Fastnet Race
The Fastnet Race is a famous offshore yachting race. It is considered one of the classic offshore races. It takes place every two years over a course of 608 nautical miles (1,126 km). The race starts off Cowes 50°45′34″N 1°18′1″W / 50.75944°N 1.30028°W on the Isle of Wight in England, rounds the Fastnet Rock 51°23′3″N 9°36′1″W / 51.38417°N 9.60028°W off the southwest coast of Ireland and then finishes at Plymouth 50°22′17″N 4°8′33″W / 50.37139°N 4.1425°W in the South of England after passing south of the Isles of Scilly. The Fastnet Race has been sponsored by Rolex since 2001.
The prize is known as the Fastnet Challenge Cup.
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[edit] History
Weston Martyr, a British yachtsman, came up with the idea after having competed in Bermudan yacht races. The first Fastnet race, with seven entries, was won by Jolie Brise in 1925.
The International Offshore Rule (IOR) was introduced in 1973, and the yachts and crews began taking sponsorships.
[edit] 1979 Fastnet Race
A severe storm during the 1979 race resulted in the deaths of 15 competitors. This led to a major overhaul of the rules and the equipment required for the competition. Several books have been written about the 1979 race, which is notorious in the yachting world.
[edit] Capsize of Drum (1985)
The race drew further attention from outside the sport in 1985 when the maxi yacht Drum capsized after her experimental keel sheared off. Pop star Simon Le Bon, co-owner and crew member of Drum, was trapped under the hull with five other crew members for twenty minutes, until being rescued by the Royal Navy. The Search and Rescue Diver was Petty Officer Air Crewman (POACMN) Larry "Scouse" Slater of 771 Naval Air Squadron who appeared on This Is Your Life on 9 April 1986.
[edit] Capsize of Rambler (2011)
In 2011, the 100-foot maxi yacht Rambler 100[1] capsized after her keel broke off between Fastnet Rock and the Pantaenius Buoy (a temporary race mark placed southwest of the Fastnet Rock[2]). All 21 crew were rescued safely. 16 were rescued from the upturned hull, by the RNLI Baltimore Lifeboat Hilda Jarrett. A further 5 crewmembers, including the owner/skipper George David, had floated away from the vessel, but managed to link themselves together. They were in the water for approximately 2.5 hours, before being rescued by a Baltimore based diving vessel, Wave Chieftain. One of these crewmembers, Wendy Touton, suffered hypothermia and was taken by helicopter to Tralee General Hospital.[3] Four crew-members had been below decks at the time of capsize and were not adequately dressed for egress into the sea. All uninjured crew were taken to Baltimore.[4] The Naval Service patrol ship LÉ Aoife remained with the hull, worth $10,000,000 before the capsize, before it was towed to Barleycove by the Castletownbere-based tug Ocean Bank.[5]
[edit] Race records
- Monohull vessels
The monohull race record is 42hrs 39min, set by Ian Walker's Volvo Open 70 Abu Dhabi (UAE) in 2011. The other two Volvo Open 70 participating in the 2011 race (Groupama 4 and Team Sanya) also broke the previous record, which had been set by ICAP Leopard in 2007.
- Multihull vessels
The multihull race record is currently held by the 130-foot trimaran Banque Populaire V, skippered by Loïck Peyron, with a total elapsed time of 32hrs, 48min (an average speed of 18.5 knots)[6], set in 2011. Peyron held the previous multihull record, set in 1999 in the 60-foot ORMA trimaran Fujcolor II of 40hrs, 27min.[6]
[edit] Fastnet since 2005
The 2005 race was sponsored by Rolex and organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club with the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Royal Western Yacht Club, Plymouth.
The start of the 2007 race was postponed by 25 hours, due to a severe weather warning. This was the first time this had been done in the race's 83 year history. Overnight gale force winds and, in particular, extreme seas forced many boats to retire, sheltering in ports along the south coast of England, including Torbay, Plymouth and Weymouth.
By 10:00hrs on 16 August, 207 boats of the 271-strong field had retired with at least three suffering rig problems.[7] [8]
Despite the conditions, Mike Slade's Icap Leopard 3, launched in June 2007, set a new record of 44 hours 18 min, taking almost 9 hours off the previous record set in 1999. Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain was the overall winner on corrected time.
[edit] Corrected Time Winners
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[edit] Line Honours Winners
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[edit] External links
- Royal Ocean Racing Club
- Royal Engineers Museum History of Royal Engineers Sports
- BBC World Service programme A sailor in the race talks to BBC Witness about his experiences
[edit] References
- ^ "Crew rescued from Fastnet Race yacht Rambler 100". BBC. 15 August 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-14538321. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ "2011-11-Rolex Fastnet Race-Pantaenius Buoy". 27 May 2011. http://www.commissionersofirishlights.com/cil/notices/2011-11-rolex-fastnet-race-pantaenius-buoy.aspx. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
- ^ Niamh Stephenson (15 August 2011). "Baltimore RNLI in major rescue operation off the Cork coast after Fastnet yacht capsizes". RNLI. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rnli.org.uk%2Fwho_we_are%2Fpress_centre%2Fnews_releases%2Fnews_release_detail%3Farticleid%3D714916&date=2011-10-06. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ "Rambler capsized". Sailing Anarchy. 15 August 2011. Archived from the original on 16 August 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sailinganarchy.com%2Findex_page1.php&date=2011-08-16. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ Lorna Siggins (17 August 2011). "Inquiry into sinking under way". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fnewspaper%2Fbreaking%2F2011%2F0817%2Fbreaking11.html&date=2011-10-06. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ a b "Fastnet Minisite". RORC. 15 August 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Ffastnet.rorc.org%2F&date=2011-08-16. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
- ^ "Severe weather hits Fastnet crews". BBC. 14 August 2007. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.bbc.co.uk%2F1%2Fhi%2Fengland%2F6942302.stm&date=2011-10-06.
- ^ "Rolex Fastnet Race fleet facing gale-force winds". Royal Ocean Racing Club. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070928200933/http://fastnet.rorc.org/container.asp?id=8197.
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