© ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi - Sun Fast 3600 Bellino rounds the Fastnet Rock
Offshore yacht racing’s greatest evolution recently has been the rise of doublehanding. No better demonstration of this is there than the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s 50th Rolex Fastnet Race, which sets sail from Cowes bound for Cherbourg on 22 July.
Stormvogel returns having won line honours in 1961 and finished seventh overall in 2021 © Rolex/Kurt Arrigo
Appropriately, given the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race will be the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier event, a significant number of classic yachts are entered, competing for the Dorade Cup.
In 2021, Paul Moxon’s Amokura was the oldest boat in the race and returns again. The Fred Shepherd 50ft Bermudan yawl was built by A. H. Moody and Son Ltd, Swanwick in 1939, originally for Lord Mountbatten's Aide de Camp, Ernest Harston. For Amokura, the Fastnet has been a case of ‘third time lucky’: she competed in 1959 and in 2019 but only finished for the first time in 2021. Perhaps it was the change of course to Cherbourg which helped – Amokura was the first British yacht to visit Cherbourg following WW2. Amokura’s recent Rolex Fastnet Races have been all the more remarkable since Paul Moxon has raced his heavyweight classic doublehanded.
Paul Moxon’s 50ft Bermudan yawl Amokura © Rick Tomlinson/https://www.rick-
This year’s oldest entry pre-dates the first Fastnet Race by 22 years and is even 10 years older than the first race’s winner, Jolie Brise. Among classic yachts, Moonbeam (ex-Moonbeam III/Moonbeam of Fife) is famous - a 1903 gaff yawl Fife, the third of four Moonbeams for British lawyer Charles Plumtree Johnson. In 1988 she was ‘saved’ in Cyprus and underwent a thorough refit in the UK, including a change to her present cutter rig. Since then, she has been a regular star of La Nioulargue/Les Voiles de Saint-Tropez, where she has often raced against Moonbeam IV and Tuiga.
Today she is part of a trio of Fifes based in Brest, also including Moonbeam IV and Mariquita. Their owners were keen to compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race and made their choice because “Moonbeam is a better sailing boat in stronger wind - it is easier to handle and more seaworthy. On the bigger ones we always need 20 people to sail them - which is a lot. It is easier with Moonbeam,” explains French offshore racing legend Jacques Caraës, who now runs the boats and will skipper Moonbeam. He knows the race well having ended his first in a liferaft in 1979, after his crew was forced to abandon their ¾ Tonner Alvena. Caraës, a Whitbread Round the World Race competitor and Jules Verne Trophy record holder, last competed in the race on Bernard Stamm’s IMOCA 60 Cheminées Poujoulat in the 2000s.
Caraës acknowledges that typically they only race Moonbeam inshore and for the Rolex Fastnet Race her crew will be a mix of classic yacht stalwarts and Breton offshore racers. “I appreciate a lot that the RORC has said we can enter. I’m sure there won’t be many boats of this age.”
The oldest yacht in this year's Rolex Fastnet Race is the beautiful 1903 Fife gaff yawl Moonbeam © Benoit Couturier
Certainly, a classic making one of the longest journeys to the Rolex Fastnet Race’s 22nd July start will be Maluka. Well known in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, this 9m long 1932 vintage gaff-rigged classic was restored in 2006 by Sean Langman, a Hobart race veteran and industry figure (he owns Noakes Group, which operates boat/shipyards in North Sydney and Port Huon, Tasmania). Ironically Langman, a keen 18ft skiff sailor, is better known for competing in the fastest maxis, so racing Maluka, usually the oldest and smallest boat in the race, was an unusual step. However, she is part of Hobart race folklore having been sailed by an amateur crew from Sydney to Port Huon nine years prior the first Hobart Race. Langman restored her in time to compete in the 2006 Rolex Sydney Hobart in order to celebrate the 70th anniversary of this voyage. In the 2022 race she was campaigned to a class win by Langman’s son Peter (while he raced his present maxi, the former STP65 Moneypenny).
