Fastnet Race 2023 start - The Murphy family of Cork's Grand Soleil Nieulargo, racing in IRC 2, had one of the best starts of the entire Fastnet Race 2023 fleet in a rain-sodden Solent this afternoon, conditions which - when combined with a strengthening west-going ebb tide - made the fresh to strong southwest wind seem more powerful than it initially was. However, with all sorts of unpleasant weather conditions forecast for the course area tonight, some boats were already setting their orange headsails, but Nieulargo's steady progress under exactly the right amount of sail means that she is now (16:00 Hrs) lying second in class on handicap and well up the fleet.
Another of the entries from Ireland, Robert Rendell's Grand Soleil 44 Samatom from Howth, was also right in the frame with an inner end start, but in her case, she may have cut it so fine that she might be carrying the 2-hour OCS penalty. Meanwhile, the most intriguing boat in the race, Sean Langman's gaff-rigged 1932-built Maluka from Sydney with Gordon Maguire in the crew, was dealing with the awkward conditions with much more confidence than many boats around her and was significantly out-performing modern machines which should have been showing her a clean pair of heels.