Could two new JPK 1050s upset the apple cart in IRC Two? Jean-Pierre Kelbert (whose initials constitute the brand name of his successful line of boats) has a habit of breaking the mould in IRC racing, and his new 34-footer may well be a game changer in this competitive division with 73 entries.
Hervé Chataigner and Gildas Morvan borrowed the works boat Léon for the Transmanche cross-channel race in June while they were waiting for delivery of Chataigner’s own JPK 1050 Pilou. Léon broke the course record for the race, with the boat no doubt capable of more once they’ve learned how to get the best out of this new design.
Chataigner has a useful co-pilot in Morvan. After representing France in the 1995 America’s Cup and in the Soling at the 1996 Olympics, Morvan has carved out a long and successful career in offshore racing. With 19 years on the Figaro circuit which yielded four podiums and six stage victories, he has raced IMOCAs in some of the big transatlantic events like the Route du Rhum and Transat Jacques Vabre.
Jean-Pierre Kelbert and Alexis Loison return to the race with a brand new JPK 1050 Léon © JPK Composites
The team on Pilou will be looking forward to a match race against the team who step on to Léon for the Rolex Fastnet Race - Jean-Pierre Kelbert along with Alexis Loison, one of the most formidable talents on the doublehanded scene. Together this duo 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. To date they remain the only doublehanded team to have taken the biggest trophy in the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Like other JPKs, this is a Jacques Valer design which Loison says is similar conceptually to Lann Ael 3. “It is a fast boat reaching and downwind - lighter than the last design.” Another sailor looking forward to unleashing his new JPK 1050 is Ludovic Gerard who will be racing Solenn for Pure Ocean with Eliott Coville. “After eight successful years with my previous Solenn - a JPK 1080 - I am eager to enjoy and have fun with the new one,” says Gerard.
Didier Gaudoux's NM 35 Lann Ael 3 © ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi
Talking of Lann Ael 3, Didier Gaudoux has already proven the pedigree of this NM 35 designed by Manuard-Nivelt. Last year Gaudoux and his co-skipper Erwan Tabarly surfed to IRC victory in the windy 2024 Loro Piana Giraglia, covering the 241-mile course from Saint-Tropez - Giraglia - Genoa in just under 25 hours. Just under 11 metres long, Lann Ael 3 has a semi-scow bow specifically designed to be sailed doublehanded. Sailing with Gildas Morvan, Gaudoux also sailed Lann Ael 3 to victory in the inaugural IRC Two-Handed European Championship. These achievements - along with the fact that Gaudoux was the outright winner of the 2017 Rolex Fastnet Race with Lann Ael 2 - surely make him one of the favourites for IRC 2 honours this year.
In downwind planing conditions the easily-driven hull forms of Lann Ael 3 and the JPK 1050 sisterships could prove hard to beat. But there are plenty of other crews at the top of their game in IRC 2, not least Scarlet Oyster which currently leads the RORC Season's Points in this division. Ross Applebey's Lightwave 48 is a very well-travelled yacht, with 13 Atlantic crossings under her keel. Applebey himself has clocked up in excess of 150,000 miles on board a boat that has been in the family for more than 30 years.
Scarlet Oyster has competed in almost every RORC season since 1999, and only missed the 2009 Fastnet (she was sailing around Britain with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust). She has made the podium in class in every Fastnet she has completed since 2005, scoring five second places and two firsts.
Scarlet Oyster is currently leading IRC Two in the RORC Season's Points Championship © Paul Wyeth
The scow-bowed Pogos are becoming increasingly popular in the offshore scene and one to watch in IRC Two will be Midnight Blues, a 34ft Pogo RC. Owned by RORC Main Committee and IRC Board member Jean-Eudes Renier, he will be sailing the race alongside Joe Lacey who is a RORC Rear Commodore. Lacey has spent many years in France immersing himself in the offshore culture and will be pushing for a good result with Renier.
Nicolas Loday and Jean-Claude Nicoleau have enjoyed plenty of Fastnet success over the years and will once again be campaigning the well-proven Grand Soleil 43, Codiam. Now aged 74, Loday has been sailing avidly since he was 10 years old and won the 505 World Championship in 1972.
Loday went on to campaign in Olympic classes like the Flying Dutchman and coached Thierry Peponnet and Luc Pillot to an Olympic bronze medal in the 470 at the Los Angeles 1984 Games. Since his dinghy racing days he graduated to offshore competition including a leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race. The history and geography teacher has been a consistent participant in the Fastnet for almost half a century and Loday - along with the rest of the Codiam crew - will be competitive again this year.