Langman is shipping Maluka to compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race having holidayed in the UK last year and wanting to take on a fresh challenge. He explains: “Now at 90 years old, Maluka should fit in well with 100 years of the Fastnet. Maluka has been an integral part of my son Pete’s upbringing. He did his first Hobart race on her at age 18 as skipper. Maluka racing offshore is for our team a connection with the purity of the sport. Our quest is to start and finish and mostly enjoy the sailing and each other’s company. The crew consists of myself, Pete Langman, Josh Alexander, Peter Inchbold and Gordon Maguire.” That would be the Sydney-based Irishman and Whitbread Round the World Race legend Gordon Maguire.
Maluka © Carlo Borlenghi/ROLEX
Post-WW2 ‘modern classics’ are also well represented. One of the most successful yachts of the 1960s, and perhaps the first modern day maxi, returns for a second consecutive time: the 22.6m ketch Stormvogel was launched in 1961 for Dutch plywood tycoon Cornelius Bruynzeel. His ties to the Fastnet Race are strong having won the 1937 race outright aboard his S&S yawl Zeearend. The 1961 Fastnet was Stormvogel’s first ever race, and she claimed line honours before heading off a successful globe-trotting program that took in the Newport-Bermuda, Gotland Runt, Transpac, Sydney Hobart, China Sea Race, Middle Sea, among others. Proving to be still highly competitive 60 years on, in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race she finished seventh overall of 181 finishers in IRC Overall.
The 1961 22.6m ketch Stormvogel returns for her second Rolex Fastnet Race © Rolex/Kurt Arrigo
Two of Stormvogel’s original competitors from the 1960s are competing this year. It will be the first time Germania VI (of a similar size and vintage to Stormvogel, only built in welded aluminium to a Sparkman & Stephens design) will compete in the Fastnet Race. Originally built for the Krupp family, she has spent most of the last 50 years being used for training young sailors and has competed in many of the world’s top offshore races including Newport-Bermuda, Buenos Aires-Rio and several transatlantics. The program was rejuvenated in 2016 and is now led by a trio of skippers including Jens Seiderer and Katrin Hilbert, both of whom have previously competed in RORC major offshore events such as the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race, Rolex Fastnet Race and Caribbean 600 aboard Norddeutsche Vermögen Hamburg and Haspa Hamburg.
“The Rolex Fastnet Race is the perfect benchmark to show that we and Germania VI have developed and that we can also meet current standards and not just have to live off the glory of earlier times,” explains Seiderer, who will compete with a crew including five more experienced sailors and five trainees aged 16-30.
Largely original, Germania VI has been upgraded to make her more usable: “Four years ago we replaced the 8m long aluminium spinnaker pole, which needed three people to lift it, to a much lighter carbon one,” says Seiderer.
Young trainee sailors will be competing on board the 1963 aluminium classic Germania VI © Lasse Eklof www.yachtphoto.se
A close relation of Germania VI and frequent rival of Stormvogel is another aluminium S&S design, the 73ft Kialoa II, originally launched as a sloop (but now a yawl) and campaigned heavily throughout the 1960s by American Jim Kilroy. Compared to Stormvogel, Kialoa II’s program was more US-based, but the two competed notably in the 1967 Transpac when Stormvogel won line honours.
After Kilroy moved on to his first IOR maxi, Kialoa II changed hands and was eventually acquired by present owners Paddy and Keith Broughton. Both are highly experienced yachtsman having campaigned the Swan 51 Grandee since the mid-1990s in races from the Rolex Fastnet Race to the Sydney Hobart and Kenwood Cup. In 2016 they graduated up to Kialoa II with the aim of following a similar program to Kilroy’s at his height: entering both the Rolex Fastnet Race and Sydney Hobart in 2017 and sailing between the two. For this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race they are delivering Kialoa II from Sydney on her own bottom, a voyage due to have gone via Cape Horn until some forestay issues forced them to divert to Tahiti. At the time of writing, Kialoa II was en route to Panama.
Furthest travelled? Paddy and Keith Broughton's Kialoa II is being sailed all the way from Sydney, Australia to compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race in July © Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi
A more modest yacht of this vintage is Pierre Legoupil’s Cherbourg-based Le Loup Rouge, which although French owned is a British design, a 1962 11m Maïca from the board of former RORC Commodore John Illingworth and Angus Primrose. Lowest rated in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race, Le Loup Rouge was last to arrive in her homeport, winning the Galley Slaves Trophy. She remains in excellent condition and although kept in her original ‘spirit’ has been discretely upgraded with aluminium boom and spinnaker pole, a modern engine and fittings and Dacron sails.
