It says everything about the iconic nature of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Fastnet Race that a General Meeting about the route for the race, which should be a private matter among the admittedly many members of the RORC, has already become a matter of public discussion despite the announcement of the forthcoming AGM and EGM on December 7th being issued via email as recently as 00.00.45 on Saturday, November 14th.

The timing thereby avoided publication on a gloom-laden and fateful Friday 13th by just 45 seconds. But inevitably there has already been much turmoil and dissent among traditionalists who felt that the time-honoured Plymouth finish was an integral and essential part of the Fastnet experience. When the proposed Cherbourg finish was announced a year ago, the RORC officers, committee and executive pointed out that they felt that facilities at Plymouth no longer met the requirements of a very varied fleet approaching 400 boats, some of them very large.

But traditionalists pointed out that expecting Plymouth to be able to cope with such a demand for an event which occurred only once every two years was like expecting a household to be permanently prepared for Christmas lunch, and that a bit of crowding was inevitable.

It may not be Monte Carlo, let alone Cherbourg, but packing them in at Plymouth after the Fastnet Race has always been an integral part of the Fastnet experience.

Nevertheless, it seemed that Cherbourg's offer of the sun, moon and the stars in terms of facilities had won the day. But apparently, a significant group of the grassroots members of the RORC think differently, and they've been quietly gathering their forces and under Club Rule 16.1, they've secured this EGM with the proposal, for decision by a simple majority of full members, that something as significant and central as the Fastnet Race course to the RORC's existence and ethos should be decided only by the agreement of the full membership, albeit through virtual voting under the current pandemic circumstances.

Interesting times. For a year, it has looked as though our own revered Fastnet Rock was going to be all that was left of the original Fastnet Race course. Between 1925 and 1947, it started eastward out of the Solent from the Royal Victoria YC at Ryde, the only exception being 1935 when it started westward from the Royal Solent YC at Yarmouth. But then in 1949 under the persuasion of John Illingworth, the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes took over starting duties for a westward-going start sequence which has now become one of global sailing's great wonders as they exit the Needles Channel in a vast panoply of sail with the full ebb roaring along under them.

One of global sailing's great wonders – the Fastnet fleet beating westward through the Needles Channel.

It is so much a part of sailing consciousness that modern sailors have assumed that's the way it has always been, but it hasn't. However, the rounding of the Fastnet Rock and the finish at the lighthouse on Plymouth Breakwater have always been an integral part of it all, particularly as the formation of a new organisation, the Ocean Racing Club which was to become the RORC in 1931, was successfully proposed at the post-race dinner in Plymouth’s Royal Western Yacht Club attended by all the crews of the seven yachts that had finished, including Harry Donegan’s Gull from Cork which had placed third. But in November 2019, the RORC's Flag Officers, Committee and Executive presented the change to Cherbourg as a fait accompli.

Quite so. It's now perfectly possible that this fait accompli will be overturned by force majeure on December 7th. Plus ca change. Mais c'est la vie. And now that the populist provocateur extraordinaire Dominic Cummings is at a loose end, this might be just the job for him. Sacre bleu…

Fastnet Race course as it has been 1949-2019 (gold line), with the planned new finish to Cherbourg (red)