Hey Jude beetles her way towards the Rock
With approximately 300 miles completed, and 400 yet to be sailed, the J/120 Hey Jude finds herself at the head of IRC Two on corrected time. On Sunday as the breeze subsided, Hey Jude’s skipper Philippe Girardin was reeling in early IRC Two leader Fujitsu British Soldier, the Sun Fast 3600 skippered by Major Henry Foster.
With the wind blowing lighter since that fresh to frightening opening day, the fully-crewed Fujitsu is losing out to the doublehanded teams and has slipped back to fourth place in the standings. Behind Hey Jude another French team, the doublehanded J/99 Axe Sail skippered by Maxime Mesnil, has moved up to second overall, followed by the rapidly improving Mzungu!. Sam White’s JPK 1080 has already taken class victory earlier this season in the RORC Myth of Malham Race so it’s no surprise to see the British boat move into contention.
Another JPK 1080 making moves up the order is Frederic Nouel’s Karavel, and there are two Sun Fast 3300s also on a charge through the Celtic Sea - the French entry Festa 2 skippered by Jean François Hamon and Atomic, the British boat skippered by Chris Agace. With the wind due to drop even lighter as the IRC Two fleet draws closer to the Fastnet Rock in the coming 24 hours, it could be a slow and patience-sapping passage towards the southern tip of Ireland.
