| Race pace slows. |
| By the Rolex Fastnet
Race Media Team. |
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Photos by Daniel Forster
and Carlo Borlenghi for Rolex,
edited By Peter Andrews. |
| August 17, 2011. |
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After a brisk first 48 hours, the pace in the Rolex Fastnet Race has slowed up with high pressure encroaching into the Celtic Sea and towards the south of Cornwall, just west of the finish in Plymouth.
Since yesterday afternoon, there have been just been five finishers. The last two IMOCA 60s’ completed the course with Alex Thomson’s Hugo Boss reaching the line at 22:10:01 BST yesterday, while DCNS 1000 arrived at 00:22:22. Skippered by round the world sailor Marc Thiercelin, DCNS 1000 also had on board the 1997 World Cup snow sking champion and 2006 winner of the Paris-Dakar rally, Luc Alphand. |
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The finish line from the Plymouth Breakwater Lighthouse, during the Rolex
Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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Between the IMOCA
60s’, the Oakcliff All American Offshore Team entry on
the
Reichel Pugh 65 Vanquish, crossed the finish line at
00:19:35; while Lloyd Thornburg’s orange-hulled Gunboat
66 catamaran Phaedo,
pulled into Plymouth’s Sutton Harbour after arriving at
03:03:24.
"The most exciting part was the hull flying out off the
Needles and the more anxious moments were during the beam reach
up to the Rock in 35 knots of breeze," said Phaedo’s captain
Paul Hand from Tasmania. "With 20 knots of boat speed and
one hull in the air, no one was sleeping that much then," Hand
added. |
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Ralf Steitz's Reichel Pugh 65 Vanquish at The Needles, during the Rolex
Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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Navigator Ian Moore and tactician Andy Beadsworth were crucial in Phaedo reaching
Plymouth so quickly, getting the most benefit from the tide and smallest wind shifts. Nonetheless, just short of the finish line
their progress was slowed as they had to wait for the tide to turn.
The Phaedo team also played a vital role in the rescue of the Rambler 100 crew, who had drifted away from their capsized supermaxi and had been had been in the water for 2.5 hours. It was off southwest Ireland where Phaedo’s media boat which picked up the five crew, including skipper George David. |
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Navigator Ian Moore and tactician Andy Beadsworth from Phaedo with Andrew
McIrvine (centre) from La Response, at the pre-race Skipper's briefing,
during the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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| The only arrival since dawn this morning has been Franck Noel’s TP52 Near Miss from Switzerland, which crossed the line at 10:46:05 BST. Skipper, French match racer and offshore sailor, Benoit Briand was pleased to have finished. "Last night we were stuck off the Lizard with tide and no wind. We spent four hours in a circle of one mile!" |
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Lloyd Thornburg's Multihul Phaedo, during the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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Like the boats that finished yesterday, Near Miss’ timing around the Fastnet Rock went well, coinciding with a wind shift from the southwest to northwest. Briand said the most wind they saw was 25 to 29 knots, on the approach to the Rock. "The wind was okay, but the waves were enough for the boat."
Conditions abated for Near Miss last night, as they rounded the Scilly Isles. And as they lost their main competition, Johnny Vincent’s TP52 Pace after retireing on the first night, they spent most of the race sailing on their own. |
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Franck Noel's Near Miss crossing the finish line in Plymouth,
during the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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"We were very happy to sail this legendary race," said Briand. "For
us it was a challenge. Our TP52 is not made for offshore racing
and we are very happy with the way we were sailing. We come back
without damage, we had a very good time and we sailed well. The
boat is in good shape and we very much enjoyed this race."
Another boat that reached Sutton Harbour yesterday was RORC
Commodore Andrew McIrvine’s First 40 La Reponse, which retired overnight on Monday with steering trouble.
"We were charging along about one-third of the way up the
Celtic Sea with gradually increasing breeze, gusting 30 knots
and quite big waves; and we were down to a jib top and a reefed
main, going really well," said McIrvine.
"I was sitting on the rail and the next thing I knew, the
boat had tacked and I was half under water. The wheel had just
gone loose and wasn’t connecting with the steering at all." They
managed to deploy their emergency steering, but sadly their race
was over. |
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Franck Noel's TP52 Near Miss starting the race off Cowes, during
the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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This morning, several
of the boats rounding the Scilly Isles were more or less becalmed.
Jonathan Goring’s Ker 40 Keronimo reported that
there was a band of very little wind around 10 to 20 miles from
this group of islands off the southwestern end of Britain. They
had just managed to keep moving in the light patch with the German-flagged
Rogers 46s’ Shakti and Varuna, and had
been first into the new breeze.
Similarly, the crew of the Ross
Applebey’s Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster were becalmed
on their approach to the Scilly Isles, although Applebey said
the reprieve had come when a light easterly had filled in.
"We hope the wind holds until the finish; that is what the GRIB files have suggested," said Applebey. "But we’ve had consistently less wind than forecast all day today, so it is hard to tell. It would be nice if we don’t
park up again, as kedging a mile from the finish line could be
a bit stressful!" |
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Ross Appleby's Oyster 48 Scarlet Oyster at Fastnet Rock, during
the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi.
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The next boats due in are the Lithuanian Volvo Ocean 60 Ambersail and Chris Bull’s canting keel Cookson 50 Jazz, both of which had just passed the Lizard mid-afternoon today.
Meanwhile, the remaining slower Class Z boats are still approaching the Lizard with on-the-water leaders in IRC 1, which include the trio of the Ker 40 Keronimo; Jan Gallbach’s Andrews 56 Norddeutsche Vermögen Hamburg; and Colin Buffin’s Swan 62 Uxorious IV; all more or less neck and neck.
The leaders on water in IRC 2, Sailing Logic Ltd and Peter Rutter’s Quokka 8 skippered by Philippe Falle, and Francois Lognone’s French J/122 Nutmeg IV were making slow progress to the south of the Scilly Isles.
As of 17:00 BST the Rolex Fasnet Race had 18 boats finished, 266 still racing and 30 retired. |
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François Lognone's J/122 Nutmeg IV at the Fastnet Rock,
during the Rolex Fastnet Race 2011.
Photo © Rolex / Daniel Forster.
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The Rolex Fastnet Race finish is in Plymouth Harbour and the main trophy for overall victory in the Rolex Fastnet is the Fastnet Challenge Cup. In addition, there are more than 30 other trophies that will be awarded at the prize giving on Friday, August 19 at the historic Royal Citadel. Overlooking Plymouth Sound and Sutton Harbour where the majority of the fleet will berth, the Citadel is the home to the 29th Commando Regiment Royal Artillery.
For further information about the Rolex Fastnet Race, go to www.fastnet.rorc.org. |
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| Outimage and Rolex © 2011 |
