RAN 2 Overall Handicap Winner of Rolex Fastnet 2009 (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Zennström’s Judel-Vrolijk designed 72-footer finished the race in an elapsed time of 63 hours, 1 minute and 33 seconds, which corrected out to 2 hours, 19 minutes ahead of the second-placed Italian America’s Cup team Luna Rossa on board their STP65.
“It is fantastic, we are very excited about it,” commented Zennström. “But it was also a gradual thing, because as we crossed the finish line we knew we had a good result. We had monitored some of the boats behind us, most notably Luna Rossa and Rosebud, which we thought were always going to be the closest competitors to us. And after we came in we spent the morning and actually the whole day yesterday monitoring the updates on the RORC’s OC Tracker and made our own calculations about the likelihoods for the other boats to catch up with us.”
Having failed to complete the last Rolex Fastnet Race, in 2007, the victory for Ran 2 was unfinished business. That race, sailed on board Zennström’s Marten 49, had been the first occasion that the present Ran crew had sailed together. Led by Volvo Ocean Race veteran Tim Powell, the all-star line-up includes seasoned race boat navigator Steve Hayles and America’s Cup sailors such as Adrian Stead and Emirates Team New Zealand’s Andy Hemmings, Richard Bouzaid and Richard Meacham.
Zennström launched his new 72-footer earlier this year, raced it at several events in the Mediterranean, including the Giraglia Rolex Cup, before it was shipped back to the UK, to compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race. “One of the key objectives when we were building Ran 2 was to be able to do offshore races, and the most obvious race we put on the calendar was the Rolex Fastnet Race. So it is great we have done so well in it.” Zennström explains.
This year they have also won the Swedish equivalent of the Rolex Fastnet Race, the Gotland Runt, aboard their previous Ran, a modified TP52.
“I think it is a really strong team,” concludes Zennström. “We have been sailing together for two years now and the team is getting stronger and stronger. We have been very thorough in our planning, both in terms of the design of the boat and our race preparations.
Skipper Tim Powell was equally ecstatic about their Rolex Fastnet Race win: “Obviously it is a big achievement being such a prestigious race and one of the classics.” He adds that they had prepared well, believing some way in advance that a major part of the race would be upwind and, with Ran 2 being very powerful and fast upwind, they stood a reasonable chance. “We were focusing more on our class and the boats around us a lot more. But to have won the thing overall is an awesome achievement.”
Ran 2 did especially well outbound down the English Channel and by the key tidal gate at Start Point, they had pulled out a 10 mile lead over their Mini Maxi rivals. “That first 20 hours up the Channel was all important, tactically and navigationally, and as a crew we sailed very, very well,” says Powell.
Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, says that this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race did favour the larger boats. “If you think that we’ve had spring tides, and really light winds, one of the big gains that the big boats made was on the first night when they came to Portland Bill and they were able to make the tide. You could see on the tracker that those who had managed to make it away from Portland Bill had a huge advantage, whereas the others were stopped and some had to put their anchor down. So the story of the race in many respects ended there, but we didn’t know which big boat was going to win.”
The opportunity for the smaller boats to win fizzled over the last 24 hours when windier conditions that might have provided them with a fast finish to make up for their deficit, caused by missing the tide at Portland Bill on the first night, failed to materialise.
“Ran sailed really well against the opposition and it is a well-deserved victory,” concluded Warden-Owen. “It is a young crew of British guys on the boat, even though it is owned by a Swede and they are very experienced America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race sailors. So, a good effort.”
At the end of this afternoon, 59 boats of 300 starters had reached Plymouth and berthed in Sutton Harbour in the heart of the Devonshire city. The latest arrivals included the first to finish in IRC Class 1, Nicolas Loday and Jean-Claude Nicoleau’s Grand Soleil 43, Codiam.
At present La Floresta Del Mar, Amanda Hartley’s Swan 56 can’t be beaten in IRC Z, having finished at 03:24 GMT this morning. While Codiam remains first on handicap in IRC 1, Marc Alperovitch and Jérome Huillard’s A-35 Prime Time is leading in IRC 2 and at 15:00 had just passed the Lizard with 43 miles left to go to the finish. Finally, Fabrice Amedeo’s X-332 Bateaux Mouches du Pont de l’Alma remains first in IRC 3, with 15 miles left to go to Bishop Rock. The majority of the fleet have now rounded the Fastnet Rock with the backmarker, the Bristol Channel pilot cutter, Morwenna, midway across the Celtic Sea with just over one third of the race course completed.
