Slow But Steady Progress All Round Record Chances Slip

On the third day of the Rolex Fastnet Race the 244 boats remaining in the race are scattered right across the Celtic Sea from Lands End around the Fastnet Rock all the way to within thirty miles of the finish line in Plymouth.

At 14:00 on Tueday 20 boats had rounded the mythical Fastnet Rock that sits off the South West coast of Ireland, the remainder of the fleet still with that sense of anticipation about the most important turn mark in offshore sailing.

Open 60 Class

Sebastian Josse has continued to make huge gains on the rest of the Open 60 fleet and at noon on Tuesday had a 64 mile lead over second placed Mike Golding on Ecover. This lead, already well established yesterday, is proof of how difficult it has been for boats that have dropped off the pace a bit to get back into contention. The patchy wind has made it extremely easy to lose touch and watch boats nearby sail away into the distance, but VMI¹s lead represents 10% of the course distance and must be seen as an unassailable lead for the four boats following behind.

To follow the Open 60 Class via the IMOCA¹s tracking system:

Class Super Zero

Having trailed Neville Crichton¹s Alfa Romeo around the Fastnet Rock by more than an hour last night, Robert Mc Neil¹s Zephyrus V had pulled back to within 400 metres by the time the pair had reached the Lizard, just 42 miles from the finish in Plymouth. This rocky headland, which tends to accelerate the tide locally at this the last corner on the Rolex Fastnet Race course, can cause a virtual barrier for the leader if the tide is foul and the winds light. This may have given Zephyrus V the opportunity it needed to get back in touch with the leader.

Last reports of these two contenders for line honours in the 2003 Rolex Fastnet Race had them sailing in extremely light winds close to the coast off Falmouth. They were expected to finish sometime before sunset on Tuesday, well outside the race record time.

Class Zero

Consolidating on their breakaway tactics around Portland Bill at the beginning of the race, Chris Bull¹s J-145 Jazz followed Piet Vroon¹s Tonnerre around the Fastnet Rock just 60 minutes later this morning, the smaller boat correcting out to lead by more than two hours at this point. At 14:00 only four boats had actually rounded the Fastnet Rock, the light and changeable conditions making progress slow for those not completely in tune with the weather developments.

Classes One, Two and Three

At midday on Tuesday none of the boats in either of these three classes had arrived at the Fastnet Rock and are all still enjoying the light conditions on the leg between Lands End and the Fastnet Rock.

Multihull Class

Tony Bullimore¹s Team Pimsic rounded the Fastnet Rock at 11:25 this morning almost 18 hours after the monohull fleet leader Alfa Romeo. Due to a broken daggerboard the crew of the Robin Herbert¹s Gleam retired after passing the Lizard yesterday, a terrible disappointment for this crew that were sure to win their class.

The weather forecast outlines a developing high pressure zone that will grow to completely occupy the Western Approaches, something that will keep the speed of the entire fleet low, meaning that the bulk of the fleet is not likely to finish before Thursday.

Full position reports are available on the RORC website at the address below.