It was a once in a lifetime occasion. Indeed, it was more accurately an absolute one-off. Last Saturday night's Centenary Dinner (April 12th) for the Fastnet Race and the Royal Ocean Racing Club in the Royal Cork Yacht Club was staged precisely a hundred years after ideas were being bounced about in the 1920s to agree that such a race should take place at all. And somehow this festive Springtime 2025 gathering transported everyone back to the original days, when the first Fastnet Race was symbolic of the slow but sure recovery from the horrors of the Great War.
The initial exchanges about whether or not such a race should be staged at all were between several noted offshore sailing alumni such as George Martin, Claud Worth, and the sailing writer James Weston Martyr – the latter had returned from America enthused by the newly-formed Cruising Club of America's revival of the Bermuda Race.
Out of the blue with a motley crew, Chieftain comes in as overall winner to Plymouth at the end of the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race.
Those who were in favour of the race were stiffened in their purpose by the support Harry Donegan of Cork, who not only raced in the first Fastnet Race staging in 1925, getting third with his 17-ton cutter Gull, but subsequently was unstinting in his support of the use of the original course from the Solent to the Fastnet and thence to Plymouth.
AMERICAN INVOLVEMENT
For until the Americans got involved, although Donegan had to travel further than anyone else in the original fleet of seven to get to the start, he was an early appreciator of the convenient centrality of the start and finish to Europe's main sailing centres. He was also so sure of the course's rightness that when they wrote to him about the second staging in 1926 by suggesting that perhaps it would encourage others if it finished in Dublin Bay or the Clyde, he briskly dismissed that notion.
A generous spirit. Cork's Harry Donegan (1870-1940) was unflinching in his support for the Fastnet Race.
He said that the southeast coast of Ireland was such a maze of crazy shoals and treacherous sandbanks that, as a Corkman, he much preferred to race towards a coast of "good honest rocks" such as you get inshore of the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, whereas the Irish Sea was a very mixed offshore racing proposition.
RACING OFFSHORE SINCE THE 1700s
The Cork clubs had of course been staging offshore races round the Fastnet Rock since the 19th and probably the 18th Century, and the first recognisably modern offshore fleet race was from Dublin Bay to Cork Harbour in 1860, promoted and participated by the "fine old Admiral Tom French" of the RCYC, despite him being in his early 80s.
The Donegan family's Gull (left) racing at Cobh People's regatta in 1939, Skipper Donegan's last full season with the boat. Photo: RCYC
A family thing. Jim Donegan (left) great-grandson of Harry Donegan and himself a sailor, the Royal Ocean Racing Club Admiral Janet Grosvenor, and the Royal Cork YC's Donal McClement, a veteran of many Fastnet and other major offshore races, and convenor of the Centenary Dinner. Photo: Robert Bateman
But as with the contemporary ICRA approach in Ireland, for worthwhile entries you have to "follow the numbers". The fact that 496 boats of all shapes and sizes are entered for the Rolex Centenary Fastnet Race, starting westward from Cowes on July 26th 2025, shows how well the remarkably far-sighted Cork sailors were in their perceptions of what would work best.
One of the great sights of modern world sailing – the Rolex Fastnet fleet heads westward through The Needles Channel.
That said, Harry Donegan might have reservations about the course change in 2021 to have the finish in Cherbourg, as it was a very fondly-remembered post-race dinner in the sponsoring Royal Western Yacht Club's clubhouse in Plymouth which brought the Ocean Racing Club into being, and on track to becoming the RORC in 1931, when the race became biennial.
COMMERCIALLY-MINDED PORT
But while Plymouth is a democratically-minded city with berthing accommodation providing little enough extra spacing for visitors, Cherbourg is one of those tightly-run commercially-minded expansionist French ports that explore every business proposition, and it sees the welcoming of the modern big-fleet Rolex Fastnet Race fleet as central to its purpose in life.
Thus while the Fastneteers may be sailing much of the original course, there has been a problem for many years in re-creating any post-race event which bears some resemblance to that original 1925 dinner. But as the notion of Fastnet Race Centenary Dinners through 2025 at different clubs of significance in the race's history gathered steam, there was a hope that the flavour of Plymouth 1925 might be re-captured in Crosshaven 2025.
