Another record-sized fleet will depart from Cowes to tackle the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s premier event: the Rolex Fastnet Race later this month (22nd July).
At present from across the globe 491 yachts of all shapes and sizes, ranging from 9m to 30m, are on the race’s provisional entry list. This is 26% more than the previous record entry of 388 that took part in 2019’s pre-COVID-19 edition. Entries are more than twice that of any of the other classic international 600-mile offshore races.
Looking back over the 50 races, just seven yachts competed in the 1925 Ocean Race, ranging from pilot cutter-type designs to the seaworthy craft from the pen of Norwegian designer Colin Archer. The largest at 56ft (on deck) and most modern of these, Jolie Brise, built in Le Havre as a pilot cutter, was already 12 years old when she entered the history books winning that first pioneering race. Her owner Commander EG Martin, at a post-race dinner at the Royal Western Yacht Club, Plymouth announced the formation of the Ocean Racing Club. Just 6 years later the ORC became the RORC when it received its royal warrant from King George V.
Now, looking forward to the race start later this month (1st start 13.00 on Saturday 22nd.) off the RYS line, Cowes, the 695nm course takes the fleet via the south coast of England to the Fastnet Rock off the southern tip of Ireland then on to the finish in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin at the head of the Normandy peninsula, France.
An international fleet attracts both enthusiastic amateur, the seasoned offshore racer, as well as professional sailors from all corners of the World, with The Fastnet Challenge Cup awarded to the overall IRC winner on corrected time. Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise (GBR) won this prize in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race.
Monohull record for the new course was set in 2021 by Skorpios: 2 days 8 hours 33 minutes and 55 seconds but the Multihull course record is 1 day 4 hours 2 minutes and 26 seconds (2019, Ultime Maxi Edmond de Rothschild, Franck Cammas / Charles Caudrelier).
