Cork Harbour's George Radley will contest this year's Fastnet Race on Imp, the outright Fastnet Race winner in 1977. 

Radley and a crew, including his son, will compete on the blast from the past in the famous Ron Holland-designed IOR 40.

Built in Florida in 1976 for American owner David Allen, the following year Imp was top scoring boat for the 2nd placed USA Admiral’s Cup team and won the Fastnet Race outright. She also completed the disastrous 1979 Fastnet Race taking the USA Admiral’s Cup team to another second-placed finish. Since then, perhaps because of her stripy 1970s green paintjob, she has passed through several significant Irish owners and is today considered something of an Irish national maritime treasure.

Since 1994, Imp has been owned by Cork-based George Radley. He has continued Imp’s winning ways: coming first in the 1996 and 2000 Round Ireland Races and nearly winning again in 2002. Imp also won her class in the 1987 Fastnet Race, with Radley repeating this in 1997. “We were sixth overall out of 268 boats. I’m not saying she is going to do it again this time but she has always had a good run in the Fastnet.”

Radley and a semi-shorthanded crew raced Imp in the IRC class of the 2006 ARC and then in the Pineapple Cup from Miami to Jamaica, followed by two editions of Charleston Race Week before the boat shipped back to the UK for an intended refit that never happened. Finally, Radley in 2017, got Imp back to Ireland on a low loader and began the overdue refit, which was completed in 2022: “I just put new Harken deck gear and winches on her and I made the foretriangle a little smaller because she had 60sqm headsails - I can’t get anyone to pull those in anymore! You can’t even see where you are going!

“Around the cans, she is a handful, but in any offshore stuff, she can still go, believe it or not. Down to the Fastnet and back, we held our time against a J/122,” Radley reflects. Part of the reason for entering the Fastnet Race is that Radley’s son and bowman, also called George, is enjoying it just as much as his dad. “He just lives for it. I am trying to bring him along.”

The Royal Ocean Racing Club’s new race entry system has been burning red hot since 1200 on Wednesday, January 11th, when registration opened for the 50th edition of the club’s flagship event, the Rolex Fastnet Race.

By 1300 entries were up to 433, with 300 signing up via the RORC’s new SailRaceHQ entry system in the first ten minutes and 400 within 30 minutes (a similar number took more than an hour to register prior to the last edition in 2021). 

Given that the record number of boats on the start line of what is certainly the ‘world’s largest offshore yacht race’ peaked at 388 in pre-pandemic 2019, this is promising sign that the fleet size will reach a new record when it departs the Solent on Saturday, 22 July this summer, bound for West Cork's Fastnet Rock and then on to the finish in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin.

This is especially likely given that Wednesday's figures will be by no means the final entry size: RORC members not only receive priority entry but still have until 25 January to sign up; competitors in the RORC’s new Roschier Baltic Sea Race last year, and as well those en route to Grenada in the current RORC Transatlantic Race, get guaranteed entry. But the largest group still to register are the ‘pro’ classes racing outside of the IRC fleet, ie the Ultim, IMOCA; Ocean 50; Class40 and Figaro 3, as well as the multihull classes. They have until 14 April to register. For many of this latter group, the Fastnet Race will be one of the few races they will get to compete in during this season prior to the start of the autumn’s Transat Jacques Vabre.

A record fleet is set to compete in the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race from Cowes to Cherbourg Photo: Paul Wyeth

 The ‘pro’ classes like the IMOCAs will be racing outside of the IRC fleet and are still to register Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

 The Royal Ocean Racing Club's flagship event starts from the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK on 22 July Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

First to burst through the door in the RORC’s equivalent of the Harrod’s Sale, entering as the clock struck 1200, was Fastnet Race regular, Chris Choules and his faithful With Alacrity (GBR), top Sigma 38 in the race’s last three editions and fourth of 70 boats in IRC 4 in 2021. Neck and neck with them, though from the opposite side of the Channel, was another regular in Guy Sallenave’s X-442 Ster Wenn 5 (FRA). Second in IRC 1 in the 2005 Fastnet Race, Ster Wenn 5 was campaigned by Sallenave’s son Pierre in 2021, who has entered her again for this special half century edition.

The first French boat to sign up for the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race was Guy Sallenave’s X-442 Ster Wenn 5 (FRA) Photo: Carlo Borlenghi 

By 1300 today, as usual the biggest contingent among those registered was from the UK with 166 signed up, followed by France with 118. Yachts ranged in size from a 6.5m Classe Mini to several at 9m, to Lucky, the former Rambler 88, American George David’s serial monohull line honours winner, now in the hands of Bryon Ehrhart. The longest was the first Ultim entry, the 30m trimaran Banque Populaire skippered by 2016-17 Vendée Globe winner Armel le Cleac’h.

 The longest boat to sign up was the first Ultim entry, the 30m trimaran Banque Populaire (FRA) Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

“We’re delighted by the response. It’s especially good to see so many old friends and regular participants who seem to be making an extra effort to join us for the special 50th edition Fastnet Race,” said the RORC’s newly appointed Racing Manager and Race Director Steve Cole.

“Obviously from here, yachts still need to qualify and log the required number of race miles. But it seems highly likely that when the remaining RORC members and the pro classes have signed up by April, we will top 500 boats which should translate into a record turn-out come start day in July.” 

The RORC Race Team in Cowes is currently processing the entries, but a preliminary look at the line-up shows especially large turn-outs from manufacturer classes such as the Jeanneau Sun Fast 3300 and 3600, plus various JPKs, including 10.10s, 10.80s and 11.80s that have won three of the race’s last five editions overall under IRC corrected time.

 Competitors will be welcomed once again at the finish in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin - the host port for the 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race Photo: JM Enault

With one week to go until the registration date for the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race, its organiser, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, has published the event Notice of Race.