The Royal Cork YC clubhouse at Crosshaven as it was in 1970. Photo: W M Nixon
The Royal Cork YC clubhouse as it is today – the former Grand Hotel behind it is now apartments. Photo: Robert Bateman
For although the Royal Cork Yacht Club in 2025 at Crosshaven is much up-graded and enlarged in the most stylish way from the modest chalet-pavilion clubhouse into which the members of the Royal Munster Yacht Club moved down-harbour from Monktown in 1923 like cuckoos into the new nest of the soon-to-disappear Cork Harbour Motor Boat Club, the friendliness and intimacy which were the Royal Munster YC hallmark have been retained, despite the enlarging of the premises and the incorporation into the 1720-founded Royal Cork YC in 1968.
BALANCING THE NUMBERS
Donal McClement, who did his first Fastnet Race in 1967, was on site in Crosshaven to pull things together after a remarkable recovery from a very serious back injury, and with the full support of RCYC CEO Gavin Deane and his team, it was very all right on the night.
Nobody quite knows how they did it, but they managed to find space in the RCYC dining room for 134 Fastnet Racers and offshore fans to to celebrate the Centenary. Photo: Robert Bateman
When pushed, Donal said he thought around a hundred dedicated Fastneteers would be just about right for the RCYC's attractive dining room, but that 90 would be just fine. Yet in the final days leading up to the deadline, the word was out, and the line had to be drawn at 134.
Janet Grosvenor, Admiral Royal Ocean Racing Club, and Annamarie Fegan, Admiral Royal Cork YC. Photo: Robert Bateman
We'd everyone from the great and the good in the form of two Admirals (both female) to a veritable host of Commodores in a pyramid based on an enormous variety of Fastnet Race veterans from near and far. And the charming Gerard Butler, Keeper of the Fastnet Light on that dark night in 1979 as the storm mayhem was unfolding, was one of the welcome Guests of Honour.
Gerard Butler, Keeper of the Fastnet Lighthouse in 1979, and offshore sailor Geraldine Hickey. Photo: Robert Bateman
STUNNED MULLET
Your correspondent was wallowing happily with shipmates of yore in a mud-bath of entertaining memories of the pre-race events and parties in Cowes, several editions of the great race itself, and the subsequent and often extraordinary post-race events in Plymouth, when a vice-like grip of his arm turned him into a stunned mullet.
The Admiral knows best. Afloat.ie ie's W M Nixon like a stunned mullet after the Admiral had suddenly instructed him to speak after the dinner. Photo: Robert Bateman
For it was accompanied by a crisp personal request from Admiral Annamarie Fegan to speak and propose the toast to the RORC after dinner, when everyone was fully sated with Tom and Yvonne Durcan's perfect rare beef, and much else including copious quantities of wine.
Management in strength: RORC Admiral Janet Grosvenor, RORC CEO Jeremy Wilton, RCYC Admiral Annamarie Fegan, and RCYC Vice Admiral Yvonne Durcan. Photo: Robert Bateman
Yet it actually was a kindness, for with personal memories of racing under the RORC rules going back to 1962, any advanced warning would have led to a fretful few days and of being swamped by nostalgia and fear of leaving key points out. Yet in these short-notice circumstances there was justification for shooting from the hip, with all the right memories being aired, though not necessarily in the right order.
The Class of '71. Dickie Gomes, John McWilliam and W M Nixon were in the crew of the Hustler 35 Setanta in 1971, when she was ISORA Class B Champion and second in Class IV in the Fastnet Race. Photo: Robert Bateman
MOTHER-IN-LAW'S DAUGHTER
My mother-in-law's daughter and I had gone along with Dickie and Deirdre Gomes, as Dickie and I did our first Fastnet together in 1969 in Ronnie Wayte's home-made 35ft Mayro of Skerries. We knew that in John Bourke and Donal McClement there'd be two senior to us, as they both did their first Fastnet in 1967, and there were surely others more senior again. But with that hearty crowd of 134 in the RCYC's stylish but compact rooms, research on such topics was wellnigh impossible amidst the whoops of delight among re-uniting crews of times past, many of whom had not been together for decades.
