18:00 Thursday 31 July
For a boat that was designed for comfort and comfort alone, winning IRC Zero in the Rolex Fastnet Race is more than a dream come true for the Norwegian crew of Enderpearl.
Owner and skipper Kenneth Bjoerklund was determined to finish this race after being forced to retire from the storm-tossed 2023 edition. “We tried two years ago and had to abandon at the end of the Solent with a broken staysail. So that's actually the reason for being here this year. I wanted to complete this race once,” said the Norwegian, who only took up sailing in 2008 and got into racing little more than a decade ago.
It was not so surprising to find that the CNB 76 was proving competitive in upwind mode. But weighing more than 50 tons, the luxurious Enderpearl – fitted with almost every mod con you could wish for at sea – was expected to suffer against her lighter, more nimble competitors on the long downwind descent from the Fastnet Rock back to Cherbourg. However some carefully planned upgrades to the rig, a taller carbon mast than standard, some new sails including a powerful gennaker and code sail, all contributed to a more competitive performance downwind.
It nearly all went wrong when the 520sqm gennaker creaked and groaned on the edge of its working range and the tack line snapped. Some quick thinking from one of the watch leaders, Øystein Misje, meant a new tack line was in place less than two minutes later. “Øystein came up with a great solution,” said Bjoerklund. “We just pulled a new tack line through and we were able to grab hold of the tack of the gennaker, attach the new line and pull it back on. If we had taken down the gennaker at that point, it would have cost us the win for sure.”
Even worse was the moment when the door to the wine cellar broke, as well as the dishwasher conking out. But somehow the enterprising Norwegians and Finns – the self-styled Sisu Vikings – managed to make repairs on the hoof and keep the wheels on Enderpearl rolling all the way to Cherbourg.
Another competitive driving force on Enderpearl is watch leader Ari Känsäkoski, who has an illustrious offshore career that includes four previous editions of the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Global Solo Challenge solo around the world race in 2023-2024. When Bjoerklund says he would have been happy simply to reach the finish in Cherbourg, Känsäkoski interjects with a hearty laugh: “Not me, I was going for more than that.” His competitive instinct clearly pushed the rest of the 16-strong crew to give their best all the way until the end.
Känsäkoski admits they also enjoyed a good portion of fortunate timing in the final approach to Cherbourg. “We have to admit that we were lucky with the current conditions at the end. Everything was on the positive side. We got the best of it, four and a half knots pushing us along. I could see our higher-rated competitors up front. And that was actually when I started calculating if there's a chance to win the whole thing, because we saw they were fighting against the current. By the time we got there we would have the following current in our favour. So from the Scilly Isles onwards, that’s when we realised we could actually do very well.”
La Loevie at the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race © James Tomlinson/RORC
Enderpearl ended up winning up IRC Zero on corrected time by just over an hour ahead of La Loevie, another boat at the more luxurious end of the Fastnet fleet. Eric Defert and Jean-Pierre Dick led their amateur crew to second place aboard the Swan 76. In third place was Boudragon, Hans Bouscholte’s VO60 crewed by a team of young apprentices.
Bjoerklund says it has been a mission getting Enderpearl to the start line from Norway, with still the big return journey yet to come. He hints that Enderpearl has now completed her last big race, although Känsäkoski believes he can yet talk his skipper into some more racing adventures.
Updated podium in IRC One
Dan Litchfield's classic 59ft Hound, has entered the IRC One podium after their two-hour penalty was rescinded © Hound
Meanwhile in IRC One, Dan Litchfield’s immaculate 1970-vintage 59-footer Hound has been elevated from sixth to a podium place in the division. After finding out they’d been given a two-hour scoring penalty for crossing too soon off the Cowes start line, the crew raised a scoring query. On review of the evidence, Hound was found to have started correctly and the two-hour penalty was rescinded.
Update from Sun Hill IV in IRC Four
Sun Hill IV, the new J/133 of Francois Charles racing in IRC Four © Paul Wyeth/RORC
The 2023 race’s IRC Four winner with his Dehler 33 Sun Hill III was the Morlaix rigger Francois Charles. He returned this year with Sun Hill IV, a substantially larger, faster J/133.
While aboard their new steed they notched up a second place in this year’s Cervantes Trophy in IRC One and they left 'a lot out on the race course' in this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race due to the newness (to them) of their steed.
"It was very good conditions," said Charles. "It was calm. The last time it was very rough, so this was fun. It was a bit of a cruise for us because we didn't have the best sails. We pulled up the kite after the Fastnet but then the wind grew to 30 knots, so we were very disappointed as we had to pull it down and use the jib top. But that meant we could catch up with our sleep, although we lost a lot of places.
“We discovered a lot of things. We spent a lot of time alongside Léon but we'll have to get some more sails for when we come back next time."
Read IRC Four Thursday 31 July update
by Andy Rice