Codiam at the Fastnet Rock - the famed turning point of the race © ROLEX/Kurt Arrigo
Another Grand Soleil 43, but taking part in her first Rolex Fastnet Race, is Ikigaï, and her crew, representing KYCN, the Royal Yacht Club of Nieuwpoort. The crew all met a long time ago at university and kept sailing and racing together, evolving into a passionate, multigenerational team. Skipper Benoït Stevens takes inspiration from one of France’s greatest offshore legends. “If we come away with stories, stronger bonds, and maybe a bit of salt in our souls, then we’ve done what we came for. Like Eric Tabarly said: ‘To sail well is not to go fast, it's to go where you need to, when you need to.’ We are looking for a true human adventure, a mix of seamanship, friendship, and unpredictability.”
Similar to the crew of Ikigaï, it’s university life that has brought together the team who will be racing a Sun Fast 3600, Löwe von Bremen. Led by skipper Frederick Nabor, the boat is crewed by the student-led section of the German sailing club Segelkameradschaft "Das Wappen von Bremen”, with sailors ranging in age from 23 to 35, studying disciplines ranging from medicine and mechanical engineering to political science and journalism.
Grand Soleil 43 Ikigaï, skippered by Benoit Stevens © Ikigaï
Alofi is a Figaro Beneteau 3 with a strong record in the Solitaire du Figaro (2nd in 2021 and 2022 with Xavier Macaire). Thierry Levayer, from Nouméa, New Caledonia, is doing the Rolex Fastnet Race with a close friend (and very experienced sailor), Philippe Delamare, as a training exercise for the next Solitaire du Figaro. Delamare was winner of the Global Solo Challenge 2023-2024 and has covered more than 100,000 miles at sea.
Very familiar with Irish waters are the crew of Prime Suspect, a Mills 36 Custom jointly owned by Keith Miller, Tom O'Connor, and Donal Mcloughlin. Prime Suspect completed the SSE Renewables Round Ireland Race in 2022, the D2D and the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2023. Prime Suspect is closely associated with the RNLI and helps raise funds for the charity. Miller is a coxswain on Rosslare Harbour’s Severn class lifeboat.
Coming from further afield is Jeremi Jablonski’s Hanse 430 Avanti (USA). Racing with co-skipper Marek Mirota, Jablonski was the winner of IRC Two-Handed in the RORC Transatlantic Race and has just completed the Transatlantic Race to Cowes in order to compete in his first Rolex Fastnet Race.
Jeremi Jablonski's American Hanse 430 Avanti © Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com
A piece of history in this division, but still very competitive, is Crusade. Owned by Nick Hayward-Young; his Gurney 64 Custom was commissioned in 1969 by the newspaper baron Sir Max Aitken. Built in Cowes, she was immediately shipped out to Australia where she won line honours in the 1969 Sydney-Hobart Yacht Race. On returning to the UK, she was a renowned Admiral’s Cup racer. A third place in IRC Two in this year’s windy Myth of Malham suggests Crusade is still a modern-day contender.
Finishing one place behind Crusade in the Myth of Malham was Richard Powell’s First 40 Rogan Josh. This amateur team from the Royal Thames YC also sailed well in June to become 2025 IRC Two National Champions.
A modern-day contender - Crusade, the 1969 classic Gurney 64 © Paul Wyeth
There is a significant fleet of J Boats in IRC Two, too many to mention all of them. But Lawrence Herbert’s J/133 Corazon scored a second place in IRC Two in the Myth of Malham, and this young crew - all under 30 - have been performing well across the past three seasons of RORC racing.
Derek Shakespeare, Vice Commodore of RORC, has been successfully campaigning his J/122 Bulldog, with an overall win in RORC’s De Guingand Bowl Race last year as some indicator of the boat’s potential.
Jenis is a J/112 GP from Kazakhstan, skippered by Murat Abdrakhmanov. Last year this Kazakh crew finished second in class in the Rolex Giraglia Cup.
J/112 GP Jenis crewed by a team from Kazakhstan © Paul Wyeth
J/122 Mojito, owned by Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox, and racing out of Pwllheli Sailing Club, participated in the RORC Nelson's Cup Series and the RORC Caribbean 600 in Antigua in early 2025. In the Nelson's Cup, Mojito won races during the week and ultimately finished runner-up in IRC Two. In the Caribbean 600, Mojito also finished second in class.
Cris Miles has covered plenty of sea miles in his professional career, having completed many many ISORA races, Scottish Islands Peaks Race, and the Three Peaks Yacht Race. However, this is his first attempt at the Rolex Fastnet Race and he’s skippering a J/111 Jezebel. Miles describes his crew as “an exemplary bunch of guys with military background,” but adds intriguingly: “Professions are on a need-to-know basis.” One of the crew will also be scattering the ashes of his late father at the Fastnet Rock as per his wishes.
Whiskey Jack is a well-known name in the world of offshore racing in the Far East. Owner/skipper Nick Southward of the J/122 is looking forward to showing what his Hong Kong crew can do in the Rolex Fastnet Race. A fifth place in IRC Two at the Myth of Malham suggests Whiskey Jack will be one to watch for the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Nick Southward's J/122 Whiskey Jack, from Hong Kong © Paul Wyeth