In addition to the broad details of the event, the NoR includes its full schedule from registration opening at 1200 UTC (1300 French time) on Wednesday, 11 January, to the start date of Saturday 22 July when the first warning signal will be at 1200 BST.

The start will be preceded by a skippers briefing and press conference on Friday 21 July, with a crew presentation and show taking place for French competitors in the Cherbourg race village on Thursday 20 July at the same time as a crew party will be taking place in Cowes.

At the finish in Cherbourg there will be a presentation for the faster ‘pro’ classes, followed by a crew party and ‘Happy Hour’ on Tuesday 25 July, while the main prizegiving will take place on Friday 28 July.

The RORC advises that since this year’s race will take place prior to Cowes Week, there is far greater opportunity to book a berth or a mooring and arrive early to enjoy the pre-start ambience and festivities. Overseas entries, and especially those from France, are advised that there is free berthing in Cherbourg for a week prior to the start.

Prior to registration opening on 11 January, competitors are advised that the RORC has a new race entry system called SailRaceHQ (www.sailracehq.com) and they should set up their accounts afresh on this as data held currently in the existing Sailgate system will not be migrated across.

Based on recent experience, places in the race are expected to be filled within minutes of registration opening, with late comers going on to a waiting list. However, it should be noted that, as usual, RORC members will be given priority entry and a discounted entry fee, although this applies only to boat owners and skippers who are members.

The ‘pro’ classes (ie IMOCA; Class40; Figaro 3; Ultim and Ocean 50) as well as the multihull classes have until 14 April to sign up.

The Rolex Fastnet Race remains by far the world’s largest offshore yacht race. This is largely because of it being open to the complete cross-section of the sailing community; from first-timers, family, club and sailing school teams, to IRC racers, double handers and multihulls, to the ‘pro’ classes. It offers the unique experience of amateurs being on the same starting line as some of the sport’s most high-profile teams and crews.

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A year from now the start gun will fire on what will be the most significant, historic edition of the world’s largest offshore yacht race. Setting sail from Cowes on Saturday 22nd July 2023 will be the 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s Rolex Fastnet Race. For a second consecutive occasion, this will finish in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin via a 695 nautical mile course via the Fastnet Rock. Because this is a special edition, complete with celebrations taking place on both sides of the Channel prior to the start and at the finish, it is expected to attract a record-sized fleet.

The first race, then simply known as the ‘Ocean Race’ and held on a course from Ryde to Plymouth via the Fastnet Rock, took place in 1925 with seven starters. A dinner immediately after the finish resulted in the Ocean Racing Club being established with Lt Cmdr EG Martin, owner of the first race’s winner, Jolie Brise, appointed Commodore.

Since then, top sailors from all over the world have competed in this most famous of the world's 'classic 600 mile offshore races'. The Fastnet Race was inspired by the Newport-Bermuda offshore race (first held in 1906) and US entries have remained strong. Notable US winners include yacht designer Rod Stephens Snr with Dorade (1931 and 1933); Dick Nye with Carina II (1955 and 1957); innovative designer Dick Carter with Rabbit (1965) and Red Rooster (1969); CNN founder Ted Turner's Tenacious which won the infamous 1979 race; and, most recently, David and Peter Askew on Wizard (2019).

The race has always attracted a powerful entry from the continent and especially France, with the great Eric Tabarly winning on board Pen Duick III in 1967. As France has come to dominate all walks of offshore racing, so four of the last 10 races have been won by their yachts.

The famous gaff-rigged pilot cutter Jolie Brise won the very first Fastnet Race in 1925 and hopes to take part in the 50th edition Photo: Rick Tomlinson 

Over the last two decades participation in the  Fastnet Race has skyrocketed making it the biggest offshore race in the world. While the pro fleets such as the Class40 and IMOCA remain open, the size of the IRC fleet racing for the event’s top prize – the Fastnet Challenge Cup remains limited. As a result, when entry for the 50th  Fastnet Race opens on 11 January 2023, past experience indicates that positions will be filled and a waiting list begun within a matter of seconds.

For most of its life the Fastnet Race has been held biennially, however from the first race until 1931 it was held annually and three editions were lost due to World War 2. The race gained a special standing on the international stage during the decades as the hardest and deciding race of the internationally renowned Admiral’s Cup; the unofficial world championship of yachting.

As ever the 50th Fastnet Race will gather a giant fleet spanning sailing clubs and schools, families and charter companies, for many of whom doing the race will be the pinnacle of their sailing careers; to the bulk of the fleet, the IRC cruiser-racers and racers; to the most successful privately-owned grand prix race boats from around the world, including the maxi monohulls jockeying for overall line-honour; to the impressive and highly competitive French fleets such as the 100ft Ultime trimarans, the IMOCA 60s of the Vendée Globe and Ocean Race and the Class40s.

A giant, record-breaking fleet will race to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin from Cowes in the 50th edition of the Fastnet Race next summer Photo: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex

The 32m Ultime Maxi Edmond de Rothschild set a new race record for the 695nm course to Cherbourg of 1 day 9 hrs 15 mins 54 secs Photo: Carlo Borlenghi/Rolex 

The IMOCA 60 Apivia at the emblematic Fastnet Rock in the 2021 Fastnet Race Photo: Kurt Arrigo/Rolex

The Fastnet Race fleet will finish in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin for the historic edition of the world’s largest offshore yacht race Photo: Paul Wyeth/RORC

Competitors should note that this year’s race will start earlier than normal, on 22nd July when the tides will be more favourable. This will allow ample time to complete the race and cover the 75-mile reach back to the Solent in time to take part in Cowes Week.

