This year’s Rolex Fastnet Race has an all-star line up with some of the most exciting racing yachts in the world taking part. We pick out 10 Fastnet boats to follow It\u2019s hard to imagine a more diverse and intriguing fleet line up than this year\u2019s Rolex Fastnet Race entries, making it hard to pick out which Fastnet\u00a0boats to follow.
\nThe fleet is, once again, vast in both size and scope. At last count 355 yachts were preparing to take on the 49th edition of the offshore classic, ranging from the enormous, brand new 140ft ClubSwan 125 Skorpios, to the altogether more petite 11m classic, Le Loup Rouge Of Cmn, and the diminutive 9.33m long T3 Trifoiler L\u2019Albatros, racing in the MOCRA fleet.
\nWithin the huge range of entries are some of the world\u2019s best professionals, family boats, first timers, and everything in between. We pick out 10 Fastnet boats to follow:
\nAnother huge fleet will be lining up for this year\u2019s Rolex Fastnet Race with dozens of intriguing boats to follow. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi
\nSkorpios
\nThe breath-taking new ClubSwan 125 is the biggest yacht ever to take part in the Rolex Fastnet Race.
\nRecently launched out of Nautor Swan in Finland, Skorpios has been working up to speed in the UK \u2013 but\u00a0only recently arrived in Cowes yesterday, as with 24ft draught her manoeuvrability in the crowded waters around the Solent is limited.
\nDesigned for offshore record setting, skipper Fernando Echavarri and owner Dmitry Rybolovlev are here for line honours.
\nOn the eve of the Rolex Fastnet Race, we got an exclusive sail and tech tour aboard this monster of a racing yacht:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rambler 88
\nOwner George David has a history with the Rolex Fastnet Race like few others.
\nHis Rambler 88 won back-to-back monohull line honours in the last two editions, but in 2011 his Rambler 100 supermaxi capsized just past the Fastnet Rock \u2013 all crew were safely rescued, but it\u2019s an emotive race for David and his team.
\nThis time Rambler 88 goes into the Fastnet after a light year of sailing due to pandemic-related travel restrictions having a big impact on the grand prix racing circuit.\u00a0Nevertheless, Rambler\u2019s 19 crew have all made it into the UK, while the boat arrived on a ship from the USA in June.
\nThis week the silver maxi has been out for a training sail. \u201cWe just want to make sure we can still sail it in anger after a year of not sailing,\u201d tactician Brad Butterworth. Rambler\u2019s last race may have been the Rolex Middle Sea Race in 2019, but her crew is one the most experienced around.<\/p>\n
Pen Duick VI
\nThe late Eric Taberly\u2019s name is ingrained in the history of offshore racing and one of the iconic entries in this year\u2019s Fastnet is his Whitbread Round the World Race maxi and 1976 OSTAR winner Pen Duick VI, now skippered by his daughter Marie.
\nPen Duick VI is switching back into offshore racing mode in preparation for the 2023 Ocean Globe Race, a nostalgic tribute to the original Whitbread. Check out the October issue of Yachting World magazine for a closer look at this world famous yacht.
\nPen Duick VI competed in the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973-74. Credit: Ocean Frontiers OGR\/ GGR
\nHugo Boss
\nAlex Thomson\u2019s black and hot pink Hugo Boss needs little introduction and is always one of the most popular boats to follow.
\nThis is the British Vend\u00e9e skipper\u2019s first outing in his foiling IMOCA with its radical \u2018inside\u2019 cockpit since it suffered structural and rudder damage during the last around the world race.
\nNow fully fixed, Hugo Boss will be co-skippered by Swedish racer Ollie Heer, who is the boat captain for the complex design.\u2028
\nAnyone wanting to get a feel for just how punishing the Fastnet Race is in a foiling IMOCA should check out Thomson\u2019s \u2018Hub\u2019 page, which shows real time data from the boat and biometrics from the sailors \u2013 heel angle, hours of sleep and much more See alexthomsonracing.com\/the-hub\/<\/p>\n
Hugo Boss is one of 13 IMOCAs competing in this year\u2019s Fastnet.
\nOther star skippers lining up include fellow Brits Sam Davies on Initiatives Couer and Simon Fisher on 11th Hour Racing, plus J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou on Charal, Vend\u00e9e Globe line honours winner Charlie Dalin on Apivia and overall Vend\u00e9e champion Yannick Bestaven on Maitre Coq IV.
\nMorpheus
\nIt\u2019ll be a wet and wild ride for Andrew Fennell and team on his Shuttleworth-designed one-of 39ft carbon trimaran Morpheus.
\nWe took a tour of the boat after they finished the 2019 Fastnet Race, where they described life onboard as \u201cLike trying to sleep in the back of a 1950s pick up truck with leaf suspension being driven down a dark dirt road by a drunk driver\u2026\u201d
\nMorpheus is racing in the MOCRA class, which has a diverse entry ranging from the modified, foil-assisted MOD70s Argo and Maserati, to the luxurious 84ft performance cruising catamaran Allegra, which will have world speed sailing record holder Paul Larsen onboard.
