With a welcome 10-knot wind from the east propelling the 300 strong fleet westwards down the Solent the Rolex Fastnet Race got underway at Sunday lunchtime.
First away were the IMOCA 60s. With the tide having turned it was the small IRC classes that were next, by 1430 they were out through the Needles. One of the strongest sub-divisions of the Rolex Fastnet Race fleet are the two handed with twenty eight boats sailing with just two crew. The 2007 winners in this class, Simon Curwen and Paul Peggs, both former Mini Transat competitors, aboard Curwen’s J/105, Voador, made a strong start in Class 2. Finally there came the biggest boats in the fleet, led off the line by Mike Slade’s towering Rolex Fastnet Race record holder, the 100ft super-maxi, ICAP Leopard. Luna Rossa, with Flavio Flavini helming and Volvo Ocean Race winner Torben Grael on tactics, followed in their wake whilst Niklas Zennstrom’s Ran 2 led Karl Kwok’s Farr 80, Beau Geste took the mainland side.
By 1500 ICAP Leopard had already pulled ahead of all the IRC boats with only the IMOCA 60s ahead of her. After a tricky first night at sea, the mid-fleet in the Rolex Fastnet Race experienced a rainy grey day at sea as they sailed upwind westward along the south coast. As expected the big boats broke away with ICAP Leopard, rounding Land’s End at around 0930 GMT on Monday and by 1500 she was halfway to the Fastnet Rock turning mark, just 25 miles ahead of Beau Geste and 34 miles ahead of Ran 2.
While a line honours victory for ICAP Leopard might have seemed obvious, the brand new Hong Kong 80-footer Beau Geste was closing on them. At 03:00 GMT on Tuesday morning they were 35 miles behind and by 14:00GMT were only 24 miles astern. Over the course of the late morning and early afternoon the smaller boat was occasionally sailing three knots faster down the course.
By Tuesday afternoon in sunny Sutton Harbour, the new arrival point for the Rolex Fastnet Race in Plymouth, there was much excitement looking for the first boats home.
However there was some hours wait before property developer Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard secured a second consecutive line honours victory in the Rolex Fastnet Race in the early hours of Wednesday morning. With the mixed conditions the 100ft super-maxi was considerably behind the course record she set two years ago. Arriving at the Plymouth breakwater finish line at 00:09:36 GMT, her elapsed time on this occasion was 2 days 11 hours 9 minutes and 36 seconds, compared to 1 day 20 hours 18 minutes and 53 seconds in 2007. They win the Erroll Bruce Cup for Line Honours and a Rolex Yachtmaster timepiece.
Beau Geste was second home, arriving in drizzly Plymouth at 03:25:03 GMT. Apart from three short races at Cowes Week, this was Beau Geste’s first major race. One of the most interesting races on the water, was that of Niklas Zennström’s Judel Vrolijk 72, Ran 2 and BT IMOCA 60, sailed two handed by Sebastien Josse and Jean-François Cuzon. This battle from Bishop Rock to the finish was won by the French duo.
The first ten to finish are:
1) ICAP Leopard, Mike Slade (GBR) – 00:09:36 GMT
2) Beau Geste, Karl Kwok (HK) - 03:25:03
3) BT IMOCA 60, Sebastien Josse (FRA) - 04:00:15
4) Ran 2, Niklas Zennström (SWE) - 04:01:33
5) Artemis Ocean Racing, Sam Davies (UK) and Sidney Gavignet (FRA) - 05:15:41
6) Safran, Marc Guillemot (FRA) – 05:56:18
7) Team Pindar, Mike Sanderson (NZ) – 06:15:42
8) Aviva, Dee Caffari (UK) – 06:57:13
9) Luna Rossa, Flavio Flavini (ITA) – 07:01:54
10) Rosebud Team DYT, Roger Sturgeon (USA) – 07:45:37