The next edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race will start on Sunday 11th August 2013.

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Records tumbled in the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Race, this year's event living up to its reputation as the most gruelling and tactically challenging of the classic offshore races. As usual the 608 mile long course took the boats from the start line off Cowes, Isles of Wight towards the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, back around the outside of the Scilly Isles off southwest England to the finish line in Plymouth.

On Sunday 14 August, 314 boats set sail - the largest ever Rolex Fastnet Race fleet - up from the previous record of 303. This was due to a new initiative from race's organisers, the Royal Ocean Racing Club, to invite 'professional' offshore classes, able to compete under their own class rules, over and above the IRC fleet, that was capped at a maximum of 300 entries. The result was the most diverse selection of yachts ever assembled in a single offshore yacht race with the new initiative attracting many high-profile international racing teams. Thus in the same race some of the world's fastest multihulls such as the 140-foot long trimaran, Maxi Banque Populaire were lining up with Contessa 32s and pilot cutters with the complete pantheon of racing yachts in between.

A coup for the event was the participation of three Volvo Open 70s, the only occasion these boats would race together prior to this autumn's start of the fully crewed round the world race. The 'pro' classes also saw the race debut of the two Multi One Design 70 foot trimarans, and attracted six IMOCA 60s, best known for competing in the singlehanded non-stop round the world race, the Vendee Globe, plus an impressive fleet of 20 of their smaller cousins, the Class 40.

Leading the charge in the IRC fleet were the two 100 foot maxis Rambler 100 and ICAP Leopard, followed by the Farr 80 Beau Geste and Mini Maxis such as the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race winner, Niklas Zennstrom's JV72, Rán, and Andres Soriano's Mills 68, Alegre, but the bulk of the record-sized fleet were more regular yachts with amateur crews from a total of 20 nations. For many, participation in the Rolex Fastnet Race was the highlight of their sailing seasons, for others the pinnacle of their sailing careers.

Off the Royal Yacht Squadron platform, the fleet starts began with the multihulls and culminating with the canting keel monohulls and VO70s, the boats enduring a stiff beat out of the Solent and into the English Channel in the best Rolex Fastnet Race tradition. With winds gusting to 30 knots at the exit to the Solent at Hurst Narrows, there were the first dramas of the race with the Class 40, Eutourist Serv-System and the trimaran, Strontium Dog (GBR) dismasting, plus two collisions.

The prizegiving for the Rolex Fastnet Race took place this evening at the historic Royal Citadel on Plymouth's famous Hoe. Dating back to 1660s and standing on the site of the fort built in the time of Sir Francis Drake, the Royal Citadel over the centuries has been one of Britain's most important defences and today is the base for the 29 Commando Regiment of the Royal Artillery.

The main trophy for overall victory in the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Fastnet Challenge Cup, was awarded this year to Niklas Zennström's Rán and this was presented along with a Rolex Yachtmaster Chronometer. The Judel-Vrolijk designed 72-footer also won the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2009, making her the first back-to-back winner since Carina II in 1955/1957. In addition, Rán won the Joe Powder Trophy for best corrected time at the Fastnet Rock, the Hong Kong Cup for first in IRC Zero, Erroll Bruce Cup for the first yacht home in IRC Zero. Rán navigator Steve Hayles also won the Alf Loomis Trophy as the navigator of the yacht that wins IRC overall.

Mike Slade's 100 foot maxi ICAP Leopard picked up a large quantity of silverware including the Erivale Trophy for first yacht home in IRC Canting Keel; the Gesture Trophy for first overall in IRC Canting Keel; the Clarion Cup for the first British yacht home; the Kees van Dam Memorial Trophy for second in IRC Overall and the Royal Thames Yacht Club Spirit Cup for the first Royal Thames yacht home.

A shut-down of the wind and a foul tide just short of the finish line made for a challenging few hours for the Royal Ocean Racing Club race team as an armada of Rolex Fastnet Race competitors descended on the finish line. Between 0000 and 0200 this morning 105 boats, or just over one third of the record-sized fleet, crossed the finish line.

Patrick van de Ven, sailing doublehanded with Igor Quik on the X-43 Lady of Avalon (NED) in IRC 2, arrived at 00:54 BST this morning. Yesterday, while lying 20 miles shy of the finish line, they had been forced to anchor, along with two other boats, for ten frustrating hours. To manage this involved their tying together all their available warps, sheets and guys in order for their anchor to set in the 70 metres of water.

"When we put up the sails and got running, we looked behind and there was this massive fleet of smaller boats coming in with the wind," recalled van de Ven. "It was beautiful - there was this big cloud of red and green lights behind us. We were happy we were in front of them."

Another Dutch doublehanded pair, John van der Starre and Robin Verhoef, on the newly-launched J/111 J-Xcentric (NED), racing in IRC 2, had less dramatic, but no less a frustrating finish yesterday afternoon. Finishing just one minute behind a fully crewed J/111, they were forced to anchor 200 metres from the finish line for one-and-a-half hours.

Van der Starre and Verhoef led the 36-strong double-handed division for most of the race. They eventually lost first place in the double-handed class to the Sigma 33c, Elmarleen (GBR).

This was their first Rolex Fastnet Race and Van de Starre said he was impressed: "This is a great challenge of tactics, handling and everything. There is so much in it - I had a really good experience. Racing double-handed is about management - everything has to work well, you need a good autopilot, all the preparation in advance should be perfect, and we had it very well organised." The duo had a small problem that left them unable to charge their boat's batteries (and therefore unable to use the all-important autopilot) for 36 hours.