“Interest in the Fastnet Race is exceptional, even a year out from the start there looks set to be strong interest from Europe once again,” says Chris Stone, Racing Manager of the RORC, currently in Helsinki for the start of the RORC-organised Roschier Baltic Sea Race, where several of the yachts competing are already preparing for the 50th Fastnet Race. “We look forward to running our premier event again, free from any of the worries or constraints of the pandemic.” The last edition of the race pre-pandemic had a record 388 entries.

The Race Office will be open in Cowes, Hamble and Cherbourg from 17th July 2023 and the Race Village in Cherbourg will be open several days prior to the start, sending off the French pro classes to Cowes for the start of the race.

The Royal Ocean Racing Club is working on the finish with L’Association Arrivée Fastnet Cherbourg in partnership with the town of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Communauté d’Agglomération du Cotentin and the Département de la Manche et Région Normandie.

Celebrations for the RORC will continue in 2025 when the club will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

A historic gaff cutter that won the Fastnet Race in 1927 and was saved from the scrapyard in 2017 is gradually being restored to its former glory — but needs support to keep the project going.

Tally Ho was built by Stow & Son in Shoreham-by-Sea in 1909 and launched in 1910. It went on to win the Fastnet Race for Lord Stalbridge, Hugh Grosvenor, in 1927.

The boat was designed by Albert Strange and some years ago it was saved by the Albert Strange Association in the Pacific North West of the United States but after a decade of trying and failing to find someone to take on the project, Tally Ho was destined to be destroyed.

Leo Sampson Goolden, a boatbuilder and sailor from Bristol, stepped in at the 11th hour and bought the boat for £1 in May 2017 — even relocating to rural Washington state to embark on the project.

“Although Tally Ho spent a lot of her life on the Hamble and on the Solent, she was originally built in Shoreham,” Leo said of his motivations.

Acknowledging that Tally Ho — which currently resides in Port Townshend, northwest of Seattle — is a well-known and important historic vessel, Leo admitted it was overwhelming to see the amount of work to do.

But as previously reported on Afloat.ie, ever since he has been charting the story of the boat and its restoration on the Sampson Boat Co channel on YouTube, helping to fund parts and the work needed.

And public support via donations, purchasing parts from the rebuild ‘wish list’ or becoming a patron of the project could help see it to fruition and get closer to achieving Leo’s dream of sailing the vessel back to the UK — and competing in the Fastnet Race once more.

Following the success of the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race from Cowes to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and its French partners are delighted to announce the date for the next edition of its flagship event in 2023. The 50th edition of the world’s largest offshore race will start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line on Saturday 22nd July, 2023, prior to the annual Cowes Week festivities.

Jean-Louis Valentin, President of the Arrival Fastnet Cherbourg Association comments: “We are delighted to once again welcome the arrival of the mythical Rolex Fastnet Race in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in 2023. The Association and Public Partners; the City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Agglomeration Community du Cotentin, the Department of Manche and the Normandy Region continue to work hand-in-hand to welcome this great international maritime race to our region. The new date of 22nd July 2023 will attract more people and we will again offer a warm welcome to sailors before the start of the race and a big party at the finish. Our teams are already working with the RORC to make the arrival of this 50th edition a great festival and friendly event for everyone.”

“We will all be looking forward to taking part in what will be a very special anniversary year for the Rolex Fastnet Race. Following the resounding success of this year’s edition, we will again be finishing in Cherbourg and expect to attract a record entry. We feel certain that our partners in France (City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Agglomeration Community du Cotentin, the Department of Manche and the Normandy Region) will ensure competitors and visitors receive the same warm welcome and will be able to celebrate the golden jubilee race in inimitable French style,” comments RORC Commodore, James Neville.

Tom Kneen and crew on his JPK 11.80 Sunrise - jubilant after winning the Fastnet Challenge Cup in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race Photo: Paul Wyeth

“The 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race will run before Cowes Week in 2023 in order to cope with the berthing needs of the large fleet prior to the start on 22nd July, and pre-event registration will again be offered to competitors in Cherbourg. We are excited to be working with our hosts once more for the finish of this great race and expect it to be even better than the 2021 event,” says Race Director, Chris Stone.

The mighty Maxi Skorpios established a monohull record for the new course of 2 days 8 hrs 33 mins and 55 secs

The biennial 690 nautical mile race is a rite of passage for all those taking part and is one of the very few global events where Corinthian sailors can compete on the same race course as their sporting heroes. The ultimate goal is to take home the overall trophy; the historic Fastnet Challenge Cup - first presented back in 1925, but for most sailors, to complete the race and the tough personal challenge; to test their mettle against others in their class, or to compete against hundreds of passionate sailors from around the globe, is the main attraction of this renowned classic offshore race.

The arrival of the immense fleet will once again be eagerly anticipated, with spectators enjoying the atmosphere of the international yachting festival as boats complete the 690 nautical mile course from Cowes to Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, via the Fastnet Rock. Starting with the first arrivals from the 23rd of July, the daily influx of international competitors on a diverse range of boats culminates in a memorable prizegiving to mark the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race in Cherbourg on Friday 28th July 2023.

Would Tom Kneen's JPK 11.80 Sunrise have still won the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021 if it had been sailed on the old course, with Plymouth rather than Cherbourg as the finish? Imponderable it may be, but it's a question of renewed interest as the row rumbles on about the in-race shortening of the recent Rolex Middle Sea Race 2021.

This course shortening was done in view of a developing northeasterly storm which soon made the harbour-mouth finish dangerously impossible for smaller boats still at sea. But as everyone is now well aware, it meant that Sunrise – already finished and in port along with two-thirds of the fleet – had to make do with second overall, after looking for a while as though she was about to achieve the magnificent double of Fastnet and Middle Sea overall victories in one season, achieved with such style that it would all have been done and dusted within the space of three months.

