#Fastnet – For the first time in its 88–year history, the Rolex Fastnet Race has been won by a double–handed crew.

The father and son team of Pascal and Alexis Loison from Cherbourg, France on the JPK 10.10, Night and Day, arrived at 07:19:57 BST this morning making their elapsed time 3 days 18 hours 29 minutes and 57 seconds for the 611 mile race.

Winning the overall IRC prize in the Rolex Fastnet Race means that Pascal Alexis Loisin will receive the Fastnet Challenge Cup as well as a Rolex Chronograph.

History has been made at the Rolex Fastnet Race. Pascal and Alexis Loison's JPK 1010 Night And Day from France has won the 2013 edition and is the first doublehanded crew ever to do so. A remarkable, near unthinkable achievement, which sets a new milestone for the mythical 88-year old race.

Arriving in Plymouth at 07:19 BST Thursday morning after four long nights at sea, Night And Day enjoyed a blistering return leg from the Fastnet Rock. In the process the dynamic duo overhauled the corrected times posted by the crews arriving ahead of them and left no room to overtake for those still on the course. Victory represents a historic feat for the father and son from Cherbourg whose unforeseen triumph is a pure demonstration of teamwork, determination and preparation.
"Nobody said this was impossible to achieve," reflected Pascal. "It's extraordinary, like a dream. I am very happy to have won this race with my son. There are so many factors required to make it happen. We simply hoped to win the two-handed class. This is superb."
"(The Rolex Fastnet) is one of the most prestigious races in the world, with some of the most refined boats there are," said Alexis, a professional sailor and regular single-handed Figaro competitor. "We competed against over 300 boats, many professional with big crews. Our preparation was really good."
Victory crowns an already successful season for the two who have only owned the boat since February. "This is our second Rolex Fastnet together," explained Pascal. "We know the English Channel very well having done a lot of races here. The racecourse is very complicated and fascinating. There is always something to think about at each point, turn, bay."
Night and Day's closest rival on the water was fellow French JPK 1010 Foggy Dew which crossed the finish line in Plymouth seven minutes later. "We found ourselves in a battle with them for first place," reflected Alexis. "They are guys we know well, our friends, who are very experienced and a worthy rival."
Offshore yacht racing is gruelling; a mental and physical challenge even for the crews with the most resources. Double-handed sailing is even tougher. Alexis revealed a simple strategy for conquering the inevitable fatigue: "During moments the boat was going well, we would take it in turns to rest. There is no rigorous organization (or watch system)." Confidence in their approach is natural: "It comes from sailing together for a long time."
The pair's only regret is that they did not experience a dramatic view of the Fastnet Rock. "Every time we pass the Fastnet it's foggy," joked Alexis. "I'm not sure if it really exists!" "It was raining with 300m of visibility," added Pascal. "We only saw the beam of the lighthouse. There were boats everywhere, stunning. It wasn't a great advert for Ireland but a wonderful, quite surreal memory."
Night And Day's victory heralds a dominant performance by the over 50-strong French boats in this year's Rolex Fastnet Race. The top five boats and twelve of the current top 15 finishers on corrected time are from across the Channel.
This is a victory that fully captures the spirit and ethos of the Rolex Fastnet Race. "The most important thing is that the race can be won by anyone," said the Royal Ocean Racing Club CEO Eddie Warden Owen. "Everyone thinks the professional, big boats are going to have an advantage but the 2013 race has just proved what the appeal of the Rolex Fastnet is all about. They are all here because they know they have a chance of winning."
By 17:40 BST, 244 of the 336-strong international fleet had crossed the finish line in Plymouth. All remaining yachts have rounded the Fastnet Rock, including the last placed Duet and the 100 year-old former winner, Jolie Brise. There have been ten retirements.
The final prizegiving will be held on Mount Batten, close to the Rolex Fastnet Race Village at 17:00 BST on Friday, 16 August 2013.

The writing was on the wall when they claimed the RORC Channel Race outright at the end of July, but the French father and son team of Alexis and Pascal Loison have pulled it out of the hat again, successfully winning the 2013 Rolex Fastnet Race.

While the Royal Ocean Racing Club's premier offshore event has featured a doublehanded class for a long time, this is the first occasion in its 88-year history that the Rolex Fastnet Race has been won by a doublehanded crew.

