Heading for the Rock....
Overnight, the yachts have been pushing hard trying to sustain their positions in the fleet and overhaul the next target ahead of them. Tactics play a huge part in yacht racing, and even changing course 5 or 10 degrees can impact hugely on a yachts position in relation to the rest of the class. The trackers have once again not being fantastically reliable, we had Puma not poll for over 3 hours during the night, however, all seems to be glitch free at the moment, keep your fingers crossed!
News from Class 2 is that La Reponse, one of Quokka’s main rivals, has turned back and is no longer in the race. Joopster the J122 should be very close to Quokka on the water but again the tracker has not polled her position since 4am so she is in stealth mode!. Quokka is leading class on the water, and should be the first round the rock. Eta at the rock at the moment stands at 1.30pm this afternoon.
Visit Malta Puma have had a great night and clawed back some miles on the leaders. She has gone quite far North of the main pack but is now pointing more directly at the Rock than in the last few hours. It maybe that Skipper Tim Thubron had some good weather info, or instinct told him that there was more wind to be had further North. The forecast at the moment is that wind will steadily decrease from 15 knots North westerly to 8 knots westerly during the day, and then increase a little tomorrow, but still coming from the west. This means that the yachts may need to tack before reaching the Rock, depending on the angle to which they are pointing at it at the moment. Once round the rock, spinnakers should be going up, and pleasant downwind conditions should ensue for most of the course back to the Scilly Isles.
Jaguar Logic has lost some ground to Addiction Logic overnight, but they have not polled for 90 minutes so hopefully they are nearer than the chart shows! Profile Logic, skippered by fellow round the world yachtsman Simon Walker, have had a good night, and are not hot on the heels of Addiction Logic. These are both Beneteau 40.7 yachts and should be very similar in performance. Our other 40.7, Interceptor Logic, skippered by Stuart Wilkie, has taken a leaf out of Puma’s book and headed north in search of more favourable winds and sailing angle. Lancelot Logic, the First 40, skippered by Chris Jackson has lost a little overnight against their rivals British Soldier, and now have Playing Around, friends of Sailing Logic hot on their heels so they need to trim, trim, trim!!
News from the fleet: we were shocked to learn that one of the 100 foot maxi yachts, Rambler 100, lost her keel just after rounding the rock late evening yesterday. All the crew are safe and well, and our thoughts are with them today. This is a very unusual and thankfully exceptionally rare occurrence, especially as conditions were fair and reasonably calm. There is always a risk in whatever sport you choose to participate in, and we go to extraordinary lengths to make sure that our yachts, skippers and crews are at peak performance before they set out on such an adventure as the Rolex Fastnet Race. Experience and training are fundamental, and all of our teams have worked very hard to be at their best for these few days racing.
Positions at 0900 BST
Boat name Class position Miles to finish Poll time BST
Quokka 8th 286 0830
Visit Malta Puma 14th 302 0900
Lancelot Logic 21st 308 0830
Addiction Logic 29th 314 0900
Jaguar Logic 30th 323 0730
Profile Logic 32nd 315 0900
Interceptor Logic 36th 319 0900
Estimated Eta’s into Plymouth at the moment are from 1am Thursday 18th August for Quokka, 4am Puma, 5am Lancelot, 5.30am Addiction, Jaguar, Profile, and Interceptor.
