Fastnet race

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The Fastnet race is a famous offshore yachting race. It is considered one of the classic offshore races. It takes place every two years over a course of 608 miles. The race starts off Cowes on the Isle of Wight in England, rounds the Fastnet Rock off the southwest coast of Ireland and then finishes at Plymouth in the South of England after passing south of the Isles of Scilly.

The prize is known as the Fastnet Challenge Cup.

[edit] History

The first Fastnet race, with seven entries, was won by Jolie Brise in 1925.

The International Offshore Rule (IOR) was introduced in 1973, and the yachts and crews began taking sponsorships.

A severe storm during the 1979 race resulted in the deaths of 15 competitors. This led to a major overhaul of the rules and the equipment required for the competition. Several books have been written about the 1979 race, which is notorious in the yachting world.

The race drew further attention from outside the sport in 1985 when the maxi-yacht Drum capsized after her experimental keel sheared off. Pop star Simon Le Bon, co-owner and crew member of Drum, was trapped under the hull with five other crew members for twenty minutes, until being rescued by the Royal Navy. The Search and Rescue Diver was Petty Officer Air Crewman (POACMN) Larry "Scouse" Slater of 771 Naval Air Squadron who appeared on This Is Your Life on 9 April 1986.

The race record is currently held by Mike Slade's Icap Leopard 3 with an elapsed time of 44hrs 18min.

[edit] Fastnet since 2005

The 2005 race was sponsored by Rolex and organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club with the Royal Yacht Squadron and the Royal Western Yacht Club, Plymouth.

The start of the 2007 race was postponed by 25 hours, due to a severe weather warning. This was the first time this had been done in the race's 83 year history. Overnight gale force winds and, in particular, extreme seas forced many boats to retire, sheltering in ports along the south coast of England, including Torbay, Plymouth and Weymouth

By 1000 on 16 August, 207 boats of the 271-strong field had retired with at least three suffering rig problems. [1] [2]

Despite the conditions, Mike Slade's Icap Leopard 3, launched in June 2007, set a new record of 44 hours 18 min, taking almost 9 hours off the previous record set in 1999. Ger O'Rourke's Chieftain was the overall winner on corrected time.

[edit] Winners

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Year	Yacht	Owner	Designer	Nationality
1925	Jolie Brise	Lt Cdr E. G. Martin	Paumelle	United Kingdom
1926	Ilex	Royal Engineers	Camper and Nicholsons	United Kingdom
1927	Tally Ho	Lord Stalbridge	Albert Strange	United Kingdom
1928	Nina		Starling Burgess	United States
1929	Jolie Brise	Lt Cdr E.G.Martin	Paumelle	United Kingdom
1930	Jolie Brise	Lt Cdr E.G.Martin	Paumelle	United Kingdom
1931	Dorade [3]	Stephens	Sparkman & Stephens	United States
1933	Dorade	Stephens	Sparkman & Stephens	United States
1935	Stormy Weather [4]		Sparkman & Stephens	United States
1937	Zeearend	Kees Bruynzeel	Sparkman & Stephens	Netherlands
1939	Bloodhound	Ikey Bell	Camper and Nicholsons	United Kingdom
1947	Myth of Malham	Capt. J.H.Illingworth	J. Laurent Giles	United Kingdom
1949	Myth of Malham	Capt. J.H.Illingworth	J. Laurent Giles	United Kingdom
1951	Yeoman	Owen Aisher	Camper and Nicholsons	United Kingdom
1953	Favona	Sir Michael Newton	Robert Clark	United Kingdom
1955	Carina	Dick Nye	Phillip Rhodes	United States
1957	Carina	Dick Nye	Phillip Rhodes	United States
1959	Anitra	Sven Hansen	Sparkman and Stephens	Sweden
1961	Zwerver II		Sparkman & Stephens	Netherlands
1963	Clarion of Wight [5]	Derek Boyer DFC	Sparkman & Stephens	United Kingdom
1965	Rabbit	Dick Carter	Dick Carter	United States
1967	Pen Duick III	Eric Tabarly	Chantier La Perrière	France
1969	Red Rooster	Dick Carter	Dick Carter	United States
1971	Ragamuffin	Syd Fisher	Sparkman & Stephens	Australia
1973	Saga	Erling Lorentsen	Sparkman & Stephens	Brazil
1975	Golden Delicious	Richard & Harvey Bagnall	Ron Holland	United Kingdom
1977	Imp	David Allen	Ron Holland	United States
1979	Tenacious [6]	Ted Turner	Sparkman & Stephens	United States
1985	Atlantic Privateer	Philip Akrill	Farr Yacht Design	United Kingdom
1995	Nicorette	Ludde Ingvall	Ribadeau-Dumas/Simonis Voogd	Sweden
1997	Royal Blue (ex-Nicorette)	Gunnar Ekdahl	Ribadeau-Dumas/Simonis Voogd	Sweden
2001	Tonnerre de Breskens	Piet Vroon	Lutra Design Group	Netherlands
2003	Nokia	Charles Dunstone	Reichel & Pugh	United Kingdom
2005	Iromiguy	Jean-Yves Chateau	Ron Holland	France
2007	Chieftain	Ger O'Rourke	Farr Yacht Design	Ireland