Tagesberichte siehe Menu unten
RACE UPDATE: Thursday 18th August 2011
ROLEX FASTNET RACE: The Tap Turns On
Boats have been streaming into Sutton Harbour Marina after finishing the Rolex Fastnet
Race in Plymouth Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi
After an extremely quiet 24 hours, from last night boats have been streaming into
Plymouth, with over 50 boats finishing between midnight and noon. There have been
some tight finishes in this Rolex Fastnet Race between the Volvo Open 70s and the
IMOCA Open 60, but the closest by far occurred in the early hours this morning in
the Class 40, where the top five boats arrived within six-and-a-half minutes of
one another.
Having led for the majority of the race, there was a deserved win for Tanguy de
Lamotte aboard his Rogers-designed Initiatives - Alex Olivier (FRA), which arrived
two and a half minutes ahead of the new Kiwi 40 Peraspera (ITA), in turn just 30
seconds in front of Red (GER), skippered by Mathias Mueller von Blumencron, former
Editor in Chief of Der Spiegel magazine.
Having led for most of the race, Initiatives - Alex Olivier was overtaken by Peraspera
at the last headland coming into Plymouth and it was only because their last tack
into the finish took them further south of the Plymouth breakwater, that they won.
"We could go on one tack to the finish line and that is where we pulled away and
overtook them again," recounted de Lamotte. "It was a literally a few hundred metres
before the finish line. So it could have gone any way, anyone could have won it."
Finishing 3 hours and 13 minutes astern of the Class 40 leader and 12th in Class
40 was the Class 40 Dragon (USA), skippered by Michael Hennessy, who recently sailed
his boat in the Transatlantic Race 2011. "It is pretty exciting stuff," said Hennessy
of the close finish. "We had a tough race. It is challenging because no one on the
boat knows English waters at all and local knowledge played a big part from Bishop
Rock on. We had a couple of lead changes after that and the last one went against
us."
Hennessy is a regular competitor in the US-equivalent of the Rolex Fastnet Race,
the Newport Bermuda Race. "That is great, but this is far more tactically challenging.
You break it down and there are eight segments to this race and each has its own
unique challenge to it. This was a really tactically challenging race and far more
competitive than I had anticipated. It is the best race I have ever done."
Overnight the leaders in IRC 1 arrived in Plymouth, welcomed this morning by a prolonged
and torrential rain. At present, French boats are looking to be the strongest contenders
on handicap with the familiar Grand Soleil 54 Codiam (FRA) of Nicolas Loday and
Jean Claude Nicoleau ahead of the Laurent Gouy's Ker 39, Inis Mor (FRA).
Inis Mor skipper Laurent Goyh said, "It was good. Going out of the Solent was fast
and quick, but it was hard getting to the Fastnet (rock)." Goyh, whose last Fastnet
Race was in 1997 aboard a Grand Mistral one-design maxi, said he felt they had sailed
an extremely good race, despite running out of wind for 30 minutes at Bishop Rock,
and was frustrated that their result wasn't better.
Peter Rutter's Quokka 8 (GBR), the UK IRC National Champion, arrived in at 07:31:12
this morning in IRC2, the boat on this occasion part of the seven-strong fleet entered
by charter company Sailing Logic. Rutter and Sailing Logic's Philippe Falle were
sailing Quokka 8 with a youth crew. "We did very well indeed," said Rutter on his
arrival. "It was superb racing, as always with the Fastnet. It was quite a rough
second night. After Bishop Rock we watched the whole fleet sailing up to us, we
stopped and we managed to get slightly inshore of the rest of the fleet and then
got 4 miles ahead in the space of about 1.5 hours, which was pleasing."
Just ahead of them on the water but sailing in IRC 1, was the Scheveningen-based
Swan 42 Baraka Gp (NED) skippered by Piet de Graaf and sailed by a crew comprising
many family members. "I think we sailed pretty well, especially in the first part
of the race," said elder son Dirk de Graaf. "We worked well and our navigator and
tactician did good preparation. We were off Land's End in a good position. In the
Irish Sea we had some tough conditions and we saw 30 knots."
The Swan 42 is not known for being an offshore boat and it was the boat and the
crew's first Rolex Fastnet Race. However the team had prepared extensively including
competing in the North Sea Race earlier this year, along with some other qualifiers.
"We have sailed some offshore (races) before, but not as big as this one. This is
the best race I have ever done," concluded Dirk de Graaf.
At present the weather is being dominated by the Azores high bringing northerly
winds across the race course. Over the next 24 hours the high pressure is expected
to turn more into a ridge, and by tomorrow morning this will be on an NE-SW axis
straight across the middle of the race track, with precious little wind in its
vicinity through until Saturday, making for a slow finish for the tailenders.
As of 1200 BST today, 82 boats have finished the race; approximately 200 were still
racing, and 32 have retired.
The Rolex Fastnet Race finishes in Plymouth Harbour. The index trophy for overall
victory in the Rolex Fastnet is the Fastnet Challenge Cup. In addition, there are
more than 30 other trophies that will be awarded at the prize giving on Friday,
19 August at the historic Royal Citadel. The Citadel, home to the 29 Commando Regiment
Royal Artillery, overlooks Plymouth Sound and Sutton Harbour, where the majority
of the fleet will berth.
|
