Rolex Fastnet's “Coup De Cherbourg”

Fierce sou’west winds gusting 30 knots greeted 337 yachts starting the Rolex Fastnet Race, as the 49th edition of this famous offshore classic set off not for Plymouth as usual, but for Cherbourg in France, via Ireland’s Fastnet Rock.

- Bruce Maxwell

Wind against tide created a vicious chop as they left the Solent, between the Isle of Wight and the English Coast, and the first of 95 yachts began to retire. The attrition rate is always high in this event, and trophies offered for circa 250 crews who complete the course require considerable stamina to achieve.

Ahead lay a patch of fog and some surprising calms, the rounding of Fastnet Rock off Cork in Ireland, and the newly-included, very tricky Alderney tidal “race”, which can run up to 9 knots, before a 1,600-berth maxi marina in Normandy beckoned.

It was a race like none other, since the Fastnet began in 1925, and Royal Ocean Racing Club organizers seem to be regarding it as a tryout for yet more changes planned for the historic 50th Rolex Fastnet Race in 2023.

No longer would the English traditionally gather on Plymouth Hoe, where Sir Francis Drake reputedly dallied over a game of bowls in 1588 before dealing with the invading Spanish Armada, to watch their yachtsmen finish the 608-miler.

Instead, non-French entrants would be packing their passports and tackling a course that is now officially 695 nm, and given the upwind beats and other vicissitudes of the Channel and Celtic Sea, most would sail well over 800 nm before sipping a local calvados or two.

Facilities in Plymouth were admittedly getting a little thin to handle really large fleets, although this pleasant naval city still hosts smaller regattas such as SailGP the previous month. Cherbourg by contrast has a four-basin marina in the city center, developed in 1975, that can accommodate the visiting yachts, and was keen to do so.