Niklas Zennstrom (Photo By Carlo Borlenghi)
This afternoon the Royal Ocean Racing Club, organisers of the biennial British 608-mile classic offshore race, confirmed that Niklas Zennström’s Ran 2 is the overall handicap winner of the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race.
ICAP Leopard (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard secured a second consecutive line honours victory in the Rolex Fastnet Race in the early hours of this morning. With the mixed conditions the 100ft super-maxi was considerably behind the course record she set two years ago. Arriving at the Plymouth breakwater finish line at 00:09:36 GMT, her elapsed time on this occasion was 2 days 11 hours 9 minutes and 36 seconds, compared to 1 day 20 hours 18 minutes and 53 seconds in 2007.
“It was a great race,” commented Slade. “It is always nice to have a race where there are no breakages or damage. We didn’t get into any difficult situations. We just wanted to get around fast and competently. All in all we are delighted to be here, second time running, back to back victories in this great race. A huge thanks to the RORC, our sponsors ICAP and Rolex for yet again taking an interest in yachting.”
To have broken the record would have required more wind, but despite this the 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race was still a nailbiter, said Slade. “There was a lot of light air and ‘are we going to get through a tide gate?’ It made for a very exciting race. We were always looking over our backs because, Rosebud, Ran and Luna Rossa were all there, all ganging up, only 20 miles behind all the time. So we couldn’t afford to make any mistakes.”
ICAP Leopard’s next major events are the Rolex Middle Sea Race out of Malta in October followed by the Rolex Sydney Hobart in December. “No one has ever won all three and we will give it a try,” said Slade adding that he would be back to try for a third win in the RORC’s biennial offshore classic in 2011. Specifically this is a warm-up for the race to Hobart . “There is Maximus from NZ, Alfa Romeo and Wild Oats, so we’ll have our work cut out. We will go down there and represent Britain and try and knock off the Aussies. God knows what they are going to do at the Oval [the Ashes cricket contest]. We might need to get some revenge!”
Karl Kwok’s brand new Farr 80, Beau Geste was second home, arriving in drizzly Plymouth at 03:25:03 GMT, and now tied up in Sutton Harbour. “The race has been enjoyable,” commented Kwok. “We are racing the same IRC Class SZ boats as we did in Cowes Week, so we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses more or less. Knowing that beating everyone on handicap is almost impossible, our hope was maybe line honours for the class, because once into the ocean, waterline (length) counts. So it was a drag race and we beat Ran on that one, but they are pretty close.”
RAN 2 (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Apart from three short races at Cowes Week, this was Beau Geste’s first major race and both Kwok and skipper Gavin Brady said they still have much to learn about the set-up and development of the boat. “There are still a lot of things we can still do to reduce its rating,” said Kwok, who intends to enter his new boat in all the classic races he has not yet entered. Their program includes the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Sardinia then the Rolex Middle Sea Race. Brady added: “It is a big ask to bring a boat like this straight into one of the biggest events in Europe as your first race, but there is a lot we can take out of it.”
Brady says that in the Rolex Fastnet Race, the leaders seemed to be connected by elastic. “Our race didn’t really start for 24 hours and in a race that is that short you are giving away a lot of race course, where you are behind your competitors. By the time we passed Ran 2 we were 13-14 hours into the race. As soon as we got up to a ten-mile lead, then the compression started again and each time that happened, there was less and less race course.”
One of the most interesting races on the water, that developed in the last few hours, was that between Niklas Zennström’s Judel Vrolijk 72, Ran 2 and BT IMOCA 60, sailed two handed by Sebastien Josse and Jean-François Cuzon. This battle from Bishop Rock to the finish was won by the French duo, arriving just over one minute ahead, the wind dropping all the time to a minimum of five knots.
