Rolex Fastnet Race – an epic challenge

and it's a record year for the Rolex Fastnet race 28:19 what's significant about the Rolex Fastnet compared to other big races is I guess the star unlike anything else 3000 people taking part in this fantastic race it has 400 boats for start and then exiting through the Hudson era on their way to the southwest of him standby deployed deployed it's a challenge just to get everyone out it's a spectacle as well nothing wrong [Music] one of the important things to think about is that we worked small boats a lot of Corinthian boats do we want to allow them the opportunity to take this time of the tide try and get them away first and our bigger boats at the back for those less experienced it's an adventure it since itself with a number of great challenges and offshore racing is about the challenge in the back of everyone's mind is the opportunity to potentially win any sailor with any crew will season will practiced can have that opportunity when everyone's ready to race and that's the best part [Music] [Music] the Rolex first set race which starts from cows on England's Isle of Wight has never been more popular a compelling blend of tactical sailing along the English southwest coast at offshore drag racing across the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet rock and back the 48th edition has attracted another record fleet obliging the Royal ocean Racing Club to close its entry lists within five minutes of opening them we have this mad rush to try and enter the race nearly four hundred boats at the top end we have the hundred footers with their professional teams and at the bottom then the smallest boat is a family from Lymington it's the quality and diversity that makes this race so popular 100 feet long segwang leaves shk scallywag is not only the fleet's largest entry but one of its furthest traveled arriving from Hong Kong with one objective we're the highest rating RC boat in the world waiting on IRC is almost any possibility so our goal every time we go out is just to win lying on us standing in their way is George David's Rambler the current line honors Holman promising a rare clash between two of offshore Racing's best no mana homes with race Rambler once in 2015 and the Rolex and you know about race and it came down to the wire grandma's gonna be strong reaching heavy wind so that should have a few legs honest there but we should have quite a few legs and I'm in a lot of stuff especially early on in the race so it'll be a boat race at the other end of the entry list and on the other side of the Celtic Sea and County Wexford to the northeast at fast net rock firmer and life boatman Keith Miller has been preparing to make his Fastnet debut along with 16 year old daughter Beth the youngest competitor in the 2018 round island race I suppose I did most of my boating in life folks within the last few years we bought the sailing boat and I like the challenge and also I like the teamwork because farming you're very much working alone whereas when you go sailing you bring a crew which in which is the more interesting for me their boat and Dante is a little over a third of scallywags length and likely to require all the resolve and resourcefulness skipper deploys on the farm to get round the course I find the intersect between sailing and farming did you have to have a plan you have to know what you think you want to do and it very rarely works out because something always gets in the way and you have to keep changing your ideas and going with the flow sure every skipper always has concerns about safety I mean we're gonna be around 75 miles offshore at the furthest point but I know what the challenges are I think I'm ready for him I know when to turn and run another fastener debutant but somewhat better known is Moss for Lord not far from the color and glamour of the souland at her spiritual home at Butler's hard on a beauty River its trip here in 1966 that Sir Francis Chichester set out for sea trials before completing the world's first ever solo circumnavigation of the globe arriving in Plymouth nine months later an achievement for which gypsy moths became the most famous yacht in the world because the circumnavigation was such big news when he was approaching the finish they laid on three buses and trains from all over the country to get as many people down to Plymouth as possible it was a massive achievement back in the sixties and he was probably one of the biggest celebrities of the decade is now run and maintained by a trust and it'll be a crew of five and take on her next adventure the yacht to which it Chester held no particular emotional attachment and wanted to sell shortly afterwards Sir Francis is not in love with the boat should we say I think his famous quote when he got back was he felt that it needed the crew three a chimpanzee to do the running rigging a man to navigate and an elephant to steer but he got him round and it's still sailing today gypsy mother's been gradually building up to the Fastnet which is one of the most historic ocean races and we felt it was time she played a part in that the route on which she's embarked will take the fleet down the Solent along the headlands of England's south coast Pass Lands End and out into the unpredictable waters of the Celtic Sea to Fastnet rock off the southeast coast of Ireland from there it's a fast return downwind the race concluding in Plymouth after 680 nautical miles tactical choices at every turn 388 entries leave for the start line on race day morning most from berths nearby others from further afield Unleashed off the Royal Yacht Squadron like thoroughbreds from their stalls for 18 trimarans from France launched a 2019 Rolex Fastnet race in spectacular fashion [Music] targeting average speeds of 35 knots and we compare Holmes 2011 multihull course record that bear moths from Brittany could complete the course in a day adding further power and panache to them on IRC fleet a 20 in mocha sixties 7 double-handed in preparation for the transit van Rijn born away on an untypical southeasterly breeze the first of the