But the unhappy outcome instead caused an almighty row, and some of us sought shelter in trying to analyse it from a different point of view. The affable but very keen and obviously extremely effective Tom Kneen is a loyal member of the Royal Western Yacht Club in Plymouth, and he happily admitted that in the RORC members' poll about the change to the Fastnet course, he had voted in favour of the traditional finish in Plymouth rather than race the extra 90 miles to a new big-scale welcome in Cherbourg.

The traditional Fastnet finish at Plymouth and the 2021 version with the finish at Cherbourg. It's possible that the extra 90 miles to Cherbourg gave the Plymouth-base Sunrise her overall win.

Ironically, it may well be that the extra 90 miles "imposition" gave Sunrise her clearcut win. She had been reasonably well-placed but not winning at earlier stages, thus it was the lengthened final stage after the Bishop Rock and up the middle of the English Channel in a private breeze – a feat repeated with almost equal success by Ronan O Siochru's Desert Star from Dun Laoghaire – which saw Sunrise get so clearly into the Glitter Zone.

But having been given a portal to overall success by the long-planned extension of the Fastnet Race, Sunrise then found the door to a Middle Sea repeat slammed shut in her face by the sudden imposition of a course shortening. Some may raise their eyes to heaven and say: "The Lord Giveth, the Lord Taketh Away". But the more grounded have raised – not for the first time – the question of whether well-meaning amateurs should have ultimate control of the running of any major event in which the combined long-term expense of involvement by a huge fleet – whether amateur or professional – is a figure running into tens and probably hundreds of millions of euro.

The crew of Sunrise celebrating what looked like becoming a remarkable double at their finish of the Middle Sea Race 2021 in Malta. Photo: North Sails

Instinctively, many of us will incline to the support of the enthusiastic amateurs. But the harsher judges will quote Damon Runyon who, on enquiring about the activities of one of his Manhattan acquaintances, was told that: "He is doing the best he can", to which Runyon responded that he found this to be a very over-crowded profession.

VOLUNTARY ADMINISTRATORS

The voluntary race administrators in the Royal Malta Yacht Club came in for huge flak and this week issued what is in effect a mea culpa and a promise to do better in future. But it's going to rumble on like the Palme volcano for some time yet, and just yesterday Peter Ryan, the Chairman of ISORA, suggested they should now declare two sets of results as though they'd been running two races of different lengths in parallel all along, which if nothing else would lead to dancing in the streets in the Silversmiths' Quarter in Valetta.

And there have been suggestions that the RORC "should consider its position in relation to the Middle Sea Race", which is polite-speak for saying that the RORC should at least think about withdrawing its active support from what is essentially the Royal Malta YC's premier event. But nothing happens in a vacuum, and people making this extreme proposal are failing to take note that there's a turf war (ridiculous to have a turf war at sea, but there you are) going on between the ORC and the IRC measurement systems.

One of the starts from the harbour in the Rolex Middle Sea Race 2021. The wind was already from the northeast, and a severe storm – which caused fatalities in nearby Sicily – made the harbour entrance extremely dangerous by the time the smaller boats were finishing.

The IRC is very much identified with the RORC, while the ORC has its own setup. And even as quiet territorial expansions are taking place on various fronts with new events emanating from both camps - the interesting Finnish-connected RORC race in the Baltic is one example – a proposed marriage between the World Championships of both systems appears to have resulted in the IRC being left stranded at the altar without a word of explanation.

In this febrile atmosphere, were the RORC to dump on the Royal Malta, it's always possible that the ORC's organisation might step into the breach, for the Middle Sea Race now has a momentum and vitality of its own, and it will happen each year regardless of politicking ashore.

A public spat online was inevitable, and in time we'll be persuaded that it has cleared the air, for that's the way these things happen even if various waters are temporarily muddied. But in global sailing, however big the row, it will only have been in the ha'penny place by comparison with the controversies which are now in the DNA of the America's Cup, which has been a joy and delight for m'learned friends ever since the original hand-written Deed of Gift – inkily scratched on parchment in 1857 – went on to become a Protocol in 1882 which was then revised in 1887.

PROTOCOL FATIGUE

In Ireland, we may well be suffering from Protocol Fatigue these days, but regardless of our feelings, the long-awaited Protocol for the next staging of the America's Cup – AC37 – will be revealed on Wednesday, November 17th by defenders Team New Zealand and the Challenger of Record, Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Ltd.

Doubtless, there'll be many bumps in the road between now and then, just as there have been bumps to the point of chasms in getting to where they are now. It's an uneven progress, with the professional/amateur divide still involved to such an extent that when the New York Yacht Club recently announced that they were "passing" on direct club participation this time around, in a subsequent statement the New Zealanders described the NYYC Commodore as a "Corinthian".

The New York Yacht Club's summer base of Harbour Court, Rhode Island. The Kiwi's description of the Commodore as "Corinthian" did not quite seem to have the usual complimentary intent.

This is normally a term of approval, but there was a distinct feeling that approval was not the intention in this case. In addition to the increasingly complex legalities, it made things personal, and that is not a good place to be in a situation like this.

But then this "situation" has become a world of its own. So much so, in fact, that the America's Cup legalities have provided the makings of its own department in the University of Auckland, and it has already graduated its own PhD in the shape of Dr Hamish Ross, who published his latest findings this week. You've probably read it already, but even so, it's a good browse for a November Saturday morning:

LEGAL OPINION

In eleven days' time, the Protocol for the 37th America's Cup is due to be revealed, eight months after Royal Yacht Squadron Racing Limited filed a notice challenge under the Deed of Gift.

What can we expect and what is likely to be left unanswered?

Sources close to the Defender indicate that the all-important venue selection is yet to be made and may not be announced until as late as March 2022. This will not be welcome news to the Challenger of Record, who will be getting impatient. It has a right to fall back onto the Deed default match terms if relations become strained, which will likely result in a commercial black hole.