“We saw Ran just before the Scilly Isles,” recounted Josse. “We crossed and we said ‘maybe these guys will gybe, because we are on starboard’. And no one moved…but then we are a bad reference because when we gybe we have to start 20 minutes before! Then eventually we saw the bowman go on the bow, furl the staysail and in seconds they were away. So I said ‘maybe we won’t match race with these guys because we’ll lose’.”
Nonetheless in the VMR running conditions, the blue IMOCA 60 stayed ahead, despite having run headlong into a moon fish while crossing the Celtic Sea and running out of diesel by the time they reached the finish.
Despite being beaten on the water by BT IMOCA 60, this was of little consequence to Niklas Zennström and the crew of Ran 2. This morning they remain the leader overall on handicap.
“I think we knew it would be up to the last bit here, but I think we have a good chance,” commented the Skype founder on their prospects of a handicap win in what is the first major offshore race for their new boat. “We didn’t lose so much here at the last bit. We had a good breeze all the way in, so we have a good chance. But now we have to wait and see.”
Zennström had no regrets about bringing his boat all the way back up to UK from the Mediterranean, to where it will now return. “One of the objectives when we built the boat was to race a Rolex Fastnet Race competitively. Two years ago we had to pull out – so we had some revenge to do…”
According to Ran 2 navigator Steve Hayles, they ended up arriving in Plymouth three hours earlier than he had anticipated yesterday. After the distance between the front runners compressed as they reached Bishop Rock, he says it was not the wind speed but the direction that saved them on the final run home. “It stayed a bit more westerly and it didn’t go around to the north, so we didn’t have all the issues of trying to get under the land. We ended up running down in here.” They then got less foul tide passing the Lizard, extending their lead over the boats astern.
This morning the lead boats in IRC Class Z have been rounding the Fastnet Rock, with the majority of the fleet still crossing the Celtic Sea outbound. Under handicap, Piet Vroon’s new Ker 46, Tonnerre de Breskens has taken the lead in IRC Z and is now most of the way back to Bishop Rock. French boats continue to dominate the small handicap classes. The Grand Soleil 43 Codiam remains in front of Class 1, having rounded the rock at 0300 GMT. Just short of the rock, the A35 Prime Time has taken over first place in Class 2, while the Dufour 34 Major Tom is still first in Class 3.
LUNA ROSA (Photo by Carlo Borlenghi)
Finish times:
1) ICAP Leopard, Mike Slade (GBR) – 00:09:36 GMT
2) Beau Geste, Karl Kwok (HK) – 03:25:03
3) BT IMOCA 60, Sebastien Josse (FRA) – 04:00:15
4) Ran 2, Niklas Zennström (SWE) – 04:01:33
5) Artemis Ocean Racing, Sam Davies (UK) and Sidney Gavignet (FRA) – 05:15:41
6) Safran, Marc Guillemot (FRA) – 05:56:18
7) Team Pindar, Mike Sanderson (NZ) – 06:15:42
Aviva, Dee Caffari (UK) – 06:57:13
9) Luna Rossa, Flavio Flavini (ITA) – 07:01:54
10) Rosebud Team DYT, Roger Sturgeon (USA) – 07:45:37
11) Akena Verandas, Arnaud Boissières (FRA) – 08:34:51
RAN Rounding Fastnet Rock (Photo by Rolex / Kurt Arrigo)
While a line honours victory for Mike Slade’s 100ft super-maxi ICAP Leopard might seem obvious, the brand new Hong Kong 80-footer Beau Geste of Karl Kwok is closing on them. At 03:00 GMT this morning they were 35 miles behind and by 14:00GMT were only 24 miles astern. Over the course of the late morning and early afternoon the smaller boat was occasionally sailing three knots faster down the course.
The reason, according to round the world race veteran, Steve Hayles, navigator on Niklas Zennström’s Ran 2, is that the boats astern of ICAP Leopard have enjoyed stronger wind from the northwest. “This breeze built from behind, it came down from the Fastnet Rock, so it has been a bad bit of timing for them. It was just unfortunate. We have more headed breeze and more of it. But to be honest we are suffering the same thing with the two STP65s behind us. We feel pretty happy with what we have done. We have stopped the rot here recently.”