\n\u201cI liken [it] to rally driving Bentley Continentals \u2013 they are hugely capable cars with incredible brakes and engines and handling packages, but at the end of the day it is a Bentley Continental and, when things go wrong, it weighs a lot,\u201d said Larsen.
\nOther big names in the MOCRA fleet include French offshore legend Loick Peyron aboard the Outremer 5X No Limit, while Christian Guyader aboard the TS5 Guyader Mext will be among the favourites for a class win.<\/p>\n
Amokura\u2028
\nPaul Moxon and Steve Jones\u2019 50ft Bermudan yawl Amokura is the oldest boat in the race.
\nDesigned by Fredrick Shepherd and built by Moodys in Swanwick in 1939, originally for Lord Mountbatten\u2019s Aide de Camp, Ernest Harston, Amokura competed in the 1959 Fastnet Race and tried again 60 years on in 2019, but finished neither.
\nIn sharp contrast to most of the entries, she is built with a pitch pine hull on oak beams, teak deck and seven ton bilge keel and displaces 20 tonnes.
\nThe oldest yacht in the fleet is Amokura Photo Nic Compton\/Yachting World
\nMaxi Edmond De Rothschild
\nThere are four incredible Ultim 100ft trimarans taking part this year, including the Gitana teams\u2019s Maxi Edmond De Rothschild, which smashed the (old) course record last time and will be hoping to set the benchmark for the new one this time around.
\n Charles Caudrelier skippers with Franck Cammas. Rivals include Thomas Coville, who returns with his giant trimaran Sodebo.\u2028<\/p>\n
Jangada
\nIRC Class 4 is shaping up to be hotly contested, especially among the double-handed entries.
\nSince its introduction in 2011, IRC 4 has always been won by a French boat and for the last four editions by a JPK 10.10.
\nAmong the 40 or so British teams competing in IRC Four, Richard Palmer\u2019s JPK 10.10 Jangada may have the best shot of breaking France\u2019s winning streak. Racing double-handed with Jeremy Waitt, Jangada was 2020 RORC Boat of the Year and winner of the 2019 RORC Transatlantic Race.\u00a0
\nRichard Palmer is competing in his 10th Rolex Fastnet Race. \u201cIt\u2019s the world\u2019s most competitive offshore IRC event,\u201d he commented.
\n\u201cWe are looking forward to the increasing level of competition in the Two-Handed fleet and the new route into Cherbourg. The most difficult part this time will be strategies for the main tidal gates.\u201d
\nThey\u2019re likely to face stiff competition from Emmanuel Pinteaux\u2019s JPK 10.10 Gioia, 2nd in class in the last race (and overall race winner back in 2013, racing as Night and Day with the Loisons).
\nRichard Palmer\u2019s JPK 10.10 has the best shot of breaking France\u2019s winning streak in IRC4. Racing Two-Handed with Jeremy Waitt \u00a9 Arthur Daniel\/RORC
\nStormvogel
\nThe 73ft classic ketch won line honours in the 1961 Fastnet Race, when Francis Chichester was navigator for her original owner Kees Bruynzeel.
\nNow, 60 years later Stormvogel is back for another go after a full refit. Skipper Graeme Henry, says: \u201cStormvogel is back to a new level of performance while maintaining the original 1961 concept and 1960s\u2019 style.\u201d
\nSeveral classic yachts will grace the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race fleet, including the 73ft van de Stadt ketch Stormvogel, the 1961 Fastnet Race line honours winner \u00a9 Stormvogel
\nSwell and Gentoo
\nIRC Class 4 features some well known British names racing double-handed on SunFast 3300s.
\nDee Caffari \u2013 who\u2019s completed six around the world races including skippering a Volvo Ocean Race, a Vend\u00e9e Globe, and was the first woman to sail solo, non-stop around the world in both directions \u2013 is racing with James Harayda on Gentoo.
\n Meanwhile Figaro and Volvo Ocean Race sailor Henry Bomby joins double Olympic Gold Medallist Shirley Robertson on Swell.
\nOther names bidding for IRC 4 and Two-Handed victory include Alexis Loison, who won the 2013 edition overnight with his father Pascal, and IRC 3 and IRC Two-Handed in 2019 on the JPK 1030 L\u00e9on with designer Jean Pierre Kelbert.
\nFor 2021, Alexis will return in L\u00e9on with 470 and Figaro sailor Guillaume Pirouelle. Alexis will also have strong local knowledge for the new finish, as his home port is Cherbourg.<\/p>\n
The post All-star line-up: boats to follow in the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This year’s Rolex Fastnet Race has an all-star line up with some of the most exciting racing yachts in the world taking part. We pick out 10 Fastnet boats to follow It\u2019s hard to imagine a more diverse and intriguing … <\/p>\n