Race Updates 2009

All competitors in the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race have now safely arrived in Plymouth, with the final boats finishing overnight and early this morning. This classic race has now come to a successful close as the remaining crews are left to swap stories on the dockside at Sutton Harbour before heading back to their home ports. Whether they return clutching a piece of silverware or not, all competitors in the 608nm race will take with them a sense of pride and achievement at completing the course, which this year was tactically challenging and long.

Niklas and Catherine Zennström were rightly very proud to win the prestigious Fastnet Trophy. The oldest ‘Blue Ribbon' trophy has over 80 years of yacht racing history etched on its plinth. "Team RÁN put an enormous amount of effort into this race, we were lucky with the weather but we did not leave anything to chance, the team worked extremely hard especially ion preparation and we sailed almost perfectly, I would especially like to mention Steve (Hayles) who did a fantastic job navigating on RÁN. The Zennström's received a fantastic ovation from a packed marquee at the Royal Citadel overlooking Plymouth Sound and rightly so, the couple always race on the boat and treat their stellar crew as an extension of their family, they are a credit to the sport.

Friday afternoon and at the time of the Rolex Fastnet Race prizegiving at Plymouth's Royal Citadel, one third of the competitors still remain at sea. Of 299 starters, nine have retired and 194 have reached Plymouth, leaving 106 yet to finish.

While Niklas Zennstrom's Ran 2 has won the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race overall under IRC and in IRC SZ, so Amanda Hartley and Jamie Olazabel's Swan 56 La Floresta Del Mar, claimed IRC Z. Meanwhile the three smallest IRC classes looked set throughout this race to be a clean sweep for France, until the very last few miles of sailing for the Class 3 leaders late this morning. At 1200 GMT, when Fabrice Amedeo's promising X-332 Bateaux Mouches du Pont de l'Alma had just six miles left to go, she was rudely pipped at the post on handicap by David Lees' High Tension 36, Hephzibah, storming towards the finish line, 17 miles astern of her. The final results of IRC Class 3 are yet to be decided.

A win in IRC Class 2, conducted with equally clinical precision to that of the seasoned pros on Ran 2, was that of the team on Prime Time, owned by the trio of Jerome Huillard, and brothers Jerome and Marc Alperovitch. Having previously campaigned an X-302 they traded up to their present A-35 yacht one and a half years ago with the specific aim of racing it offshore, the highlight of their program being the Rolex Fastnet Race.

"The perception is that it is a very well-known race," confided Marc Alperovitch of how the Royal Ocean Racing Club's biennial classic is viewed across ‘la Manche'. "This impression comes from the 1979 race and people are aware that there were casualties. I think it is a race with a significant impact, particularly within the sailing community – they all know it is a difficult and competitive event."

Amanda Hartley's Swan 56, La Foresta del mar was the surprise winner in IRC Zero beating the highly fancied Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens owned by 26 time Fastnet veteran Piet Vroon. La Foresta del mar was crewed by some of the worlds finest Spanish sailors including Jordi Cafalat and Guillermo Atadil. Sir Geoffrey Mulcay's Swan 56, Noonmark VI is third.

Loday & Nicoleau, Grand Soleil 43, Codiam, look to have clinched IRC 1 with Cyrille Legloahec's A 40, Batistyl and Andrew McIrvine's Corby 36, Quokka VII, currently second and third respectfully. All three yachts are now in.

Alperovitch & Huillard's A 35, Prime Time, are still holding court in Class IRC 2 with David Walters' J 39, Jackdaw in second and Yannick Richomme's Grand Soleil 40, Captain Blind in third, all three of these yachts are safely tucked up in Sutton Harbour but most of the class are still at sea. These three yachts look set to take the podium positions in class.

Niklas Zennstrom's JV 72, RÁN are the winners of the Fastnet Trophy for best corrected time in IRC overall for the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race.

The gaffed rig pilot cutter, Jolie Brise, won the first Fastnet race in 1925 and this year, 64 years later, there is another pilot cutter making the trip around the rock in the Rolex Fastnet Race.

Skippered by Alex Day, Morwenna is a 45ft Bristol Channel pilot cutter and has the looks and lines of a traditional wooden boat, crafted using traditional boatbuilding techniques and materials but the boat is a reproduction, a modern classic. The larch hull and deck sit on English oak frames, from sustainable and renewable resources. She displaces 28 tonnes, solid as a rock but by modern standards very slow. The Jolie Brise took over six days to complete the race in 1925, Morwenna, which is ten feet smaller, looks like she might take considerably longer.

‘It was pitch black, we we’re doing twenty knots, barely on the edge of control, Apollo was launched; smashing through the surf and we were heading back to Plymouth. We were all tired especially after the long beat to the Fastnet Rock but nobody let up, not even for a moment. We were going home back to Plymouth and we were going to do it in style.” Said a proud Nigel Passmore, owner of TP 52 Apollo, dockside at Sutton Harbour.

With 43 boats now in, the party at Sutton Harbour has started in earnest. Last night the bar and restaurants were full of jubilant crews with tales of their Rolex Fastnet Race.

The stars of the show last night were Tanguy de Lamotte and his crew on Initiatives Saveurs – Novedia, who were delighted to be the first Class 40 home just before 4 am this morning. The French crew of three had beaten some top opposition, including Giovanni Soldini, the Italian skipper of the Class 40 yacht Telecom Italia and German, Boris Hermann's Class 40, Beluga Racing. Soldini and Hermann had an intense battle for second place; the two were virtually in sight of each other for the entire 608 mile course and at the end they crossed the line only nine minutes apart.

Most of the big boys have finished the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Barbican is an impressive sight; Liara, Luna Rossa, Rosebud, Beau Geste, RÁN, the list is endless, the hardware unbelievable. This morning, picturesque Sutton Harbour in Plymouth hosted its first dockside presentation with Mike Slade and his ICAP Leopard crew claiming line honours for the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race. Slade paid tribute to his competition; "You guys had us looking over our shoulder from start to finish." Niklas Zennstrom's JV 72, RÁN, looks a likely winner of the handicap prize overall, as Plymouth based, Nigel Passmore's TP 52, Apollo, missed out by over three hours, this afternoon. But there are 300 boats in this race and most of them are still battling away.

In the Two-Handed class Mike Moxley's HOD 35, Malice has been in top spot for the short handers, the entire race. Currently 221 miles from the finish and achieving a higher average speed than the competition. Still very much in touch though are Simon Brady's Figaro, Sonic Boom II and Nicolas de La Fourniere's X 34, Exile Mirabaud.

The Class 40s are having a real battle, Tanguy delamotte's Initiatives Saveurs - Novedia Group holds the lead by seven miles from Giovanni Soldini's Telecom Italia and Boris Hermann's Beluga Racing. This class could produce a real nail biting finish. The leaders are at Bishop Rock, on the last leg to the finish.