Given the selected venue may impact the yacht to be raced, publication of the Class Rule may be similarly delayed, although it was at least agreed last March, that it would be in the AC75 class used in Auckland. There are always refinements to be made. If there is a meaningful push towards costs savings, as has been announced, look for more supplied or common design elements in the same way as the foil systems were supplied for AC36 in Auckland.

Unfortunately, the Deed requirement that the competing yachts must be "constructed in the country" of the respective competing yacht clubs puts the brakes on what could be achieved. In the past, this requirement has sometimes been interpreted rather liberally focusing on the hull, but many would agree that the Deed probably only requires an assembly of components, which can be sourced from anywhere, to create a yacht.
The "construction in-country" term of the Deed has never been fully tested in a court or jury, although the issue was on the table at the end of the 2010 match. Expect sailing restrictions and launch dates to remain to limit the advantages of well-funded competitors.

Dr Hamish Ross took his PhD at Auckland University in America's Cup law.

Commercial rights will likely largely remain as they have been since Valencia 2007. Will there be a profit-sharing mechanism between competitors as in 2007 and 2013, if there is a financial surplus? It would seem a major venue financial windfall would be unlikely in the current economic climate.

Timing of the match, and the preceding challenger series may be difficult to fix without a venue having been decided. Don't expect to see firm dates yet. The Deed has hemisphere restrictions limiting the times when a match can be held in each hemisphere. There are seasonal weather and oceanographic factors to be considered at any venue.

Additionally, there is the timing of other events to consider. Few would want to take on a head-on commercial and media clash with the Olympics or the Football World Cup, which traditionally sucks out a lot of sports fan eyeballs and commercial sponsorship from the sports sponsorship market.

A profitable venture – the America's Cup 2007 at Valencia. Ireland's Marcus Hutchinson was on the management team, and the event showed a profit.

What other events will be held before the start of the challenger series? Expect a warmup regatta or two. There may be a concessionary warm-up regatta in Auckland on the table to try to calm local waters. But these regattas all cost money, a loss of valuable time and never raise enough money for them to be self-funding when an effort is said to be made to reduce costs.

More chance they will be held in the selected venue than holding a global circuit like Sail GP. A defender will always want an opportunity to check-in against the challengers before the match to try and limit any surprises. Expect Sail GP to actively look into holding an event or two in Auckland during the America's Cup match, if Auckland is not the selected venue!

What will prospective challengers be looking for? When will they see the Class Rule? How long will they have to design, build and test a yacht? How much of a design head start have the Defender and the Challenger of Record given themselves? What will it cost them to compete? Can they hire the design, boatbuilding and sailing talent needed?

This will put the nationality rule into sharp focus– can they get approvals from the Defender as an "emerging nation"? Where will it be held? Don't expect billionaires to line up for an unattractive venue with security risks. What advertising space on the yacht do they have to sell to their sponsors and what space will be taken by the event and in what product categories? Will Prada or Louis Vuitton return as a sponsor? Above all, is there a chance to win or is it simply too stacked up against us?

Expect entry fees to remain the same or increase. US$3,350,000 plus a bond of US$1m was the cheapest entry last time. Expect the challenges to again contribute towards the costs of the challenger selection series unless a sponsor agrees to fund it as did Prada last time.

Finally, who gets to amend the Protocol and the Class Rules? Can anyone competitor block a change? Will there be a tyranny of the majority or simply a Defender and Challenger of Record dictatorship?
Drafting a Protocol involves a delicate balance of many issues both sporting and commercial. Get it wrong and it could be 2007-2010 all over again. Nail it, and it will be back to the big America's Cup heydays of Fremantle 1986-87 or Valencia 2007.

INTERESTING TIMES

For the top end of the international sailing world, the next ten days will be extremely interesting, as we can only guess at the global wheeling and dealing and drafting going on behind the scenes. And when the AC37 Protocol is published, we can be quite sure there'll be controversy, which is meat and drink to the communications industry in all its forms.

In fact, controversy is the gift that just keeps on giving. For even after you've agreed a settlement on whatever is causing the current high profile controversy, you can then go on to have a controversy about how the word "controversy" should be properly pronounced… 

Following a penalty handed down by the Fastnet Race jury, Pamela Lee of RL Sailing tells her side of the story

Not until the late morning after our finish, after celebrating and being interviewed for our win, did we get the news through text message that apparently we had a time penalty from a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) infringement. I was extremely shocked and in denial, because I specifically remember watching our track closely while going around the TSS to make sure we did so correctly, I was even sure that I saw other boats take an inside track from ours. I remembered it so vividly...

Straight away I went to the race office to investigate and inquire where the grounds for the penalty came from. I was shown our recorded Yellow Brick track that indicated us going inside the TSS corner. Still shocked by the claims and what I was seeing, I explained that I was certain we went outside the TSS and that I had the track on the boat computer to prove it. I was recommended to lodge a hearing request with the Protest committee, which I immediately did.

Pamela Lee and Kenneth Rumball are celebrated after crossing the iine. Many hours were to pass before they were made aware there might be a problem.

At that stage, I had a very short window of time to gather all the information I could to argue our case before the International Jury. The boat was also being prepared to depart immediately to head South for the start of La Solitaire Du Figaro, so there was real-time pressure to get what I needed from the computer.

I retrieved the recorded GPS track from the Adrena Navigating Software on the boat computer, which clearly indicates our GPS recording our track well outside the TSS. I also checked all the coordinates of the TSS against the racing instructions to make sure I had the correct area in, which I did.