Admiral Janet Grosvenor with former Howth YC Commodore Breda Dillon and her daughter Laura Dillon, who was All-Ireland Helm Champion 1996, a Rear Commodore of the RORC, and a champion in Cowes Week helming the S&S 41 Winsome. Photo: Robert Bateman
Michael Boyd of the Royal Irish YC, former Commodore RORC, former RORC Class Champion, and winner of the 1996 Round Ireland race with Enda O'Coineen, who sailed in two successful Round Ireland Record Challenges in 1986. Photo: Robert Bateman
Fastnet Race and Admiral's Cup veteran Dan Cross of Crosshaven (where else?) with Jill Cross and Round Ireland veteran Peter Fernie of Galway Bay SC. Photo: Robert Bateman
TOP OF THE TREE
In terms of race distinction, the outright top of the tree was Ger O'Rourke of Limerick, who skippered his Cookson 50 to complete victory in 2007's stormy race despite the boat having no functioning electrics from the Lizard westward. But crewmen like current Lough Ree YC Commodore Donie Heraghty were able to provide enough navigating info from their fading mobile phones to get them there and take the overall win via smudges on the soaking wet charts.
Then too, event organiser Donal McClement has his own special claim to fame from the 1979 race of the super-storm. He reckoned that the only way to keep the UFO34 Black Arrow going was to aim her - under tiny storm jib but sailing well - straight through each steep, mis-shapen and breaking wave. It went against his sailorly instincts, but thanks to using Black Arrow as an arrow plain and simple, they not only came through, they won Class IV in style.
The sharp-bowed UFO 34. In bringing this boat's sister-ship Black Arrow through the huge and confused seas of the ultra-stormy 1979 Fastnet like an arrow rather than a buoyant boat, Donal McClement and his crew not only survived the storm, they won Class IV.
CREW OF 54 YEARS AGO RE-UNITED
Suddenly in the heaving mass as we made our way through to dinner, former Crosshaven-based sailmaker Johnny McWilliam emerged out of nowhere. We'd thought he was still in Australia for his annual gliding programme, but up he popped and we'd half of the crew that took second in the Class IV in the 1971 race with Ronnie Wayte's next boat, the Hustler 35 Setanta of Skerries, which still graces Dun Laoghaire harbour.
Then up popped Enda O'Coineen. After many adventures in all sort of boats, in May 1986 I sailed with him on Robin Knox-Johnston's 60ft catamaran British Airways to knock a mere five hours off Denis Doyle's remarkable race record established with the Frers 51 Moonduster in 1984.
They came from all Ireland. From left are Round Ireland organiser Kyran O'Grady, Maeve McCarthy (Wicklow SC), Denis Murphy (RCYC), Mia Murphy (RCYC), Donal Morrissy (Galway Bay SC), John Harte, and Ger O'Rourke (Royal Western of Ireland YC, Kilrush). Photo: Robert Bateman
But then in November 1986, Enda joined Dickie Gomes on the 83ft catamaran Novanet, and in a decidedly dangerous circuit in early winter weather, established a record which stood from 1986 until 1993, when Steve Fossett – encouraged by Con Murphy & Cathy MacAleavey of the National YC – turned up with the sublime trimaran Lakota and established a Round Ireland record that stood until 2016.
ROUND IRELAND RACE INVOLVEMENT
The significance of the Round Ireland Race in the RORC's worldview was underlined by the presence of the organiser, Kyran O'Grady of Wicklow. But essentially this was a celebration of the Royal Cork's special relationship with the RORC and the Fastnet Race, even if the presence of the award-winning Royal Irish YC Commodore Tim Carpenter showed how much the RIYC is investing in the Centenary programme, including two very good boats entered under RIYC colours for the revived Admiral's Cup.
Then too, Dun Laoghaire has provided two RORC Commodores in recent years, former Irish Sailing President John Bourke of the Royal St George YC, and former round Ireland overall winner Michael Boyd of the Royal Irish.
