The 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race sets sail this Saturday

The historic 50th edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Rolex Fastnet Race sets sail with the first start at 1300 BST this Saturday (22 July) from Cowes, Isle of Wight bound for Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France via the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland.

With more than 450 entries, this special anniversary race will have a record-sized fleet, up from the previous record of 388 set in pre-COVID 2019. The Rolex Fastnet Race is by far the world's largest offshore yacht race in terms of participants. 

The line-up ranges in size from the world's fastest offshore race boats, the French 32m long flying Ultim trimarans, likely to cover the 695 mile course in a little over a day, down to 30ft cruiser-racers and classics, such as the Australian 9m long 1932 classic Maluka, which could take six days. 

Held in 1925, the first Fastnet Race (known at the time as the 'Ocean Race') helped established the sport of offshore racing in the UK and Europe. It was held annually until 1931 and biennially since, excluding the years over WW2. In 1957 the Fastnet Race became part of a bigger event, the Admiral's Cup, one of grand prix sailing's pinnacle events during the 1970s-90s. The race was marred in 1979 when an unforecast storm battered the fleet, resulting in the loss of 21 lives, including 15 competitors. Since 1925, the race has spawned numerous other 600 mile offshore events internationally such as the Rolex Sydney Hobart and Rolex Middle Sea Races.

The Rolex Fastnet Race is one of the few events where regular sailors can line up on the same start line as many heroes of the sport, from Vendée Globe and Ocean Race winners to Olympic gold medallists, to the world's fastest man on the water (Paul Larsen), to the enthusiastic amateur majority, to families and individuals for whom the event represents the pinnacle of their sailing careers. 

The fleet is divided into nine classes: the bulk of the fleet race under the IRC rating system for the event's overall prize – the Fastnet Challenge Cup. This group is divided into six classes from the biggest, fastest boats in IRC Super Zero (SZ), down to the smallest, slowest 30 footers racing in IRC Four. In addition are the two professional classes, the IMOCAs and Class40 and the Multihull class, which includes racing trimarans such as the Ultims and Ocean 50s, and the faster cruising multihulls. There is also a doublehanded ranking for boats being sailed within the IRC fleet by two crew. 

Friday 21st July 

The following events will be broadcast live on the RORC YouTube channel and streamed live into the Cherbourg Race Village: 

 
1100 BST          Press Conference from the RORC Cowes Clubhouse (with Pip Hare, Géry Trentesaux, Brad Butterworth, Andrew Cape, Ellie Driver, Shirley Gervolino, Paddy Broughton and Ben Ibbotson)

1200 BST          Skippers briefing from the Cowes Clubhouse

Saturday 22nd July

The start takes place from off the Royal Yacht Squadron line off West Cowes on Saturday 22 July with the starts for the classes separated by 20 minute intervals:

1300 Multihulls; 1320 IMOCA; 1340 Class40; 1400 IRC 4; 1420 IRC 3; 1440 IRC 2; 1500 IRC 1; 1520 IRC S/SZ

1230: The live broadcast of the start will begin - hosted by sports journalist and broadcaster Holly Hamilton, with commentators including Mike Golding OBE (crewed and solo round the world race skipper and record breaker), Annie Lush (Olympic and Volvo Ocean Race sailor), Pete Cumming (multiple sailing world record holder and TV race pundit), Louay Habib (RORC Race Reporter, race pundit), Christian Dumard (leading French meteorologist), plus former round the world race skipper and Rolex Fastnet Race winner Lisa McDonald, and ex-RORC Commodore Michael Boyd. 

Spectators in person

For those in Cowes, the best place to view the start from on land is anywhere between the Royal Yacht Squadron and Egypt Point in West Cowes. The time to be in situ is between 1230 and 1530 (after the final start at 1520). There is the great opportunity to see the boats during the afternoon in the western Solent but especially as they funnel through Hurst Narrows. The best viewing spots are Fort Victoria or Fort Albert on the island, or for those on the mainland, from Hurst Castle at the southern tip of Hurst Spit. 

Those wishing to view from boats on the water should be extremely cautious and avoid the area immediately to the west of the start line and under no circumstances get in front of any of the competitors. This is especially required for the first two starts, for the Multihulls and IMOCAs, the entries in which are both extremely high speed but also have restricted visibility and manoeuvrability. Course marshalls will be attempting to keep the race course free from spectators while keeping the next group of starters to the east of the start area.