The past few editions of the Rolex Fastnet Race have seen a burgeoning double-handed contingent fighting some of the most tightly fought battles on the course, and this year, Ireland's Cian McCarthy and Sam Hunt in the Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl are among a line-up of hugely experienced and successful competitors that makes predicting a likely top ten an almost impossible challenge.

Nick Martin will be racing Two-Handed with Jim Driver aboard his Sun Fast 3600 Diablo Photo: James Tomlinson

Romain Gibon’s JPK1010 is back to defend the title he won by little more than 10 minutes in the last edition, but under a different boat name: Abracadabra 2. However, only two other entries in the previous top 10 are returning this year - Tim Goodhew and Kelvin Matthews on the supremely successful Sun Fast 3200 R2 Cora, plus another JPK1010, Beniot Rousselin’s Delnic.

As regular Afloat readers know, McCarthy has campaigned Cinnamon Girl near and far with clubmate Sam Hunt. The duo have chalked up some significant achievements in the Round Ireland, Dun Laoghaire Dingle, Inistearaght Race and a Sydney Hobart campaign has featured too.

Romain Gibon won IRC Two-Handed in the 2023 Fastnet Race and is back to defend the title on the newly named JPK1010 Abracadabra 2 Photo: Paul Wyeth

Cora was the top British boat last time and took second place in the double-handed category of the 2024 RORC season’s points behind Rob Craigie and RORC Commodore Deb Fish in the Sun Fast 3600 Bellino. However, the latter is racing with a team of four in the Fastnet Race, leaving an opening for others to prevail.

The front end of this fleet has been dominated for some time by a relatively small number of well established designs. However two new models aimed squarely at short handed racing, and both with impeccably prepared works boats, join the fray this year.

Tim Goodhew and Kelvin Matthews on their successful Sun Fast 3200 R2 Cora Photo: Paul Wyeth

The Pogo RC, a 33-footer from the board of Sam Manuard and Bernard Nivelt, is a development of Didier Gaudoux’s MN35 Lann Ael 3 that won both legs of last year’s IRC Double Handed European Championship. Skipper Tanguy Bouroullec, skipper of Aruba, the first boat to leave the Breton yard, has a huge number of miles under his belt and lifted third place in the 2021 Mini Transat. In Class 40s he won last year’s Dhream Cup and took second place in the 2023 Les Sables - Horta - Les Sables race. However, this will be his first Fastnet Race. “I am really excited because it's a race of legend,” he says, “so it will be really interesting and fun to see all the boats at the start – I think it's really wonderful.”

How does he rate the boat’s potential? “We are very fast reaching with 15 to 20 knots of wind and downwind under spinnaker too. I think there’s not a big difference in less than 10 knots of wind, but we have not raced the boat yet, so we can’t be certain.”

Tanguy Bouroullec will be skippering the Pogo RC Aruba in his first Fastnet Race Photo: Paul Wyeth

The JPK 1050 Léon is the outcome of similar design thinking, but is not competing in its first race until Easter. The prototype example will be sailed in the Fastnet Race by JPK founder Jean-Pierre Kelbert, who took victory in both IRC Class 3 and the Double-Handed division of the 2019 edition, sailing with Alexis Loison as co-skipper.

A sail designer at Incidences Sails, Loison made history in 2013 when he and his father Pascal became the first ever double-handed team to win the Fastnet Race overall, sailing the JPK 1010 Night and Day. To date he has won the IRC Two Handed class more often than any other person, with five victories in all, his first in 2005 with his father on board this J/105 Night and Day.

He says the JPK 1050, “is a Jacques Valers design and fast when reaching and in downwind mode and it’s lighter than the last design, a JPK 1030,” adding: “the two handed class in the Fastnet is really competitive – everyone’s target is still to win the two handed division and IRC overall.”

Jean-Pierre Kelbert and Alexis Loison return - this time with the brand new JPK 1050 Leon Photo: JPK Composites

Richard Palmer’s much travelled JPK 1010 Jangada, which won a slew of RORC trophies, in 2022 is back, racing with his daughter Sophie in what will be his 12th Fastnet Race. What makes the event so compelling? “No two Fastnet races are ever the same and it’s such an iconic race, with a wide variety of competitors, so there's always someone you can match yourself against,” he says. “That race within a race, even if you are starting off on a club or charter boat, is what makes it so appealing for such a wide range of participants. Then the race itself throws everything at you, from the challenge of navigating out of the Solent in gale force winds to drifting becalmed off the Scilly Islands. Finally it's the camaraderie when you meet people at finish, with all the stories to tell not of the crew you're with, and all the other boats that you've been up against.”

The father and daughter team aspect particularly appeals to Sophie Palmer, who often compares her performance with other father and daughter teams, which is her race within the race. Other father/daughter pairings this year include Richard and Emma Breese, who are competing in an older, but none the less competitive boat, the J/105 Mojo. Emma has a long track record of making boats go fast, having been Optimist Junior National Champion in 2019, and finishing as second female at last year’s 420 Youth National Championship.

Richard Palmer's much travelled JPK 1010 Jangada. This year he will be sailing doublehanded with his daughter Sophie Photo: James Tomlinson

Similarly, Jim Driver raced with huge success with daughter Ellie on the Sun Fast 3300 Chilli Pepper for several seasons. However with Ellie now racing a Figaro 3, Jim has teamed up with Nick Martin, whose Sun Fast 3600 Diablo has an enviably long list of achievements, for this year’s race. Martin also won the 2012 Round Ireland Race and his previous boat, Diablo J, was crowned RORC Yacht of the Year.

Current double-handed entries are here