Hayles says they are expecting the wind to veer towards the north in the next six to ten hours and to go light. “The breeze is going to drop below ten knots for sure. We will go around Bishop Rock at about 18:00 GMT. The last 90 miles to the finish, the routing has us doing it in nine hours, but my own thinking is that it is going to take 14.” So a breakfast time arrival in Plymouth. Significantly, and regardless of the slow finish, Hayles is quietly confident of Ran 2 winning under IRC handicap, which she is leading at present.
BEAU GESTE After Rounding The Fastnet Rock (Photo by Rolex / Carlo Borlenghi)
The IMOCA 60s still remain in contention, with BT IMOCA 60 around 22 miles astern of Beau Geste. Despite being sailed doublehanded, this afternoon she has overtaken the fully-crewed Artemis Ocean Racing. The first IMOCA 60s are expected home tomorrow mid-morning.
BT Was The First In The IMOCA 60 Class to Round Fastnet Rock, Seb and Jeff Smile after they round (Photo by Jean-Francois Cuzon)
Since yesterday the cycle of the wind has changed phase and while en route from Land’s End to the Fastnet Rock yesterday, the fastest boats were heading north awaiting a shift to get them west; today the bulk of the fleet has been heading west waiting for a shift to get them north. Some of the outbound boats have even taken the unorthodox approach of going to the west of the Scilly Isles, rather than the conventional shorter course to their east. Many have been heading so far west that the faster boats returning from the Rock, have seen them coming the opposite way. “Earlier this morning we saw several. I am surprised to see quite so many – it is a pretty aggressive punt out to the west for those boats,” said Hayles.
One of the boats heading out west was Tanguy de LaMotte’s Initiatives Saveurs-Novedia Group, the new leader in the Class 40. According to Papua New Guinean round the world sailor Liz Wardley who is sailing on board, they were obliged to dive so heavily west because of the wind direction. “We had a huge lift on starboard, more than we expected and so we really had to wait for a huge knock before we could tack over. So yes, we are quite far west.” They finally tacked back to the north at around midday.
“We are hoping the wind is going to lift us a little bit more, so we can make the Fastnet in one tack, because we are 10 degrees low,” continued Wardley, adding that at around 15:30 GMT they had 16-17 knots from the west, with the wind building the further north they sailed.
Further behind, Katie Miller and Hannah Jenner, two-handed on Miller’s Beneteau Figaro 2, Hot Socks, were enjoying the conditions off Land’s End. There the wind was southwest and Miller was hoping that it wouldn’t build as they are unable to use their water ballast at present since the pump “has just died”.
They are recovering from a difficult first night when they had to make two attempts to anchor off Portland Bill in 45m of water. If getting the anchor down was a problem, getting it up for the two of them was even harder, the operation taking more than 45 minutes. “We are going to be muscle women by the time we get back,” commented Miller, who says that the Rolex Fastnet Race is personally proving to be as tough as the singlehanded transatlantic race she completed recently. “The race is so short compared to the Atlantic that you are constantly pushing the boat as hard as you can, so you almost sleep less than you would on your own.”
In terms of the handicap standings, little has changed since this morning in the larger classes where Ran 2 remains ahead in Class SZ. La Floresta del Mar leads Class Z three quarters of the way towards the Fastnet Rock, while Codiam is first in IRC 1, half way to the Rock. However HOD35 Malice has taken over the lead in Class 2, despite a large dig out to the west , with David Lees’ High Tension 36, Hephzibah ahead in Class 3, the latter 10 miles northwest of the Scilly Isles.
The latest forecast indicates that the first boat home will be ICAP Leopard, sometime before dawn tomorrow.
Fastnet (Photo Courtesy of Fastnet.net.org)
Since it was first run in 1925, the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s biennial Rolex Fastnet Race has earned a reputation for being one of the toughest events in the international yacht racing calendar. This has come about from the brutal conditions it can occasionally throw at competitors, as well as the complexity of the race course. Over the 608 mile long course, crews must negotiate tidal gates off the numerous headlands along the English south coast, as well as the open ocean as they cross the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock, 10.8 nautical miles off the coast of southwest Ireland, before returning around the outside (west side) of the Scilly Isles to the finish in Plymouth.