This year will see strong competition for the Sparkman & Stephens Trophy, appropriate given that the famous design house’s reputation was forged upon the success of Dorade, back-to-back overall winner in both 1931 and 1933. In addition to the famous maxis mentioned, are a plethora of S&S designs, especially from Nautor – the Swan 36, 43, 441, 48, 55 and 65. Winner of the Trophy in 2021, and returning for 2023, is stalwart competitor Harry J. Heijst and his S&S 41 Winsome, along with another Rolex Fastnet Race regular Ben Morris’ Brixham-based Swan 55 Lulotte, the 2019 winner who will be competing in his tenth Fastnet.
Pierre Legoupil’s Cherbourg-based 1962 Maïca Le Loup Rouge © PierrickContin.fr
In addition, there is the welcome return of Sunstone, the 1965 S&S 39 aboard which Tom and Vicky Jackson hoovered up most available RORC silverware in the late 1980s/early 90s, before being taken on a massive 200,000 mile round the world cruise until 2015. Sunstone’s new custodian is Will Taylor-Jones. Richard Loftus’ Swan 65 ketch Desperado of Cowes has possibly raced more Fastnets than any other yacht and returns. Usually with a crew including several Whitbread Round the World Race legends, Desperado is renowned for its black tie dinners at the Fastnet Rock, but is always raced hard - in 1989 (when the race was scored under three different rating systems) she won overall under CHS.
Making the trip once again across from the USA is the S&S 49 Hiro Maru campaigned by Hiroshi Nakajima. A former Transpac and SORC class winner under her original name Scaramouche, Hiro Maru with her present owner won her class in the 2019 west to east Transatlantic Race before going on to compete in that year’s Rolex Fastnet Race, returning again 2021.
For Finland’s Tapio Lehtinen, the race will be a warm-up before he takes his Swan 55 Galiana round the world in September’s Ocean Globe Race. This will also be the case for the Mauric 60 Neptune, which competed in the second Whitbread Round the World Race in 1977-78 under France’s Bernard de Guy is now skippered by Tan Raffray. Neptune started the 1977 Fastnet Race, but never finished.
Also returning is the Nicholson 55 Quailo III, originally built for RORC Commodore Don Parr, that finished second overall in the 1971 Fastnet Race before going on to represent the UK in the 1973 Admiral’s Cup and in that year’s Sydney Hobart.
S&S 49 Hiro Maru campaigned by Hiroshi Nakajima © Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi
The 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race starts from Cowes, Isle of Wight on Saturday 22nd July.
Back to defend their title in 2023: Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise were victorious in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race, winning the Fastnet Challenge Cup for IRC Overall © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com
With the Rolex Fastnet Race this year celebrating its 50th edition, many past overall winners and winning boats are returning.
Most significant of those who have previously lifted the race’s Fastnet Challenge Cup is the 2021 IRC Overall winner, Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise. She led a superb effort when, after a decade of French domination, Britain finally wrestled back control of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier event with a ‘perfect’ scoreline, winning the top three spots under IRC Overall (Sunrise, plus with RORC Commodore James Neville’s Ino XXX and Pata Negra) just as France had done in 2013 and 2015.
Catherine and Niklas Zennström won both the 2009 and 2011 Rolex Fastnet Races and their CF520 Rán 8 was built in the hope of making it a hattrick in this 50th edition of the race © Paul Wyeth/RORC
James Boyd reviews some of the latest hardware built or acquired especially for this
year's historic race
Winning the world’s largest offshore yacht race comes with huge prestige. Names on the Fastnet Challenge Cup, presented to the overall corrected time winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race since its first edition in 1925, include Jolie Brise, Dorade, Myth of Malham, Carina II, Pen Duick III, Condor, Nicorette, Morning Glory, Nokia, Rán 2, and more recently from France; Night and Day, Courrier Du Leon and Lann Ael 2, plus the American VO70 Wizard and the defending British champion, Sunrise. Today the Fastnet Challenge Cup is presented to the corrected time winner in IRC Overall.
However, this July’s Rolex Fastnet Race will be the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier event. For this special historic event, several are building or acquiring yachts with the specific aim of getting their name on the trophy.