All their own on-board data indicated they’d been clear outside the TSS - Here the Adrena software track (green line) shows RL sailing outside the TSS. Screenshot RL Sailing

A screenshot of RORC's Fastnet Race GPS tracker showing the no-go traffic separation scheme in red tint and the track of RL Sailing. Source: YB Tracker

Something to note, and that came into play for this entire episode although at the time we did not know it, is that during the race, when we reached the Fastnet Rock (after the alleged TSS infringement) our onboard GPS lost signal and we were forced to round the Rock completely blind in what was a pitch-black night. This in itself was a stressful and nerve-wracking experience as we had to furl the Code 0, avoid the lights of other boats and the rock itself without really knowing where we were. Once we rounded the Rock I was able to re-boot the computer and eventually our GPS signal came back. Strangely, our computer recorded an incorrect track of us going inside the rock, which didn't happen. The Yellow Brick track recorded us going around the rock.

A GPS Track black out at the Fastnet Rock. Screenshot RL Sailing

Subsequently, after that and through the rest of the race our GPS signal went a number of times and computer re-boots became the norm. From this post-analysis, a possible conclusion could be that our GPS was giving us the wrong information in the period before arriving at the Fastnet - potentially telling me I was somewhere I was not, or mixing up the information all together. This is disturbing on many levels as early in the race I had taken our navigation very close inshore to get out of the current, unaware of any potential GPS issues.

Redress request

I went into the hearing with the international Jury to request redress of the 10% penalty for infringement of the TSS on the ground that our GPS track showed us very clearly going outside the TSS. One of my witnesses was Yale Poupon, the skipper on the second Figaro, who came to second our story, saying they witnessed our GPS malfunction at the rock and even called us on the radio to check-in and that if such an infringement occurred it was to no gain and should not cause such a penalty.

I sat in front of an international jury of five men and talked through a presentation of our GPS track illustrating the fact that as far as we, and our boat knew we were well outside the TSS. However, it was one GPS word against the other, and as to be expected the Yellow Brick RORC GPS won. On denying the redress, the head Juror hastened to offer that they agreed the 10% time penalty was somewhat archaic and overly harsh. I think that's a slight understatement when over 5 days 10% equates to about 12 hours, so even with over a 5-hour lead we still could not hold on to our position, even though with a conflicting GPS track the infringement was questionable.

Anyway, it is what it is and this, unfortunately, is one of the factors of yacht racing we need to live with and take on board (pardon the pun). I'm choosing to fill you in on this story, not to grumble in grievance, but to highlight an aspect of offshore racing that is really important for navigators, skippers and all racers to learn from. It is not as simple as getting around the course first, there is so much more at play in every race, as well as before and afterwards.

Not a sob story

I am also very conscious for this story not to be turned into a dramatised 'sob story' as I know, through the supporting messages and following we received that many Irish sailors followed our race and may have been motivated and inspired from our success - I hope in particular the younger generation, particularly the female sailors who aspire to skippering and navigating has been so.

For us, we have worked hard to take some key learning points from how the result has unfolded. These include the importance of awareness of the potential weaknesses and faults in your onboard technology, it is easy for us to become reliant on our instruments, but we should always question them and always check them. It has illuminated even more the use of backup GPS programs and to use them even when everything else seems fine and fully functional. It also highlighted to us the disadvantage of having to rent a boat intermittently, which means you do not have ultimate power over-controlling and regulating the functioning of the equipment on board, it also meant we had less time to prepare the boat prior to the race and really test all the equipment. Time in offshore racing is important, not only on the water but all the time beforehand and having the time and the budget to work with your own equipment is just as important as being able to use it to win a race on the day. Going forward, these aspects will take a stronger precedent in my campaign priority's and I hope one day to have enough budget to run my own boat for an entire season and more - and you can be sure any navigation going forward will have threefold GPS signal access and back up!

At the end of the day we are lucky it wasn't more serious, a questionable infringement that lost us the best race of my life so far......still much better than hitting a rock, or another boat. It is character and experience building and I truly believe that to improve at offshore sailing you need to build, build and build on experience.

Awesome race

As far as we are concerned, we raced an awesome race that put us across the finish line over 5 hours ahead of the next competitor in a one-design class. We sailed the boat fast, we pushed hard and we made smart navigation decisions that paid off. Not for a moment in that race did I stop thinking about 'the next move'. We battled to the end and even then took places on the finish from a double-handed boat sailed by sailors we revere such as Alexis Loison on Leon and Shirley Robertson Swell! Above all, we had fun and capitalized on our hard work and training from the season. Even with all that happened and after six days of no sleep - I was still ready to go out and do it all again the next day! I hope that everyone watching took this away from the Fastnet 2021 and we will see even more Irish sailors on the start line and the leader board next time.

This year the Rolex Fastnet Race featured on the Classe Figaro calendar. Unfortunately, the proximity of it to the mid-August start of La Solitaire du Figaro, the class’ premier event and the effective World Championship of solo offshore racing, meant that just five Figaros took part. Victory went to a rookie pairing.

Built by Beneteau and designed by VPLP, the 32ft Figaro 3 is an early generation foiler monohull that replaced the Figaro 2 in 2019. But to give some idea of its exceptional performance, the boat has an IRC TCC of around 1.115 - around the same as a Corby 38 or Ker 39.

Sadly the big 35 knots upwind, wind against tide conditions at the start put two Figaro 3s out of action. British favourites, the mixed duo of Cat Hunt and former Artemis Offshore Academy student Hugh Brayshaw aboard Ross Farrow’s Stormwave 2.0 retired after their D2 broke. Meanwhile, sail damage on Eric & Denis Delamare’s Hope forced them to limp into Cherbourg.

And then there were three...

In the conditions, Ireland’s Kenny Rumball and Pamela Lee on RL Sailing did a better job playing the shifts and tides. As they rock-hopped around the Lizard they had pulled into the lead ahead of Figaro class rookies Yael Poupon and Victor Le Pape aboard AD Fichou - Innovéo / Bihannic. These two Figaro 3s match raced their way across the Celtic Sea with the Irish leading around their rock with a 20-minute advantage.

