Day 5 1900:  With the JPK 11.80 Sunrise (Tom Kneen GB) named as overall IRC winner and first in IRC2 at the 2021 Fastnet Race finish in Cherbourg - thereby confirming France's Jean-Pierre Kelbert of Lorient as one of this generations's most formidable creators of excellent all-round race-winning boats - the focus now swings to the lower-rated and generally smaller craft still at sea, racing for the honours in IRC 4 on a run up the English Channel.

They may have started with 70 boats – the second-largest class – but attrition of various kinds has taken its toll, and 16 have retired. However, the pace among the leaders of the 54 still racing is mustard-keen for those coveted podium places. The well-used Jeanneau Sunfast 37 Desert Star from Dun Laoghaire's Irish Offshore Sailing – driven on by IOS principal Ronan O Siochru and Conor Totterdell (National YC) and their team – has been hanging on to the advantage she gained during the night and early this morning, when she leapt up from 13th to 2nd thanks to judicious choices in the flukey sailing conditions around the Isles of Scilly and south of Land's End.

Currently at 18:30, she is shown as back in third, as they elected to take a downwind tack on port in towards the English coast in order to minimize contact with the area of lighter wind which has persisted close north of the Channel Islands and in towards the finish at Cherbourg. It was a calculated risk, as the southwest to west wind is forecast to spread eventually across the entire Channel, but experience indicates that despite the very turbulent weather off the west and northwest coasts of Ireland, down at Cherbourg things are much more sedate and significant wind changes – if any – have been taking place more slowly.

The positioning tack to port means that while the X332 Trading-advices.com (Fr.) continues to lead, second place is now held by the Sigma 38 With Alacrity (GB) while Desert Star in third is having to keep an eye on the next in line, the classic Dutch S&S 41 Winsome which has been noted in times past for success with Irish helm Laura Dillon.

But having returned to running on starboard, Desert Star found a useful line of wind which pushed her speed above 7 knots, and the race computations showed her as now harrying With Alacrity for second, while taking off the pressure from Winsome with 115 miles to go to the finish.

The overall winner – Tom Kneen's JPK 11.80 Sunrise

Meanwhile in IRC 3, there's a real battle between the two top Two-Handers, Shirley Robertson in the Sun Fast 3300 Swell and Alexis Loison in the JPK 10.30 Leon, with the latter currently with a narrow lead. But with fifty miles and more to go – albeit with fair tide – it's too close to call any time soon, for if anything has been learned from the new course, it is that the final swoop into Cherbourg can be a very difficult little trick to get right.

As for the three remaining Figaro 3s still being raced, Ireland's RL Sailing (Kenneth Rumball & Pamela Lee) now has a very substantial lead over AD Fichou/Innoveo, in fact RL have just 50 miles to the finish whole AD have precisely twice as much, which I think we can reasonably claim is a significant margin.

And if by any chance you haven't heard why George David's Rambler 88 suddenly retired after she got to the finish in Cherbourg with seemingly second place in line honours close ahead of the brilliantly sailed Imoca 60 Apivia, it's because they went to the greatest possible trouble to leave that benighted TSS south of the Fastnet Rock clear to starboard while tacking downwind after rounding The Rock, the Brains Trust on board being apparently unaware that it's a mark of the course, to be left to port.

It's not a mistake anyone will ever make again - not ever never.

And as for the Sunrise win being good for business with JPK – we just can't be too sure. For with all those major successes now augmented with another Fastnet overall win, if you do have an excellent JPK boat, what on earth would be your excuse for not winning all the time…..?

Race tracker below