After many months of hard work and planning behind the scenes, we were delighted to meet at last all of our Fastnet Race crews and staff at Ocean Village Marina, Southampton on May 7th for the first training weekend of the 2011 Fastnet Race Campaign.
After gathering for Breakfast at the Royal Southampton Yacht Club, the teams were briefed on the programme of training and racing, tried on their
crew kit, met their fellow team mates and most importantly, were introduced to their Skippers, mates and yachts.
After a great day on the water it was back to the Royal Southampton for dinner, and a visit by World record holder and inspirational sailor Dee Caffari, who wowed the crews with her tales of single-handed sailing in the Vendee Globe and her own personal experiences of the Fastnet Race itself.
Sunday morning dawned sunny but breezy, and the teams left the marina for another full day of training, knowing that the next time they meet will be to race the Myth of Malham offshore, to the Eddystone Rock and back.
Sailing Logic yachts this year comprise of Visit Malta Puma and Jaguar Logic, Sailing Logic’s own Reflex 38 yachts, plus 4 Beneteau 40.7’s, and Quokka, a Grand Soleil 43. All of the yachts will be racing in IRC 2 Class in the Fastnet, which will make for some fantastic close boat-on-boat action and hopefully very friendly rivalry! All of the yachts were chosen very carefully by us to make sure that they are the quickest yachts of their type, and hopefully the moist competitive for our crews.
As well as 2 training weekends, the crews will be competing in four RORC Offshore Races, making sure that they get plenty of time on the water and qualifying mileage to meet the exacting experience standards to enter the Rolex Fastnet race, which starts on August 14th from Cowes.