After being on the wind all the way down the Channel and on one tack for most of the crossing, the return journey back from the Fastnet Rock to Bishop Rock on a reach in a bit more wind finally enabled the powerful Figaro 3s to make use their boats’ foils. They kept west and rounded the west side of the Traffic Separation Scheme west of the Scilly Isles before getting parked in a ridge in the early hours of Thursday morning.

After three or so hours the two managed to find the breeze but, getting out first, RL Sailing benefitted from being able to sail a largely direct course as AD Fichou - Innovéo / Bihannic lost ground putting in gybes. The two boats ultimately played the approach to the Alderney Race differently with the Irish ducking south of Guernsey and then allowing themselves to get drawn north on the powerful Alderney Race as their rivals managed to soldier through gybing downwind to the north. RL Sailing ultimately arrived in the early hours of Thursday morning more than five hours ahead of her rivals. Sadly the race’s jury later found that RL Sailing had unintentionally entered a TSS (prohibited zones under race rules) and awarded them a 10% penalty dropping them to last place.

This handed victory to AD Fichou - Innovéo / Bihannic sailed by former French Laser champion Yael Poupon (no relation to 3x Solitaire de Figaro and Route du Rhum winner Philippe) and Victor Le Pape (son of the long term head of France’s most famous training centre for offshore racing, Pôle Finistère course au large in Port la Fôret). Aged 22 and 23 respectively they represent a new generation of Figaro sailors coming through in France. For Le Pape in particular watersports are part of his family DNA. His elder brother Martin is also a Figaro sailor and his sister is IMOCA skipper Charlie Dalin’s girlfriend. He spent 10 years windsurfing before he started sailing in anger on board J/80s and Open 5.70s then getting drawn, like a big magnet, towards the Classe Figaro, joining forces with Poupon.

Waving the Class winner flag - AD Fichou - Innovéo Bihannic celebrates winning Figaro 3 Photo: Paul Wyeth

In 2021 Poupon and Le Pape are known as ‘bizuths’ in France, ie Figaro sailors in their first season, and this year have competed in the Figaro class’ Tour de Bretagne and singlehanded in the Solo Concarneau (in which Poupon raced another Figaro). Neither is racing in La Solitaire this year.

For both this was their first Rolex Fastnet Race. Of Sunday’s lively start Le Pape admitted it was alarming. He joked:

“Everyone I spoke to said ‘you are crazy to do it in a Figaro3’. After that first night, I think they were right. Next time I might take a drier boat!”

However, both were impressed by the huge fleet and its diversity from 100ft Ultime trimarans and the mighty ClubSwan 125 Skorpios down, via the IMOCA fleet including many of France’s best known sailors.

“It was a spectacular start but it was very hard,” said Poupon. “The waves were very strong. We put a reef in the mainsail and a reef in the jib - I have never sailed this boat in this configuration before.” He also admitted that compared to sailing in the Figaro fleet where speed differentials between the boats is usually no more than a small fraction of a knot, in the Rolex Fastnet Race fleet bigger boats were passing them sailing several knots faster. “There’s no other event where you can sail with so many boats and so many different boats - it is a new experience. And in 35 knots! Our goal was not to break anything as we knew that a few hours after it would be more calm and we wanted to have all our sails in one piece.”

Rounding the Fastnet Rock was dramatic – at 0200 and in thick fog. As le Pape explained:

“We didn’t see the rock, just the light. There was perhaps 0.1 miles of visibility and we couldn’t see anything. Yael said to me ‘okay the Fastnet is here’. And I was going ‘where? Are you sure??’ I can’t see anything! It was amazing - a crazy experience.”

For them, they were only trapped in the Scilly Isles for around three hours before setting off downwind for the south side of the Casquets TSS. However, they did well in the Alderney Race. “We arrived at Cape de la Hague at a good time because the current had turned and we just had a little bit of current with us.”

So will they return to do the Rolex Fastnet Race?

“Yes,” says le Pape. “But I don’t know in the Figaro. Maybe in a Class40. I want to come in a bigger boat!”

Disappointment for Greystones RL Sailing

The penalty for the Irish was naturally a disappointing conclusion for their doublehanded Figaro season. The experienced offshore sailing duo, who by coincidence both herald from Greystones in County Wicklow, were brought together with the common aim of competing in the elusive mixed doublehanded offshore event proposed for Paris 2024. This season they had already spent the first four months at the Figaro training centre in Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and were therefore familiar with the set-up, settings and modes of their quirky foil-born yacht. They then competed in the class’ Sardinha Cup and doublehanded Tour de Bretagne à la Voile.

Ireland’s Kenny Rumball and Pamela Lee on RL Sailing

Of their Rolex Fastnet Race Rumball reflected: “We were a lot closer than we realised. Coming out of the Solent was tough, there was a lot of wind. We reefed the main and the jib and were the first Figaro out of the Solent.

"Our closest competition was Victor le Pape – he was right on us the whole time and we were doing a lot of the same stuff at the same time which was kind of nice. It was good to have a real battle. We were playing the currents a lot and there were one or two points when we were going out to specifically play the current and that then paid.”

Lee continued: “We came off Portland well, and then at Start Point we went in and tacked our way up to the tidal gate. We were pretty well set up for the leg up to the Fastnet. We went south of the TSS and did well to get the breeze and current. It was a beat round the Scillies and then we quickly cracked off, went to a Code Zero and then our small spinnaker. It was quite a closely hauled reach on the way back from the Fastnet – we were on a J2, we couldn’t put up the Code Zero which would have been great.

“Then we had the shutdown at the Scillies. We went south of the west of the TSS, it looked like others got stuck behind us but we managed to slip through just. We all parked up though – we were thinking about kedging, counting the lines to see if we had enough! - but we had a feeling the breeze would come in south, so focused on getting south, and it did and so, of the people parked up, we were the first to get the wind. We were parked for six hours, the same time as it took to get from the TSS to Guernsey!

