmony from Howth made it the double for Fingal at the front of the fleet by taking second, but ICRA Chairman Dave Cullen's Checkmate XV (HYC) - a former overall champion when the series was in Belgium - just missed making it three in a row for the Irish contingent, as third place overall was snatched by the winner of the last race, Halfajet from France owned by Ronan Treussart, whose first name maybe suggests an additional Irish link.
The Dwyer's Swuzzlebubble from Cork moved up a couple of places to eighth overall, but in the big picture, it's very much King One's day. Coming with historic links back to the great four times Olympic Gold Medallist Paul Elvstrom of Denmark, the Berret-designed boat won the Half Ton Worlds for France in 1981, and now has definitely found full turbo-power again.