Rolex Fastnet Race 2011: The Start: Sunday 14 August
The start of this year’s eagerly anticipated Rolex Fastnet Race was just truly spectacular. In over 20 years of racing, I have never seen such an amazing start, with so many yachts jostling for a good position on the start line. 312 yachts, the biggest ever fleet, made it over the start line off the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, in a South-westerly stiff breeze. Seeing the 60+ yachts in Class 2, which is the class all 7 of the Sailing Logic yachts are competing in, running up and down the line ready for the gun, was just incredible.
Quokka 8, the Grand Soleil 43 skippered by Philippe Falle, made the best start of all, but just got caught out 2 seconds before the gun meaning she was over the line early and had to turn around and re-cross the line again, putting her a few minutes behind the others from the off.
All the yachts seem to head over to the island side, with Visit Malta Puma, skippered by Tim Thubron, heading so close inshore that I am sure the crew could see what newspapers the spectators on the beach were reading! However taking the inshore route seemed to pay off for the team, and halfway down the Western Solent they were ahead of all the other Sailing Logic yachts and staying out of the main fleet, away from trouble.
Addiction Logic, Interceptor Logic and Profile Logic, our three Beneteau 40.7’s were all neatly together in a line down at the notorious Needles Channel, heading into a very lumpy sea state and out into the start of the English Channel.
Lancelot Logic, our First 40, was holding her own against a couple of other identical yachts in class, and were hot on the heels of Quokka who were first out of the Solent, having caught up her minutes lost and some.
Jaguar Logic, our Reflex 38 was matching boat speed and position of her sister ship Visit Malta Puma, all the way out of the Solent, and these two Reflex 38’s were leading the other five Reflex’s at the last schedule.
News from the fleet this evening is that most of our 7 yachts are in sight of each other, which must be very exhilarating, and that most will be enjoying their first evening meal at sea, home-made Thai Chicken Curry or Chicken Biryani. The crews will now be into their watch systems which means that the crew split into teams, to share the workload so sleep can be caught up and food can be eaten. Not even the skippers can be on duty 24 hours a day!
All of the yachts have chosen to stick close to the Rhumb line, which is the ‘imaginary’ shortest route line to the finish, apart from Quokka who have chosen to go inshore, and head for the tidal gate around Start Point (Weymouth). This tactic can reap great rewards if you get the tide right – it can give you an extra 2 knots of advantageous tide, increasing the boat speed over the ground, and gaining miles between themselves and others who have chosen not to take the risk. At the moment, it seems to have worked! Go Quokka!
The weather at the moment is showing the yachts will sail into a 12-15 knots of westerly breeze, which means that everything during the night will be very tactical – they will have to tack back and forwards to make progress, and deciding when to tack will be crucial in the darkness, not knowing which if the yachts around them are which, and second guessing everyone else’s tactics. It will be so interesting to find how the positions have changed during tonight.
Positions as of 20.00 hrs – (BST)
71 in Class 2
16th Visit Malta Puma
17th Quokka 8
20th Lancelot Logic
27th Interceptor Logic
34th Jaguar Logic
35th Addiction Logic
48th Profile Logic
Please note that these positions will change every update at the moment, as the fleet are tacking. Depending on whether the yachts are pointing towards or away from the direct course, will effect which yacht the computer thinks is leading....
Thanks must go to the Sailing logic team behind the scenes for getting 7 yachts to the start line today: Mike Martin, our intrepid all round sailor come maintenance guru, who is sailing on Visit Malta Puma as Mate, to Philippe Falle, Director of Racing, Skipper of Quokka 8, for sorting out computers and comms issues and diving on the yachts yesterday, to Sharon Hayward who is Mate on Jaguar Logic for her sterling back-up support in the office and last, but by no means least, Katie Watts, our Logistics Manager for helping glue everything together and for continually smiling! J
