Rán takes Round One of the 2018 FAST40+ Race Circuit

Ten teams contested Round One of the 2018 FAST40+ Race Circuit, hosted by the Royal Southern Yacht Club in the Solent. The FAST40+ fleet enjoyed eight races over three days in a variety of conditions. Making their debut in the FAST40+ Class, Niklas Zennstrom's Carkeek designed Rán VII, showed impressive speed to win the regatta and the Henri Lloyd Trophy.

Niklas Zennstrom, Rán VII's owner driver commented: “We only started our training a week ago and those training days were essential, we’ve had a steep learning curve but the boat feels great and the racing was fantastic. In the lighter conditions we could see we have room for improvement but we now have time to lift the boat out tomorrow and continue the work to get her ready for the next event.”

Peter Morton's CF40+ Girls on Film, with Graham Deegan on the helm, had a consistent regatta to take second place despite not taking a single bullet. Stewart Whitehead's Carkeek MkIII Rebellion scored to race wins to take third, just ahead of Ker40+ Pace, chartered by Niall Dowling. Of the ten teams, seven made the podium, proof that close, intense racing is in the DNA of the FAST40+ Class.

David Lenz, Tactician, Girls on Film commented: “With Morty (Peter Morton) off, due to his shoulder injury, we had Graham steering this week-end and we had a great week-end of racing. A challenging range of conditions and a bit of everything - including the cold, but pleased with our results. We have Ant O’Leary onboard steering for the next two regattas and then Morty should be back on board.”

Stuart Whitehead, Rebellion's owner driver commented: “A great week-end and we are very happy with our first event of the season. We have had a lot of crew changes so it will take time for that to bed down, especially in challenging conditions but we came out well, especially yesterday with two race wins - but still a lot to work on and looking forward to the next event.”

Stuart Childerley, Race Director commented: “We’ve had a great week-end of racing, the weather gave us a bit of everything, the teams got to use all their range of sails and the full scope of manoeuvres so that has given them plenty to think about. We saw great performances from all the teams, and also room for improvement, so all in all a great start to the season. We tried some new things today - a reaching and dead downwind start to mix things up a bit which I think the teams enjoyed.”