“Then we were set up by Guernsey and were three-sail reaching again and caught a lot of boats on that leg under small spinnaker and Code Zero. That was ripe for the Figaro, the ideal point of sail; we were probably averaging 13/14 knots - we just hammered it.”

Lee felt their boldest move was at the Alderney Race.

“At Guernsey, the tide was going to be against - we’d done loads of routings and knew it was a big risk because the wind was a bit fickle and wasn’t filling in, but we were the only boat to go south and came up around Guernsey and hopped into the tide there and that shot us north around the headland. We got the tide the whole way up and only hit negative tide just near the finish. It was a risk - but it paid. We were doing 12 knots over the ground – faster than the wind speed for a while!”

Both Rumball and Lee are keen to continue doublehanding but, with no firm Olympic goal, this is now harder to do commercially:

"It makes it harder to get funding – with Olympics as the goal then it made it tangible – they understand, they get it. But if you say you want to go off and sail doublehanded, they ask ‘why?..’ it makes it more challenging to formulate a campaign. But I think, regardless, how doublehanded sailing has taken off, I’d find it hard to go back to fully crewed.”

Fastnet Race results for the Figaro class are here

Yes indeed. With only a fortnight to go to the Golden Jubilee of ISORA's emergence from the old Northwest Offshore Association, Chairman Peter Ryan of Dun Laoghaire and Honorary Secretary Stephen Tudor of Pwllheli and their members can walk tall in the knowledge that all three boats with direct ISORA connections that were doing the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021 have been very much in the big-time success frame.

Let's go straight to the IRC Overall listing, in which 264 boats started - everything from slim little Contessa 32s up to the mighty 140ft Skorpios. We've only gone three places down the listing when we come to the Lombard 46 Pata Negra. Until now, she has only been a rare visitor to the Irish Sea, if at all. But she'd have been here last August when Darren Wright of Howth had her lined up for the postponed Round Ireland Race, as he knew the boat with his successes with her in the RORC Caribbean 600. But then the Round Ireland 2020 had to be cancelled completely.

Now, she's owned by Andrew Hall of Pwllheli, who must have sailed every course in the ISORA programme many times in boats like Jackknife and Jackhammer. Whether or not Pata Negra becomes an ISORA regular is neither here nor there. After all, she is a star, at her best in the majors. But the Middle Sea Race must be beckoning, and next year's Round Ireland is surely made for her, a formidable contender with second in IRC 1 to add to her third overall around the Fastnet.

Going on down the long list, we've only got to 14th overall when the Sunfast 37 Desert Star pops up. The sudden arrival in Cherbourg this morning (Friday) of a whole gaggle of IRC 4 boats opened up the overall list more than somewhat, and Desert Star's cool placing was augmented by being second in class after hours and days of very switched-on strategic and tactical sailing by Irish Offshore Sailing's principal Ronan O Siochru, and his talented right-hand man Conor Totterdell.

Over the years, Desert Star has become an ISORA regular, as the Association's bite-sized events are ideal for a sailing school working within tight time constraints. That said, those who signed up for 2021's Fastnet Programme with IOS ("No Experience Necessary, We'll Provide It and Turn You Into a Veteran") have now got themselves the bargain of a lifetime – a bargain which they can scarcely have imagined during the first incredibly challenging 24 hours of the race itself.

Happy campers. The Fastnet Race trainees aboard Irish Offshore Sailing's Desert Star (with skipper Ronan O Siochru on right, and Conor Totterdell third from right) got themselves the bargain of a lifetime in buying into the 2021 programme. Photo courtesy IOS

And finally, the ISORA threesome is completed by the Figaro 3 RL Sailing. While Pamela Lee has only occasional ISORA experience to refer to, co-skipper Kenneth Rumball is an old ISORA hand. And although the turnout in the special Figaro 3 Two-Handed Class was a modest five boats, RL Sailing's victory in it was by an incredible margin. In fact, the high point in her race was in the final stages, when she found herself in a fortuitous three-way duel with the two IRC 2-Handed leaders, the Sun Fast 3300 Swell and the JPK 10.30 Leon, from which RL Sailing emerged six minutes ahead boat-for-boat at Cherbourg. UPDATE Penalty for RL sailing. (August 17) here 

Pamela Lee and Kenneth Rumball on RL Sailing

Only three boats perhaps, but they provide a remarkably comprehensive lineup of memorable achievements in just one sailing of this great race in its new format, in which Cork's representative, the Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo, put in a truly heroic performance in pulling herself out of a private quagmire which had put her back in 26h in IRC 3 at one low point, yet by the finish she'd got back up to 13th, a memorable recovery.

But if we were forced into a corner and asked to nominate the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021's outstanding achievement, it was probably the way in which Charlie Dalin and Paul Meilhat took the IMOCA 60 Apivia through the first 24 hours.

Getting an IMOCA 6 to go well directly to windward in a seaway is not a talent with which every skipper is blessed. Of course, to some extent, it depends on the boat in question, but in some cases it's what you'd imagine a giraffe would look like if it tried to go ice-skating.

But with Apivia, these guys were doing the business from the word go, and they put the cream on the cake by the master-stroke of holding on starboard tack after the Needles to go clear across the Channel and on behind and beyond the Channel islands until they finally went on to port off the north coast of Brittany, having carried the same ebb tide the whole way from the Solent to Cap Brehat. There, they were beautifully placed for a swift and clear open water passage across towards the Isles of Scilly, where they found themselves pacing with Skorpios despite the latter being more than twice their overall length, and better configured for going to windward.

It was a master-stroke. Some would way say it was a case of taking a beautiful flyer. But when it turns out as well as that, it's everyone else who is taking a flyer………..

Apivia at the Fastnet Rock

Tracker below