Ino Noir - RORC Commodore James Neville's new 45ft Carkeek design is currently in build with a view to being competitive in 600 mile offshore races, especially the Rolex Fastnet Race
Ino Noir - Carkeek 45 - James Neville
Leading this charge is Commodore of the RORC James Neville who is replacing his highly successful Ino XXX with a new 45ft Carkeek design currently being built by Jason Carrington’s team near Southampton.
The new Ino Noir is a development of his present HH42, which the Commodore has raced both inshore, in the FAST40+ class, and offshore, winning many races and notably finishing second to Sunrise in IRC Overall in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race. The aim of the new boat is to be competitive in the ever-growing international portfolio of 600 mile offshore races. Neville explains his approach: “Looking at how all the developments in the FAST40+ - hull shapes, appendages, rigs, sails etc – have come on, we wanted to capture that learning, just as the PAC52s have taken all the learning from the Super Series 52s, and applied that to an offshore boat.”
At 45ft the new Ino Noir will be slightly longer as Neville wants to continue racing with his same crew of 10. The boat features the typical Carkeek heavily chamfered foredeck, reverse sheer bow, twin rudders, wheel steering and water ballast tanks (480kg per side).
Rán 8 - CF520 - Niklas Zennström
In the same vein, but already racing, is Niklas Zennström’s Rán 8. This CF520 is again a Carkeek design, but was built by Fibre Mechanics in Lymington from the tooling of Richard Matthew’s Oystercatcher XXXV. Already in 2022 she enjoyed considerable success, finishing second to Ino XXX in the RORC’s Myth of Malham Race and winning the Channel Race, before coming fourth overall in last autumn’s Rolex Middle Sea Race.
With their all-conquering Maxi 72 Rán 2, Zennström’s team claimed the Fastnet Challenge Cup in the 2009 and 2011 (the first back-to-back winner since Carina II in 1955-57), but was unable to make it a hattrick in 2013. Zennström returns with his enthusiastic offshore racer wife Catherine for another attempt in 2023.
“The first goal when we built the boat was for the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race - the 50th anniversary, so obviously a big race,” explains Rán skipper Tim Powell. “Everything we are doing is leading up to that. We were quite happy that the Rolex Middle Sea Race was a light air race, because if the boat had a weakness then it would be in that, so we were pleased the boat performed pretty well. Now we are off to do the RORC Caribbean 600 which we assume will be in the boat’s more natural conditions, so more big learning for us.”
As to why the new Rán 8 is a 52 rather than another Maxi 72, the team has familiarity with that size having campaigned several TP52s and it is generally more manageable. Compared to a TP52, it has twin rudders, a more powerful hull shape and so is able to carry more sail area, but has a similar overall displacement, and carries 550kg water ballast tanks. It is much more offshore orientated, drier below with less through-deck systems and a more usable and comfortable living space. “This boat is a big boat downstairs,” continues Powell. “I am 6ft 2in and I can stand up.”
Catherine and Niklas Zennström won both the 2009 and 2011 Rolex Fastnet Races and their CF520 Rán 8 was built in the hope of making it a hattrick in this 50th edition of the race © Paul Wyeth/RORC
Notorious - Maxi 72 - Peter Morton
While Zennström may not be fielding a Maxi 72, his FAST40+ rival Peter Morton is, having acquired the former Caol Ila R, now renamed Notorious.
Although better known for having breathed life back into the Quarter Ton class, campaigning a FAST40+ and more recently a 5.5mR, Morton grew up competing in the Admiral’s Cup. He explains: “2023 is a big year for me: I did my first Fastnet in 1973, so it will be 50 years on from that. This will be the 50th Fastnet. Plus I won the Fastnet in 1993, 30 years ago on Indulgence and again in 2003 on Enigma. So this also has a ‘3’ in it. Plus I will be 70, so the stars are aligned. They say you need a foot for every year you are old…especially to go offshore. We’ll do the RORC races as warm up and then have a go at the Fastnet.”
Morton also has a long association with Notorious’ designer Mark Mills, dating back to the beginnings of IRC when he commissioned the IRM 50 Mandrake from him. As Caol Ila R, Notorious has a strong pedigree: she won the Rolex Maxi 72 World Championship in 2014 and had an exceptional 2019 season winning, among others, the prestigious Rolex Giraglia offshore race from St Tropez to Monaco overall under IRC.