IRC classes leave on a reach Spinnaker's up in a colorful cavalcade Keith Miller screw-on and Dante among them the biggest boats unless to be unleashed building here some 350 yachts already on the course to negotiate along with us shifting sands and shingles of the Solent [Music] Rambler takes the initiative he's in clear of her rivals in imperious fashion up ahead the teams already racing past hearst castle in what promises to be an absorbing battle for the leading monohulls record-setting conditions of forecasts later but there are less favourable areas to negotiate first before they reach the promised land the typical Fastnet star is is with a nice southwesterly sea breeze this year it's a light southeasterly which makes it very different and as we head towards 'silly as it looks like there is an area of very light wind and so there's going to be a lot of challenges trying to to get through that light wind and into the good pressure [Music] five hours into the race the going is still good [Music] stalking rambling not far ahead of them a David wits men on Sh case Kelly we're looking for opportunity to slip past their rivals in fighter Aires threatening to ensnare the fleet in a few hours time getting first night pretty offensive you gotta be rich to get through them they're boasting O'Shea this Ridge will really determine kind of your exit and your first around Fastnet Rock something my head Foreman alligators on the cruise the forecast transition between the southeast Slynt southwesterly breezes leads to a compression in the bulk of the fleet while our Germano hulls edged their way north to flame the best of the breeze by the morning of day two there's a new leader in the race for line honors we bet two balls the concerning thing for us is it's not going to be a hundred true wind direction 28 knots both those boats are perfectly designed for that sort of weather hopefully we can stay ahead of these place you know it's a foot boat race and two miles between three days [Music] but my Nonna's battle among the multi hulls is no less compelling where also a gap a screw-on Massif are working her to maintain a narrow advantage over maxi Edmond de Rothschild Co skippered by Franck comer and shout cadre leo shortly after first light the pair had rounded Fastnet rock with their water reversed and more than two hours ahead of the multihull course record after snacking a large fish on their daggerboard come out and called relyea then lose their lead on the return from the rock but leading mana holes are renowned traversing the Celtic Sea on the outbound leg top to multi hulls are already approaching the sillies inbound at over 30 knots on route 4 Plymouth after a promising start it's been a trying morning so far on Irish entry and Dante had enough wind to drive us against the tide I discerned a half knots here at the moment very well last night Pataki stayed up stayed up over the fleet but unfortunately at that point on pear-shaped wait a minute but if you pick up the ground it's not long before Keith's Miller's crew is back on the move and making progress in the first fast net also now underway is another of the race debutantes gypsy moths for whose electrical issues to mate her departure by four hours but at one stage threatened her participation altogether French entries make up almost a quarter of the fleet and they're already mounting a serious challenge making gains at IRC zero is Breton telecom in IRC - it's creative one day led by the irrepressible Yeti Trotter so what a three French sailors to claim the overall prize it's 2013 he completed his first Fastnet as an 18 year old but despite frequent visits to England at Rorke's and an HQ is 2019 entry his 15s could be his last rufus nets in the pre-medical saman emerge like compa Ivanka totemo same course as Oceania mythic MMC para una caja de la cosa la gente invitation for my poem on a keeper the English and French sailing communities have long been associated to which many of the documents in the rock archives attest HNL Sinatra da da allopathy anglais sil sil funda rama is require more like Anat kam young indeed French sailors won seven out of ten divisions in the last Fastnet success Trotta so attributes to the solitaire do Figaro the tough French so no event that replicates the Fastnet many demands volcania Yahoo Evo at Ambala theater Boombah Boombah hey samba - sorry Oksana sang keeper by jana cat who sang keeper vaguely levar etc etc don't include you know ZT patient by the specialist is on is on pol even on whatever his misgivings about its own physical endurance these states the long-standing walk member and his crew are in great form and could yet carry off their second overall title on the tight reach across the Celtic Sea Ranbir is in her element and muscles to the front of the fleet the last few miles to the rocket completed in 30 knots of wind and some of the toughest most testing conditions of the race the approach to the rock can be very complex you've got to be very accurate as the manoeuvre coming up you know all the people that have potentially been in their watch system all gonna get pulled on deck you've got a lot of navigation to do you've got a lot of tactics to do the bow team are preparing the sails for the next leg so it's always a busy time chased by shk scallywag George David's man reached the iconic turning mark nearly 90 minutes ahead of their own record for the outward leg Oh being that fast reaching conditions they Rhenish will prevail on the return scallywags rounding proves more problematic caught in a school a crude try to change chips butter uneven sorry act in time forced to deploy just there j3 for a time they briefly lose momentum and round 17 minutes behind Rambler [Music] [Music] believe just behind the larger boats and despite our size is wizard David and Peter ask use powerful Volvo 70 the US entry handled the first night transition better than anyone and has been relishing the fast reaching conditions that followed our route to becoming the provisional overall leader [Music] among the other mana holes in a fleet making the best of the