A look at the 2015 Fastnet Race
by David Schmidt, Sail-World USA Editor on 6 Aug 2015
Two time Rolex Fastnet winner Ran 2 (GBR) rounding the Fastnet Rock Rolex/ Kurt Arrigo
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When people start talking about classic mid-distance ocean races, five important races stand out (in my mind at least) as being a bit prouder than the rest, namely the Newport-Bermuda Race, the Sydney-Hobart Race, the Middle Sea Race, the Caribbean 600 and the Fastnet Race. While the Caribbean 600, the Middle Sea Race, and the Hobart are contested annually, the Bermuda Race (held on even-numbered years) and the Fastnet Race (held on odd-numbered years) are biennial events, making their sunrises even more spectacular, and their trophies some of the most sought-after plums in the Corinthian sailing world.
Given that this year’s Fastnet Race kicks off on Sunday, August 16, you can bet your last strip of duct tape that plenty of brilliant minds are scheming ways of making their steeds sail faster and improving their overall competitiveness against a star-studded fleet.
A quick glance at the race’s scratch sheet reveals a list of 380 of the world’s fastest and most polished ocean racing teams, sailing aboard a wide mix of hardware that ranges from turbo maxi monohulls, such as Comanche, Rambler 88 and Leopard, to IMOCA 60s and VO65s, to the 131-foot maxi trimaran Spindrift 2, as well as hordes of more traditional Corinthian vessels including Beneteau First 40s (and 40.7s), J/109s and Sigma 38s.
While the Brits make up the bulk of the (ballpark) 380-boat fleet, there are plenty of French (61), Dutch (23), German (14) and Yankee entrants in this year’s contest. American interests in the race will be well represented by 19 Star Spangled teams, two of which (Comanche and Rambler 88) are top picks as line honors and corrected-time winners (respectively), but they can both expect serious pressure from their international competition.
Weather is always an impossible thing to predict this far out from a race’s start, but the course is a well-known entity in yacht-racing history. The race starts off of Cowes, and takes the fleet through the fabled waters of the Solent (exiting through The Needles Channel) before following the coast of southern England down the English Channel and then rounding Land’s Ends. From here, the fleet crosses the Celtic Sea and takes a turn around Fastnet Rock, which is situated off the coast of Ireland, before (mostly) retracing their wakes (but taking care to round the Isles of Scilly) back to the finishing line in Plymouth.
In between, are 608 hard-fought miles that often see big winds, boisterous seas and plenty of tough hours spent hiking on the rail. And much like the Hobart or the Bermuda Race, the Fastnet has a storied history of periodically spitting life-or-death conditions at crews, such as the horrific 1979 Fastnet Race, which resulted in at least 75 boats capsizing, five yachts sinking, and-tragically-the loss of 15 competitors (18 deaths in total).
Fortunately, the Fastnet, just like all the other classic ocean races, also has a history of delivering cracking-good sailing conditions and some of the most intense competition afloat (after all, not many races can attract 380 boats!). And while it’s dangerous to try and predict the weather this far in advance of the starting guns, shy of the wind machine going on strike, fans can count on one heck of a great ocean chase.
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