Despite her size, the Maxi 72 is a wet boat, but Morton says he will attempt to rectify this for his 2023 programme. Otherwise Notorious is ready to go. This will be Morton’s first Rolex Fastnet Race since winning on Charles Dunstone’s maxi in 2003.
Celebrating 50 years since his first Fastnet Race, Peter Morton will compete in his newly acquired Maxi 72 Notorious (formerly Caol Ila R) © Carlo Borlenghi/ROLEX Tulikettu - Infiniti 52 - Arto Linnervuo
Tulikettu - Infiniti 52 - Arto Linnervuo
Launched in 2022 and another to watch will be Arto Linnervuo’s Infiniti 52 Tulikettu, which has a programme principally focussing on the world’s 600 mile offshore races. This includes the Rolex Fastnet Race, but also the RORC’s Roschier Baltic Sea Race, which starts and finishes in Helsinki in Linnervuo’s native Finland; a race which his company supports. Tulikettu is the first example of the Hugh Welbourn-designed Infiniti 52 and is equipped with a lateral, sliding Dynamic Stability Systems (DSS) foil, which when deployed provides added righting moment to leeward. Tulikettu recently sailed her first race, the RORC Transatlantic Race and is entered in the RORC Caribbean 600 too.
Arto Linnervuo’s Infiniti 52 Tulikettu has a programme principally focussing on the world’s 600 mile offshore races © Rick Tomlinson/Infiniti Yachts
Seahorse - Pogo S4 - Andrew Hurst
Meanwhile another icon of British sailing, Andrew Hurst, a leading sailor and now editor of Seahorse magazine, has bought a new Class40 with the aim of competing in the Rolex Fastnet Race and then the doublehanded Transat Jacques Vabre.
“It started when I went out to watch the last Fastnet start in 35 knots in my RIB,” Hurst explains. “Charlie Dalin (on the IMOCA Apivia) went past and gave me a big wave and I found myself thinking ‘I would like to do this again’. Then all the 40s started flying past - not as much fun, but still pretty good… It has been long enough that I have forgotten how horrible it can be!”
Hurst will be working with Joe Lacey to get his new Guillaume Verdier-designed Pogo S4, Seahorse, due for delivery in March.
From the mid-1980s, Hurst regularly competed in the Admiral’s Cup, his last having been on the British team’s ILC 40 Group 4 Seahorse Astro in 1995. He was attracted to the Class40 because of the quality of the boats, the calibre of the competitors, that today includes the cream of the Figaro fleet, but mostly because of the tight racing. Today he mostly races J/80s and his Finn dinghy, and while the Class40 is not a one design, it is a box rule, so close.
Andrew Hurst's Class40 v4 Seahorse © Sébastien Piquet
Entry for the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race opened on 11 January 2023 and now stands at 489 in number.
The 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race is on course for record entry © Kurt Arrigo/ROLEX
The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s new race entry system has been burning red hot since 1200 UTC today when registration opened for the 50th edition of the club’s flagship event, the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Competitors are urged by RORC to set up their accounts NOW on the new race entry system: https://sailracehq.com prior to registration opening for the Rolex Fastnet Race on 11 January © Kurt Arrigo/ROLEX
With one week to go until the all-important registration date for the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, has published the event Notice of Race.
In addition to the broad details of the event, the NoR includes its full schedule from registration opening at 1200 UTC (1300 French time) on Wednesday, 11 January, to the start date of Saturday 22 July when the first warning signal will be at 1300 BST.
The start will be preceded by a skippers briefing and press conference on Friday 21 July, with a crew presentation and show taking place for French competitors in the Cherbourg race village on Thursday 20 July at the same time as a crew party will be taking place in Cowes.
At the finish in Cherbourg there will be a presentation for the faster ‘pro’ classes, followed by a crew party and ‘Happy Hour’ on Tuesday 25 July, while the main prizegiving will take place on Friday 28 July.
The RORC advises that since this year’s race will take place prior to Cowes Week, there is far greater opportunity to book a berth or a mooring and arrive early in Cowes to enjoy the pre-start ambience and festivities. Overseas entries, and especially those from France, are advised that there is free berthing in Cherbourg for a week prior to the start.
Prior to registration opening on 11 January, competitors are advised that the RORC has a new race entry system called SailRaceHQ (www.sailracehq.com) and they should set up their accounts afresh on this as data held currently in the existing Sailgate system will not be migrated across.
