Three days out from the start Mother Nature seems to be smiling on the smaller or mid-fleet boats, with start day set to be slow.

Jan Koudelka, one of the crew onboard Gun Runner and competing in his first ever ocean race, was blown away by the experience of competing.

Twenty-two Class40s are competing, ranging from state of the art boats, to the 2007-vintage Rogers design that Tanguy de Lamotte steered to Class40 victory in the 2009 and 2011 Fastnet Races.

The Queensland TP52 Envy Scooters has been confirmed as the overall winner of the 384nm race.

For safety reasons and obviously the impossibility to reach the North West Passage on time, the ANT ARCTIC LAB project is unfortunately postponed to next year.

Barry Cuneo’s TP52 Envy Scooters is in the box seat as boats still at sea lose their chance of a handicap win.

It is the biggest contingent from the state since the 50th edition of the bluewater classic in 1995.

Shifting southerly winds overnight kept crews busy.

The inaugural race will start on Sydney Harbour and will arrive in Auckland to help celebrate RNZYS’s 150th birthday.

Wild Oats X led the fleet out of the Harbour with other 60 plus footers hot on her heals, followed by a pack of TP52s.

The forecast is for WSW winds below 10 knots for the start then mostly south to south-west 10 to 15 knots, gradually turning east to south-east around 10 knots later on Sunday and during Monday.

Nine yachts retired from this year's race: seven returned to the mainland, one continued to Hawaii, and one sank at sea.

For the previous four editions of the Rolex Fastnet Race, the elation of overall victory has been enjoyed by a team racing a yacht of less than 40ft.

British skipper Alex Thomson yesterday teased us with the first photo from the cuddy of the new boat, in his own unique style...

The cruising division and two-handed division will start on Thursday 28th May 2020 with the fully-crewed teams kicking off on Saturday 30th May.