Following a spectacular race between SVR Lazartigue, skippered by François Gabart and Banque Populaire with skipper Armel Le Cleac’h – both in the Ultim class – there were more record-breaking boats to finish the race in the following days.
SVR Lazartigue took Multihull Line Honours as well as the Multihull Race Record in this 50th Edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race.
SVR Lazartigue’s elapsed time of 1 day 8 hours 38 minutes and 27 seconds, bettered the outright Multihull Race Record, set by skippers Charles Caudrelier and Franck Cammas of Maxi Edmond de Rothschild in 2021 by 36 minutes and 27 seconds. Having started in Cowes at around midday on Saturday, sailing 695 miles to the Fatsnet Rock then on to France the boat was in Cherbourg by late evening on Sunday.
Following this, there was a long pause before the next arrivals in Cherbourg. After the 2 Ultims on Sunday night, the next home on Monday was Eric Maris’ MOD70 trimaran Zoulou, which crossed the line at 18:03:15.
There was another good battle between boats for the Monohull record. At the press conference in Cowes before the race, the crew from Lucky (ex-Rambler 88) stated that there was a 75% chance of Lucky beating the Monohull record, but skippers on other boats had different ideas.
In the IMOCA class, MACIF Santé Prévoyance was first to exit the Solent alongside Charal. However, Paprec Arkéa was first of the group heading south after the Needles and then crossed ahead of the group that had exited the Solent via the North Channel. She was therefore the first past Start Point slowly extending her lead on those chasing her.
Paprec Arkéa rounded the Fastnet Rock at 21:14 on Sunday night with MACIF Santé Prévoyance 19 minutes 40 seconds behind her. On the run back to Bishop Rock, MACIF Santé Prévoyance cut back all of Paprec Arkéa’s lead. From the Isles of Scilly and for the remainder of the race, this lead duo were locked in an intense match race.
MACIF Santé Prévoyance crossed the finish line at 20:31:26 BST (Monday), a mere 4 minutes 6 seconds ahead of her rival, with compression in the fleet causing the first 6 to arrive within 45 minutes.
Both the lead IMOCAs beat Bryon Ehrhart’s 88ft Lucky, even with the additional 30 minutes due to IRC Super Zero having started later. Thus, MACIF Santé Prévoyance won monohull line honours, the first time an IMOCA has ever done so. Her elapsed time of 2 days 7 hours 16 minutes 26 seconds also established a new race record to Cherbourg, beating the ClubSwan 125 Skorpios’ 2021 time of 2 days 8 hours 33 minutes and 55 seconds, an improvement of 1 hour 17 minutes 29 seconds.
Max Klink’s Botin 52 Caro won the IRC Zero class and – as the boat crossed the finish line – it looked like a contender for overall victory in the Rolex Fastnet Race. This Swiss boat crossed the finish line at 07:25 Tuesday, covering the course in 2 days, 16 hours, 40 minutes, 2 seconds.
Over the next few days, there was a steady stream of finishers into Cherbourg-en-Cotentin at the end of the race, but many were slowed down as the wind was light over the western English Channel, such a contrast to the start of the race.
Due to the handicap system and IRC rules, the RORC were able to announce – before all boats had finished racing – that Max Klink’s Botin 52 Caro had been confirmed as overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race. After being confirmed as winner of IRC Zero, no other boat still racing could catch the Swiss boat for overall honours in the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s offshore classic.
Prizegiving took place in Cherbourg before a packed audience of sailors and supporters.
The next Rolex Fastnet Race will take place in 2025. RORC have announced that this race will form the final race in the 2025 Edition of The Admirals’ Cup as well as being a race for independent crews. The Admirals’ Cup will be staged in the waters off Cowes and the Solent and has already attracted interest from 11 different countries.