Based on recent experience, places in the race are expected to be filled within minutes of registration opening, with late comers going on to a waiting list. However, it should be noted that, as usual, RORC members will be given priority entry and a discounted entry fee, although this applies only to boat owners and skippers who are members.
The ‘pro’ classes (ie IMOCA; Class40; Figaro 3; Ultim and Ocean 50) as well as the multihull classes have until 14 April to sign up.
The Rolex Fastnet Race remains by far the world’s largest offshore yacht race. This is largely because of it being open to the complete cross section of the sailing community; from first timers, family, club and sailing school teams, to IRC racers, doublehanders and multihulls, to the ‘pro’ classes. It offers the unique experience of amateurs being on the same starting line as some of the sport’s most high profile teams and crews.
In summary:
Entrants should register as soon as possible on SailRaceHQ (www.sailracehq.com)
Then enter the race at 1200 UTC on 11 January 2023 at: www.sailracehq.com)
Read the Guide for Entrants: https://www.rolexfastnetrace.com/en/competitors/race-documents/race-documents
The RORC Race Team are here to help: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Rolex Fastnet Race start - the world's largest offshore yacht race is an impressive sight as the fleet heads out of the Solent © Carlo Borlenghi/ROLEX
The RORC has launched a new race entry system SailRaceHQ, replacing the old Sailgate system with immediate effect.
1200 UTC 11th January 2023: this time should be double underlined in the calendar of those wishing to enter next year’s Rolex Fastnet Race, as it will be the moment when registration officially opens for the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s flagship event.
One Year to Go! The world's largest offshore race - The Rolex Fastnet Race starts on Saturday 22 July 2023 © Kurt Arrigo/Rolex
A year from now the start gun will fire on what will be the most significant, historic edition of the world’s largest offshore yacht race. Setting sail from Cowes on Saturday 22nd July 2023 will be the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Rolex Fastnet Race.
Dates announced for the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race - The world's largest offshore race. Save the date: 22nd July-28th July 2023 Cowes-Fastnet Rock-Cherbourg-en-Cotentin © Kurt Arrigio/Rolex
Following the success of the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race from Cowes to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and its French partners are delighted to announce the date for the next edition of its flagship event in 2023.
The upwind start into lumpy seas that challenged so many of the fleet in the 49th Rolex Fastnet Race © Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex
With its new course and giant fleet, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Rolex Fastnet Race this year provided an even greater test of racing and seamanship skill for its competitors. At 695 miles, the new course to Cherbourg was 90 miles longer than before, but as usual, required competitors to negotiate a complex mix of coastal, oceanic and tidal sailing. More extreme than usual were the conditions. For the start there was a near gale and a vicious wind-against-tide sea state to exit the Solent, but these slowly abated and later there were periods of flat calm and fog.
The move of the finish from Plymouth to Cherbourg was due to the increased facilities, including a huge marina and berthing in the heart of the city, as well as taking the world’s largest offshore race to a country where public interest and enthusiasm for this form of yachting is unparalleled. It came about thanks to the co-operation of the City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Communauté d’agglomération du Cotentin, the Conseil départemental de la Manche and Région Normandie.
With the finish of the final competitor, Le Loup Rouge of Cmn, it is the conclusion of the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race © Matthieu Honore
The Rolex Fastnet Race has officially come to an end. Le Loup Rouge of Cmn, the last competitor to finish, arrived in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin last night after 8 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 28 seconds of racing.
The race was covered in detail and you can catch up online with the footage, photos and social media © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com
Katrina Westphal, sailing Carkeek 47 Stortebeker, is awarded the Maite de Arambalza Trophy for best yacht with a female skipper © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com
This evening is the prize-giving for the 49th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race, taking place in the race village on the waterfront at Cherbourg’s Port Chantereyne.
As overall winner of the race, Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise is going to need a bigger cabinet to store the trophies which include the Foxhound Cup for victory in IRC Two as well as the coveted Fastnet Challenge Cup for winning the Rolex Fastnet Race outright. A new prize, the David Seth Smith Trophy is also for Sunrise as the best Performance 40. The Alf Loomis Trophy goes to the navigator of the best yacht overall, although as co-navigators Suzy Peters and Tom Cheney will have to argue over who gets to take that one home. With two years until the next edition of the race, at least Tom and Suzy can keep it for a year each.