The Rolex Fastnet Race this year has attracted A-list sailors from around the world, and the strongest international line-up of grand prix race yachts amongst the 300 boats setting sail from Cowes tomorrow, Sunday 9th August. Peppered throughout the fleet are stars from the America’s Cup, plus the Volvo Ocean Race and Vendee Globe round the world races.
Racing out on her own for line honours will be property developer Mike Slade’s 100ft supermaxi, ICAP Leopard. Given the relatively light forecast, Boat Captain Chris Sherlock says that breaking the record of 1 day 20 hours 18 minutes, ICAP Leopard set in the 2007 Rolex Fastnet Race, is looking unlikely, but he remains hopeful. “It is a British summer – anything could happen! I wouldn’t write it off. We don’t need that much wind to average 14 or 15 knots.”
To optimise their boat to the conditions, they have had to shed a couple of crew and a sail, relieving them of about one tonne in weight in total. They will still have 24 crewon board, an all-star cast including New Zealander Brad Jackson, watch captain on the winning boats in the last two Volvo Ocean Races and from the America’s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand tactician, Ray Davies. “We have a few boys on board to give it our best shot,” continues Sherlock. “When we come up against Wild Oats and Alfa in the Rolex Sydney Hobart this year they will have an equally good crew, so we have invested heavily there.”
A new feature of this race are the IRC Mini Maxis and STP65s, the very latest breed of grand prix race boat and the battle between the four of these will be one to watch. Making the voyage from the US is the 2007 Rolex Sydney Hobart winner, the STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT owned by Roger Sturgeon, which this week won this class at Cowes Week. The very newest is Beau Geste, a Farr-designed 80ft IRC boat owned by Hong Kong-based Karl Kwok and with an international team led by America’s Cup helmsman Gavin Brady.
Favourite in this heavyweight bout is probably the 72ft Ran 2 belonging to Skype founder Niklas Zennström, featuring many of the UK’s top professional sailors led by Volvo Ocean Race veteran Tim Powell. Ran 2 has made the trip up from the Mediterranean especially to compete in this race as has Luna Rossa, the STP65 sailed by Prada owner Patricio Bertelli’s Italian America’s Cup team. She features among her crew five-time Olympic medallist and Volvo Ocean Race winner, Torben Grael.
Torben Grael has competed in the race twice before when the Rolex Fastnet Race was part of the Admiral’s Cup and in 1995 won overall on Medina. ” It is a very traditional race which is sometimes pretty hard. The worst one was 30 years ago, so it is special long race. There are difficulties with the tide and sometimes quite strong winds. ”
For this race Grael is standing in for another well known Brazilian Olympian, Robert Schiedt and he only sailed on Luna Rossa for the first time this week. “I think light winds are not the boat’s speciality but she should be competitive still,” says Grael. “We will see what the forecast is for tomorrow. It has been bouncing a little bit – very light and then a little better. I hope we have enough wind to keep going.”
For the singlehanded sailors who competed over last winter in the non-stop round the world race, the Vendee Globe, the Rolex Fastnet Race is a sprint. Among the line-up is 2004-5 Vendee Globe winner Vincent Riou sailing on his old boat, now Arnaud Boissieres’ Akena Verandas, while 2005-6 Volvo Ocean Race winning skipper Mike Sanderson is reunited with his IMOCA 60, Pindar. Favourite is expected to be Seb Josse on board BT IMOCA 60, who won this class in the race two handed with Riou in 2007.
Other household names competing in this class are Dee Caffari, the first woman to sail around the world singlehanded non-stop in both directions, sailing Aviva, and Sam Davies, who was fourth home as well as being first British skipper and first woman in the last Vendee Globe.
” The Rolex Fastnet Race is one of the most respected races in the world, ” says Davies, who has swapped her Vendee Globe steed Roxy for the more powerful Artemis Ocean Racing. ” It comes in a list of great races that I am proud to have taken part in along with the Vendee Globe, the Rolex Sydney Hobart and the Figaro. I remember when I was really young never imagining I’d even sail across the Channel and the Fastnet Race was something I was overawed by. ”
Similar to the IMOCA 60s, but smaller, are the Class 40s. The 19 strong line-up includes Portimao Global Ocean Race winner, German Boris Hermann on his new Beluga Racer. But the favourite is certainly Italian Velux 5 Oceans winner, Giovanni Soldini and his Telecom Italia, who this year won both legs of the class’ Les Sables-Horta-Les Sables two-handed race. Soldini is sailing the Rolex Fastnet Race four up with Italian America’s Cup sailors Pietro d’Ali and Corrado Rossignoli.
