20:00 Sunday 27 July 2025
Wide Open in IRC One
It’s easy to believe that the great veterans of multiple Rolex Fastnet Races are going to dominate again. But big names like Géry Trentesaux and Jacques Pelletier are having to fight tooth and nail to make their presence felt in IRC One.
It’s been a decade since Trentesaux skippered his JPK 1080 Courrier Du Leon to overall victory in the race, and he’s been enjoying a good 2025 season with his Sydney GTS 43. Currently the serial winner lies in fifth on corrected time, so still within striking distance of division victory. Pelletier’s Milon 41 L'Ange De Milon sits in eighth, so not too shabby, but with a lot of work to do in order to catch the current front runners on corrected time.
The surprise package is the crew on Bedouin, a 2012 Frers-designed Swan 53 skippered by Australian sailor Linda Goddard. Simply having her four children, aged 15 to 23, as part of the crew is already a dream come true for Goddard, but to be in the battle for a podium place would be the icing on the cake.
The 1970 vintage Nielsen design Hound had a punchy start © Paul Wyeth/www.pwpictures.com
Leading up to the Scilly Isles and the big decision to go north or west, Hound’s navigator Conrad Humphreys was fretting about the big choice. The 1970 vintage 59-footer Nielsen design, a recent competitor in the RORC Transatlantic Race, was one of the punchiest off the Cowes start line on Saturday. Now Humphreys was feeling the pressure to make the right decision as they began the Celtic Sea phase of the competition.
“Twenty four [hours] in, just past the Lizard, we’re heading to the Scilly Isles,” said Humphreys. “We’re a few hours from the TSS, just to the east of the Scillies. We’re in a real critical part of the race because we could tack back to the northwest and sail up inside of Land’s End, potentially with more favourable current and better pressure or sail up through the Scilly Isles.”
In the end, Humphreys and the Hound crew opted to go with the majority and stay to the south of the TSS. Only a handful, around 10 boats, have opted for the northerly route closer to the tip of Cornwall. One of those is Stormvogel who has been a star performer at the past two editions of the Rolex Fastnet Race. However, that was in the heinously strong winds that ripped through the fleet in 2021 and 2023, conditions that worked in favour of this sturdily built ketch which took line honours in 1961. The lighter breeze is unlikely to suit Stormvogel so well. The decision to go north appears to be a roll of the dice, but perhaps there is more method to taking the road less travelled.
Stormvogel has rolled the dice and is one of only 10 boats heading north round the TSS © ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
Stickleback, on the other hand, was one of the most southerly boats as the fleet sailed past the Scillies. Nick and Jacquetta Edmonds and the rest of the crew on this J/45 have had some bigger challenges to deal with, however. “Making slow progress in the light stuff,” was the message from the boat. “We damaged the mainsail at Yarmouth and now can only sail with one reef. Team spirits are high - but not enjoying boats sailing past us.”
After much worse setbacks in past editions, including a dismasting four years ago, Ed Bell’s Dawn Treader team are grateful to find themselves in the hunt. Dawn Treader are in the race and fighting, keen to prove the clear potential they have shown on many occasions in RORC competition. “All is going well on Dawn Treader. We are massively enjoying the battle with all the other JPK 1180s.”
IRC Two: Screenshot it while it’s there!
“We've just done a pretty big dice roll. We've gone up north,” said Lawrence Herbert. Even when things are tense, however, the skipper of J/133 Corazon sounds upbeat. “It’s so warm, I even took my shoes off. But it’s pretty tense on board, and we’ll have to wait to see if we’ve made the right move or not.”
Battling away in IRC Two, Corazon was one of very few boats to opt for the northerly route around the TSS between Land’s End and at the Scilly Isles. “We’ve got about 3.5 knots of tide underneath us which feels good, but to go the route we’ve done, you have to time it pretty perfectly.”
Fleet start for IRC Two © Paul Wyeth/www.pwpictures.com The weather models that the sailors study have also been in disagreement. “It’s a toss-up as to which model is going to win, and this will probably determine the outcome of the race.”
For a while things were going well for Corazon, very well indeed. “My girlfriend sent me a screenshot that showed us in the lead of IRC Overall, which was pretty nice,” said Herbert. “And leading our class out of the Solent was another high point so far.”
Corazon has been in a close battle with Moana, a J/122 from the Netherlands. Skipper Frans van Cappelle was sounding upbeat. “The spirits are high, but the wind is low at the moment. But great racing so far; with multiple navigational decisions like rounding Portland Bill on the inside. The competition is tight which makes the racing extra fun. The choice to go east of the separation zone of the Scillies was a tricky one, but it is still a long race so plenty of room to fight back. No guts, no glory!”
Moana's crew enjoyed the fair weather in Cowes before the start © Moana
While early signs were that Moana and Corazon might have made the killer move, as subsequent hours have played out their brave decision doesn’t look so great anymore. The more popular southerly route past the Scilly Isles appears to be gaining strength and Léon has now displaced Corazon at the top of the IRC Two rankings. However it is no surprise to see this new JPK 1050 fighting for the front of the division. It’s crewed by two of the most formidable doublehanded talents in Fastnet history.
Together Jean-Pierre Kelbert and Alexis Loison won their class in 2019 on what was the new JPK 1030 model at the time, also called Léon. Loison is one of the most successful Fastnet competitors of all time, with five class victories dating back to 2005 and outright victory with his father Pascal on the JPK 1010 Night and Day. Early signs suggest the new JPK 1050 could be every bit as potent as its elder JPK siblings.
Alexis Loison, racing doublehanded with Jean-Pierre Kelbert on the JPK 1050 Leon © Arthur Daniel/RORC
Alexis Loison is also the most capped IRC Two-Handed winner in this race. While he has previously achieved this in IRC Three and IRC Four, this year the faster designs racing in IRC Two have come to fore so far in the early stages of the race. Léon’s position at the top of IRC Two is especially impressive given that the doublehanded teams don’t have a full-time navigator for weather routing and strategic decisions.
Sitting in fourth place in IRC Two currently is another new JPK 1050, Solenn for Pure Ocean, which owner Ludovic Gerard is sailing very effectively with Eliott Coville, which lies second in IRC Two-Handed. Sandwiched between the JPK 1050s in second place in IC Two is Iritis, a Beneteau First 40 2.48T skippered by Hervé Bénic and in third overall, a perennial podium finisher in multiple Rolex Fastnet Races and present RORC Yacht of the Year, Ross Applebey’s Lightwave 48, Scarlet Oyster.