Today the class winners have been announced. With Niklas Zennström's J-V72 Rán (GBR) claiming the overall IRC handicap prize ahead of Mike Slade's 100 foot maxi, ICAP Leopard. Rán also won Class Z ahead of the Oakcliff All American Offshore Team on Vanquish (USA) and the TP52 Near Miss (SUI).

In most other classes, France dominated. IRC 1 saw victory go to regular RORC race competitors Nicolas Loday and Jean Claude Nicoleau on their Grand Soleil 43 Codiam (FRA), ahead of Laurent Gouy's Ker 39 Inis Mor (FRA) and the First 47.7 Moana (BEL) of Francois and Mathieu Goubau.

Class 3 was claimed by two JPK 10.10 designs: Noel Racine's Foggy Dew (FRA), overall winner in the RORC's Myth of Malham Race earlier this year, ahead of Vincent Willemart's Wasabi (BEL). France also dominated Class 4 in the familiar form of Jean Yves Chateau's Nicholson 33, Iromiguy (FRA), overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2007, ahead of Persephone (FRA), Yves Lambert's Stand Fast 37/Tina.

One exception to the Franco-Belgium domination of this year's race was American Rives Potts, whose 48 foot McCurdy & Rhodes-designed Carina won Class 2, ahead of two French boats - the JND35 Gaia and the J/122 Nutmeg IV.

IRC Two winner Carina II is skippered by Rives Potts. The Rear Commodore of the New York Yacht Club raced the 1969 48' sloop in last month's Transatlantic Race to take part in the Rolex Fastnet Race. Carina II is a family affair: Rives Potts has his son William working the bow, navigator Dirk Johnson has his 16 year old son Dirk Jr. on board and Watch Captain, Richard du Moulin's son, Edward works on trim.

The three families represent a dynasty of sailors for Newport Rhode Island. Rives Potts has competed in several America's Cup campaigns. Potts sailing Carina is a veteran of 20 Newport Bermuda Races and has won the coveted St. David's Lighthouse Trophy on three occasions.

"I think the Rolex Fastnet Race is one of the most fabulous races in the world," exclaimed Potts dockside in Plymouth. "I think it's probably filled with more passion than any other race that I know of. I think the Bermuda Race rivals it, but the Fastnet Race has probably been greater. The second thing is I wanted to sail with my son and some of my best friends' sons. So we had a bunch of fathers and sons on the boat and we had a great time."

Joe Powder is one of the main-stay crew on Richard Loftus' Swan 65, Desperado, whether its hammering away at a winch or climbing the pole to spike a kite, Joe is an an all action monkey with a cheeky nature. Joe is a long standing RORC member, (overseas as Joe lives in the Jungle).This year, due to the inaugral presentation of the Joe Powder Trophy, Joe has stayed on in Plymouth after the Rolex Fastnet Race to help the race team and be available at the Prizegiving Ceremony. During his time in the Race Office, Joe has especially enjoyed reading the 'story of the race' and here are his favourite blogs from the boats.

"As a veteran of the Rolex Fastnet Race I know what agonies and ecstasies it takes to round the Rock when people start pilfering my secret banana stash." Chattered Joe. "This year I preferred to follow from the comfort of the jungle and with such a choice of ways to keep up with the crews I found myself drawn to reading the blogs. Swinging from my tree, I sympathised with the grim tales of malfunctioning heads, equipment breakdown and the inevitable repercussions of choppy seas. It seems the preoccupation with food has not changed since my day, but dried food, vats of chilli and 'come dine with me sailor' - what happened to a good old-fashioned banana and monkey nuts?

I read tales of endurance, initiative (fixing heads with a champagne cork - genius!) and hearty debate on the proper etiquette of offshore racing (etiquette isn't the word I'd use to describe the land-based antics...and I'm a monkey) I suggest you read them too!"

[Editor's Note: You can now help to decide the Best Blog Trophy; a brand new iPad, in a poll on the RORC's Facebook page]

Arguably the heart and soul of the Rolex Fastnet Race are the sailors racing in Class IRC Three and IRC Four. Sutton Harbour Marina in Plymouth is now ram-packed with finishing yachts and 135 of them have been racing in Class Three and Four. The boats come in all shapes and sizes and fly the flags of nine different countries; Belgium, Britain, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Sweden and the United States.

Noel Racine's Foggy Dew, repeating their success in 2007, won IRC Class Three. The 33' JPK built in Morbihon Brittany, France is a real pocket rocket, which enjoys fast downwind conditions, however this year, the race for Foggy Dew was mainly upwind.

"It was a very hard battle with the other JPK Wasabi, we were neck and neck all the way to the Fastnet Rock and then the wind died and shifted unexpectedly and Wasabi got there before us by about 40 minutes. So after that we really had to do a lot of hard work," said Racine.

"We had good strategy in the Celtic Sea and as we reached Bishop's Rock, we were just a few metres ahead of Wasabi but still behind on corrected time. 90-miles from the finish, we were beating into light wind and it was there that we made up our time, tacking on every wind shift. This year was very different to 2007, it was a like a 600 mile regatta with several races. The Rolex Fastnet Race is a very interesting race, there are many different parts, you have to change your thinking all the time, to win you have to be able to adapt."

Niklas Zennström's Rán (GBR) is once again the overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race and the prestigious Fastnet Challenge Cup.

Rolex Fastnet Race course record history since 1925.