TEAM MURPHY

The 34 foot J/105 Slingshot, owned and skippered by Shaun ‘Spud’ Murphy, topped the bill yesterday when RORC announced the winners of their Annual Challenge and Special Awards for the 2006 racing season.

In addition to winning the 2006 J/105 National Championship earlier this year with a full compliment of seven crew (including himself), Murphy has raced Slingshot double handed throughout the RORC season with his crewmate Ric Searle. It is fact that perhaps makes his achievements in this offshore series all the more impressive.

The titles attributed to Murphy and Slingshot yesterday include the following:

2006 Yacht of the Year for outstanding racing achievement of a 2 handed yacht
The Grenade Goblet for the overall winner of IRC2
The Jazz Trophy for the winner IRC overall
The Psipsina Trophy for the winner of the two handed division
The Serendip Trophy for the best series-produced yacht in IRC

Unphased by his new titles or the vast amounts of silverware he will now have to insure, when asked yesterday whether any particular race or moment had ‘made’ the series for him personally, Murphy (an amateur helm from the IT industry) said ‘It’s great to have beaten so many boats that have done well at events like the Commodore’s Cup. The La Rochelle race was perhaps our best moment; 450 miles of race-track and not only did we win our class but we won IRC overall. Double handed.’

Murphy is currently in the early stages of planning for his 2007 campaign with Slingshot but for now the most pressing matter in hand is how he’ll get the silverware home to Southampton after RORC Annual Dinner in November.