Night And Day, the Loisin's 33ft long JPK 1010, crossed the finish line off Plymouth Breakwater at 07:19:57 BST this morning (Thursday 15 August), with an elapsed time for the 611-mile course of 3 days 18 hours 29 minutes and 57 seconds. Under IRC, their time corrected out to being 33 minutes and 17 seconds ahead of the second placed yacht, another example of the French-built JPK 1010, Noel Racine's Foggy Dew.

Stronger winds and less headwinds later in the race certainly benefitted the smaller boats, but the JPK 1010 is clearly a competitive boat under IRC - five finished in the top 11 under IRC this year. "The JPK is an excellent boat in every condition - both upwind and downwind," agrees Alexis.

However the Loisins are clearly special too. Their victory this year follows competing in the 2005 Rolex Fastnet Race aboard their previous Night And Day, a J/105, when they again won the doublehanded classes and were second overall in IRC Two.

From Cherbourg, Pascal, 53, is a surgeon while his son Alexis, 29, is a professional sailor who has spent the last eight years competing in the Figaro class. In La Solitaire du Figaro, effectively the world championship of solo offshore racing, his best result has been eighth last year, and ninth this year.

"Alexis is a very nice guy - he's low key, but good fun and performs very well in the Figaro," describes Gilles Chiorri, Race Director of La Solitaire, who competed in the Figaro class in this year's Rolex Fastnet Race. "And the conditions we had weren't easy for doublehanded crews - a long reach under spinnaker, which is not easy to manage with only two on board."

Many top Solitaire du Figaro sailors competed in this year's Rolex Fastnet Race, including 2012 and 2013 winner Yann Elies, racing on the IMOCA 60 Cheminées Poujoulat, triple winner Michel Desjoyeaux, who was on the IMOCA 60 MACIF, while another double Solitaire du Figaro winner, Armel le Cleac'h, skippered the maxi-trimaran Banque Populaire.

"I think the boat is a good reason," says Alexis of why they won. "Plus we sail together all the time and we have good tactical knowledge - our tactics were good all the time. We made sure we slept well and we had good weather."

Otherwise, compared to the fully crewed JPK 1010s, Alexis said he couldn't put his finger on why they performed better than the fully crewed boats. "With Foggy Dew, it is not the tactics, I think we have a better spinnaker and speed."

During the race the toughest decision they had to make was over which side of the Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) they should go around off Land's End.
While it is Pascal's boat, Alexis is a professional sailor, so come crunch time, who makes the decision?

"Over big decisions we talk...but we don't always agree," admits Pascal. His son nods: "We talk..."
In the end they went north up the west side of the TSS, then tacked to head west leaving the Scilly Isles to port. When they tacked back to north for the Fastnet Rock it was into a big lift that caused them to sail a beautiful parabolic towards the turning mark.

After rounding the Pantaenius spreader mark, it was "fast, but not furious" as Alexis jokes. "We came back from Fastnet very fast under the small spinnaker. It was a great moment."

Like all the fast smaller boats, the passage to Bishop Rock was a tight reach, followed by a run down towards the Finish - both legs sailed directly to the mark and in good breeze, unlike the stop-start-stop sailing the bigger boats experienced on this part of the course.

A significant result

Eddie Warden Owen, CEO of the RORC was amazed by the Loisins' performance. "I think they have done a brilliant job. It is the first time that in the history of the race a doublehanded boat has won the race, so that is a very significant result.

"Night And Day's amazing achievement for me is that in a very tactical race they beat a fully crewed boat - and a really good one - of the same type." Foggy Dew was second overall this year and second in IRC Three in 2011.

However Night And Day's victory also highlights that it is still possible for well sailed small boats to win the Rolex Fastnet Race, just as the last French overall winner, the Nicholson 33, Jean-Yves Chateau's Iromiguy, did in 2005.

"That's one of the reasons the Rolex Fastnet Race is so successful," continues Warden Owen. "For people, family and friends, sailing in the middle of the pack and at the bottom, it is not just a challenge - they have a realistic chance of winning."

For their efforts Pascal and Alexis Loison will be awarded the Fastnet Challenge Cup as well as a Rolex Chronograph at tomorrow night's prize giving.