Top brass (left to right) are Tim Carpenter, Commodore of the award-winning Royal Irish YC which is making a serious Admiral's Cup challenge this year, former RORC Commodore Michael Boyd (Round Ireland winner and RORC Champion), RORC Admiral Janet Grosvenor, and John Bourke, former RORC Commodore, President of Irish Sailing, and member of top-placed 1987 Irish Admiral's Cup team. Photo: Robert Bateman
There were heavy hitters all round, as the RORC welcome to the event was led by Admiral Janet Grosvenor, whose encouragement while RORC secretary to Ger O'Rourke when Chieftain was still very much on the 2007 Fasten Race bore fruit, even if the dropouts in face of a ferocious forecast weren't sufficient until the Thursday to guarantee him a place in Saturday's race start.
Interest was shown from all sides – former Old Gaffers Association International President Sean Walsh (left), now of Kinsale, and active OGA member David Lewis of Kenmare, a veteran of eight Fastnet Races. Photo: Robert Bateman
Ireland's top two-handers Sam Hunt and Cian McCarthy of Kinsale were very much at the party. Photo: Robert Bateman
THE DOUGLAS CAMPBELL ADVICE BUREAU
As for those of us with long memories, the entire RORC London-Cowes axis was something to be enjoyed. In winter, the elegant townhouse HQ in St James was a haven of sanity during the Earls Court Boat Show, and I well remember hearing Douglas Campbell, the ultra-Scottish barman, advising a bright new member buying the club tie that if he only wanted to hold his trousers up, then the silk version was adequate, but if he wanted to be able to start the outboard, then he'd need the terylene.
The RORC's London clubhouse, where barman Douglas Campbell used to dispense wisdom on everything from what you should be drinking, to selecting the best material for your club tie.
Then too, there was the time that the RORC decided not to go ahead with a planned race from Cowes to Cork in 1972 because of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Despite being Admiral RCYC, and Rear Commodore RORC at the time, Denis Doyle swallowed his disappointment and raced the white Robert Clark-designed Moonduster with the fleet to Santander in northwest Spain.
Gliding up the river to the Santander club on a sunny morning in the engineless Moonduster, Denis spotted Mary waiting fragrantly as usual in her latest fashion-plate summer frock beside the clubhouse. It was a smoking blackened ruin. The Basque Separatists had blown it up the night before.
"Mary Doyle" said Denis at the helm, sweeping his arm across the scene of destruction. "Mary Doyle, I knew you were annoyed at them for not coming to Cork. But is that not over-doing it a bit?"
The RORC's new "support clubhouse" at Castle Rock in Cowes – don't ask too many questions about Rosa Lewis.
CLUBHOUSES TO SPARE
As for the new "spare clubhouse" in Cowes, I can remember it as Castle Rock, the southern outpost of the Royal Corinthian YC in Burnham on Crouch. Back in the day, it still had the louche atmosphere of somewhere that had for a time been the southern base of the formidable Rosa Lewis, mistress of all she surveyed in the Cavendish Hotel in London. But doubtless such things are now history, and so too are favourite Cowes watering holes like the Three Crowns and the Gloucester Hotel, not to mention the crazy post-race mood in Millbay Dock and the Royal Western YC in Plymouth.
But there's much to be found in Cherbourg. That said, when I concluded by mentioning that we Irish can take proprietorial pride in the fact that the magnificent equestrian statue of the Emperor Napoleon at Cherbourg Harbour is half Irish, as his splendid horse Marengo was bought by two of his most talented and discerning young Cavalry Officers at the Ballinasloe Horse Fair, it rather brought the house down. But at least one other Fastnet sailor knew it to be absolutely true, worthy of much more serious treatment.
The famous equestrian statue of the Emperor Napoleon at Cherbourg is half Irish, as his wonderful horse Marengo was sourced from the Ballinasloe Horse fair in County Galway.
By the end, admittedly, there was little seriousness about. And so eventually we went our various ways in a miasma of memories going back more than six decades. For most, it was quite the night. Yet next morning, Admiral Annamarie Fegan was up as bright as a button to shepherd her crew across to Kinsale to race the family's Grand Soleil Nieulargo in that day's Sunday Spring Series race. They won.
The one that never changes. Dawn comes up over West Cork as the leading boat approaches the Fastnet Rock
Read also: Royal Cork Yacht Club Brings Royal Ocean Racing Club Centenary Celebrations Up To Speed