“The Rolex Fastnet Race is a very historical race for us,” says Soldini. “I heard about this race when I was a little boy. It is a difficult and tactical race – all the problems with the tide and quite often there can be a low pressure and a front during the course.” He adds that he is not looking forward to the light conditions forecast as his boat, Telecom Italia prefers stronger breeze. “The weather conditions are changing every day. Some days they tell you it will be 10-12 knots – that is okay. Other days it tell you it is 4 knots – that is not okay!”
Beautiful Red Sunset At Fastnet Rock (Photo Courtesy of fastnet.net.org)
While the high profile international grand prix race boats grab the headlines, the bulk of the fleet remains the smaller handicap classes and with the race sailed under the RORC’s IRC rating system, any of these is in with a chance. Among them is the 2005 winner, and one of the smallest boats in the fleet, Jean-Yves Chateau’s Nicholson 33, Iromiguy as well as the new Tonnerre de Breskens of 2001 winner Piet Vroon.
1979 remembered
This year’s race marks the 30th anniversary of the disastrous 1979 race when 15 competitors lost their lives in mountainous seas as the fleet floundered in storm-force winds. The chances of a repeat of this incident have been greatly reduced over the intervening years. For example, today all 302 boats are fitted with EPIRBs, GPS and tracking units so that the organisers know exactly where they are at any moment in time.
Commodore of the RORC, Andrew McIrvine comments on how the safety aspects of the Rolex Fastnet Race have improved: “At the least half the crew and the skipper have had to do the qualifying miles. They have to do a sea survival course and a first aid course. They have got into a liferaft and turn it upside down and turn it the right way up again, so they know how things work. But probably the most important thing that people really didn’t understand [in 1979] -they thought it was safer to climb into the liferaft rather than stay on their boat even though it had a broken mast or it had rolled over a few times. A liferaft is only something you step up into when you absolutely know your boat is wrecked and is going to sink.
“We know so much about the weather. In 1979 the weather came completely out of the blue. Today we have very accurate weather forecasting and that was why we were able to make the changes two years ago and say wait 24 hours. And of course all the way around you can be picking up the weather forecast on your iPhone. Navigation is much safer today. GPS wasn’t there [in 1979]. Back then we were using RDF and you plotted a big triangle on the chart.”
In addition this year the forecast is looking relatively benign. According to meteorologist Chris Tibbs the most wind competitors are likely to see in this year’s race is 20 knots.
“The main feature is the ridge of high pressure up through the central Channel,” says Tibbs. “Also we have a small area of low pressure approaching western Ireland tomorrow afternoon. The start will therefore be in a light northerly gradient wind, so hopefully we’ll get a light sea breeze to get the boats away.” Tibbs says that the boats getting down Channel will coincide with the depression moving across Ireland swinging the wind into the southwest bringing 15-20 knots on Monday lunchtime. “There will be a small cold front on Monday afternoon and then it is going to be a light to moderate wind beat from Lands End across to the rock.” Past the Rock the high pressure reasserts itself over the race course to provide a light northwesterly to get the boats back to Plymouth. “For any slow boats, there is another low pressure expected on Thursday or Friday swinging the wind round to the southwest to bring the last boats home.”
The warning signal for the first start on the Royal Yacht Squadron line, off Cowes, Isle of Wight, will be at 1150 BST with the Open 60s leading out of the Solent followed by the small IRC classes, the Class 40 start at 1340 BST, the biggest boats at 1400 and finally the multihulls.
Virtual Fastnet
Following on from the success of the games accompanying other major offshore races, so the RORC this year for the first time have introduced the ‘Virtual Fastnet Race’ game. In this, competitors from around the world can take part in their own on-line race in a standard 40 footer starting from the south side of the Isle of Wight (to avoid congestion at the Needles). With around 500,000 people having already played the round the world race games, the RORC are confident of achieving high participation for their race. As of Thursday, already 11,000 virtual competitors had signed up.
