Saturday 22 July dealt up a wild start for the record entry 430 yachts taking part in the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race. The largest offshore racing fleet ever, comprising nearly 3,000 sailors, set off from Cowes in 25-knot wind-against-tide headwinds, which made for a punishing scene in the western Solent.
Conditions described by competitors as ‘boat breaking’ and ‘survival mode’ led to the retirement of around one in four entries over the following 24-hours – but also helped spark a blistering pace which led to overall course records being set in both multihull and monohull classes.
Wind speeds in the western Solent were particularly high on the first evening, gusting up to 40 knots, fuelling an incident-packed first day and night for many competitors and for rescue services along the south coast of England and the Isle of Wight. HM Coastguard reported that it responded to 28 incidents in those first 24 hours.
The most dramatic was the sinking of a French double-handed yacht in the western Solent. A search and rescue helicopter and two RNLI lifeboats were deployed after reports that the Sunfast 3600 Vari was taking on water. The two crewmembers were found in their liferaft, safely recovered and taken ashore to Yarmouth. The reasons for the sinking have yet to be determined.
There were also four dismastings, including Golden Globe Race skipper Tapio Lehtinen, whose 1970 Swan 55 Galiana is entered in this September’s Ocean Globe Race (see page 14). Lehtinen posted on social media that the main mast parted at the lowest spreaders, but that the boat and crew were safe and they were able to get the rig and sails aboard.
The Sun Fast 3200 Mirabelle was also dismasted, along with the Royal Naval Sailing Association’s Sun Fast 3600 Yoyo; and Nick Martin’s Sun Fast 3600 Diablo. Meanwhile Gery Trenteseaux’s Sydney 43 Long Courrier retired after its mast suffered significant deformation near the base, though the crew was able to support it by rigging a jury system.
RECORDS TUMBLE
For the larger and faster yachts and those designed specifically for ocean racing conditions, the conditions encouraged an unrelenting pace and records to fall. François Gabart’s foiling Ultime SVR-Lazartigue was first around the rock, claimed both line honours into Cherbourg and a staggering new course record of 1d 8h 38m 27s over the 695-mile offshore. He was pushed all the way by long term rival Armel le Cléac’h and his team on the 105ft/32m Banque Populaire XI.
