Once again, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier event, the Rolex Fastnet Race, proved itself to be, by far, the largest offshore yacht race in the world.
Entry to the race opened at 10:00 UTC on the 15th January and within just minutes staggering new records were set in terms of the speed with which boats registered and their quantity.
From the moment entry opened the RORC’s entry portal SailRaceHQ was already running at full speed. With duplicate entries removed by 11:00, 435 registrations had been received.
Race Director Steve Cole observed:
“This morning 217 yachts had registered in the first minute compared to 178 last time. 420 had entered in the first five minutes which took two hours last time.”
First yacht to successfully register, within five seconds of entry opening, was Frenchman Oscar Lenoel’s Pogo 12.50 Cléobulle.
This year’s Rolex Fastnet Race will form the final race in the 2025 edition of the Admiral’s Cup with the Admiral’s Cup fleet guaranteed entry in the Rolex Fastnet Race. These boats have yet to be added to the list, thereby swelling the fleet further. It is set to include the Rolex Fastnet Race’s defending champion, Max Klink’s Botin 52 Caro, racing as part of the team representing the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. The Admiral’s Cup fleet will also include the 2009 and 2011 overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race Niklas Zennström, trying for his hat-trick, racing his CF520 Rán 8.
Meanwhile whilst all this record breaking race registration was taking place one of the RORC 2025 races was taking place across the Atlantic Ocean. Bryon Ehrhart’s Juan K Maxi 88 Lucky (USA) crossed the finish line outside Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada on Monday 20th January 2025 at 09:19:41 UTC having sailed from Lanzarote. Taking Monohull Line Honours for the 2025 RORC Transatlantic Race, Bryon Ehrhart was presented with the IMA Transatlantic Trophy by IMA Secretary General, Andrew McIrvine.
Lucky’s elapsed time eclipsed the record set by VPLP 100 Comanche in 2022 by 01 hour 25 minutes to set a new RORC Transatlantic Race Monohull Race Record of 07 Days 20 Hrs 34 Mins and 41 Secs.
