MEMBERS of the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) have elected OBE recipient Dr Deborah Fish  as the new commodore of the Cowes and London-based club. 

She will take up the role from James Neville on January 1. 

Islander, Richard Palmer, will take up the role of vice-commodore from Eric de Turckheim, supported by Andrew Tseng and Joe Lacey as rear commodores.

Dr Fish is the first woman to be elected commodore of the RORC, which will celebrate its centenary in 2025. 

She has been very active in her role as a rear commodore, chairing the membership committee and championing youth sailing through her leadership of RORC’s Griffin initiative. 

Dr Fish also has a strong offshore racing background, having raced with the RORC since 1999, completing the Rolex Fastnet Yacht Race on 11 occasions. 

Rob Craigie and her sailed Bellino, Rob’s Sun Fast 3600 double-handed, to overall victory in the 2023 RORC Season’s Points Championship. 

This was the first time Bellino has won the RORC Championship overall after coming third in 2022 and second in 2019.

De Turckheim’s Teasing Machine was awarded the 2023 RORC Yacht of the Year accolade after overall wins in the Rolex Middle Sea Race and RORC Transatlantic Race. 

Neville’s INO XXX enjoyed many victories and was second overall in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race — the best result for a commodore in office since John Illingworth’s Myth of Malham won the Fastnet Race in 1949.