favorable weather is the 78 footage a to watch carefully at one of the most distinctive turning marks in offshore sailing she prepares for what promises to be a blisteringly quick ride home [Music] off plymouth the old french contra torn between massif and Maxie Edmond de Rothschild is coming to a dramatic conclusion after recovering their overnight lead at the lizard Francois Gabbar screw bear down on the finish line with multihull line honors apparently in the bag but having over stood on their last jibe at final roll of the dice from Kumar at shark order le a approached the favoured end of the line foiling on a holter angle Massif a caught cold and in a fading breeze they're out rivals snatch a remarkable victory [Applause] [Music] crossing the line in 28 hours two minutes and 26 seconds they've knocked over 4 and 3/4 hours of the 2011 course record 18 Acosta Turkish Arabic aggressive in the field about is coloring avaiana on a fossil fast data and Omid the cow save you a casino from tall average is over the desk er not a key partially tablet as traffic picks up at the Fastnet end of the racetrack warning of day 3 the pace is finally slowing the battle for miners at the other when David wits crew have been discussing their options 130 miles to go they're about four or five miles behind Rambler and we've got to do something to slow them down the only way we can think of doing that is moving in short where if we can tempt them into a lighter area of wind weekend perhaps catch up a little way from behind at this point we can't give up we've got to keep fighting and see if we can push the squeezing through the very finish deprived of the southwesterly breeze they'd hoped for Briella is slipping below record-setting pace but it's still able to cover any scallywag challenge without serious alarm just before 10 a.m. on day 3 george david's crew approached the finish at the plymouth breakwater to claim their second successive line on its title taking a day 19 hours and 55 minutes to complete the 680 nautical miles a foreign shorter than 100 course record but have seen off rivals scallywag who arrived 27 minutes behind them the tight competition with got a leg started right off the line when it was light that's where they got the jump on us and then when it cut heavy that that's what we got to jump on that we missed the record by an hour in 20 minutes if we had a better sailing angle from Land's End to Plymouth who would have had an easily but sailing third Moana how home is wizard a strong contender for the overall prize having kept up with a large arrivals all race ever now we're really able to get away from us and when you can keep the big boats like that in sight kind of the whole way you know you're gonna do well for the bulk of the fleet the streets of Plymouth and the welcome of the race village can come soon enough [Music] even for experienced sailors like Jerry taught us all leading irc2 and Alexis lisanna jean-pierre kelp their eventual winners in IR seen three crossing the celtic series from the arduous and nutritional tough on people and boats [Music] by the following day as the trickle of arrivals whether class winners contenders or Corinthians becomes a torrent the lists of retirements has grown to over 50 it's been brutal it's been a really tough race obviously a lot of wind but then we've also had a really confused see as well and we made it really difficult for for a lot of us plenty of competitors have had to have a number of goes at it to finish you can't expect to finish in your first go then that would be nice but it doesn't always happen the retirements list is about to get longer Keith Miller screw-on irish entry and Dante have been handling heavy seas and 35 not wind speeds well and are only 15 nautical miles from the rock when their Fastnet comes to a premature end courtesy of a broken back stay psycho pulled out and this came down mr. Angus by inches we were going so well as a farmer I deal with machinery failure every day so it's nothing new it's just one of those things you do your best year get the machinery into the best order you can still stop breaks it's like you know somebody said that Division four really is the past minute super goats that's the thing has done in two days turn that into four five six days sailing a whole different challenge the Walker self hasn't beat me I'll be back the plan is to do some improvements on the boat maker of it easier to sail we die another debutante who retires early after falling too far behind the fleet following her delayed departure is gypsy moths for perhaps she to one day make her triumphant return to Plymouth along with race veterans of each on to saw who sweeps all before him on route to the irc2 title and fifth place overall in what he insists will be his last fascinated a competitive boat after 388 boats to start the race over 330 have made it to the race village in Plymouth their crews only now able to share and savor the scale of their achievement it's not been an easy race for the smaller boats deprived at the faster conditions so conducive to the 70 footers up ahead and there's no surprise only admiration and respect when co-owner Dave asked you screw-on wizard are confirmed as winners of the 2019 overall title feels really really satisfying to win the Rolex fastener race I almost feel like I'm kind of living in a dream I've known about it ever since I was a little kid I came and did it 34 years ago when I was 22 years old I was in complete awe when I did that race truly one of the most difficult if not the most difficult race in the world to win I mean the level of competition is so high in our world of yacht racing it's a you know it's a huge accomplishment it's just something that I'll remember for the rest of my life [Music] next time on spirit of yachting we head to Majorca for the best in inshore sailing at the Rolex T P 52 World Championship [Music] you [Applause]

Channel: Rolex World of Yachting

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Id: jgI3tUvNrcI

Length: 24min 9sec (1449 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 27 2019