CHERBOURG-EN-CONTENTIN, 28 July 2025: As dawn was showing its first rays this morning off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, so the sleek light blue triple-hulled form of the Ultim trimaran SVR Lazartigue sped across the finish line of the 51st Rolex Fastnet Race to collect overall line honours at 04:38:04 BST. Given this year’s relatively light winds, her time of 1 day 17 hours 18 minutes 4 seconds was well outside the 1 day 8 hours 38 minutes 27 seconds record time she set in 2023’s gale-force conditions.
Skipper Tom Laperche commented: “The race was different, more strategic and tactical. The windiest part was 20 knots, whereas last year it was 35. Versus Banque Populaire, early on we made a good decision to go close into the English coast and managed to cross them coming back on starboard. We got in front. It was difficult returning from Fastnet to Scilly, because the wind was stronger behind, so they reduced their deficit. Since yesterday afternoon we knew that it will be tactical between the gybes when they have a good speed.”
Although not racing in the same class, the two MOD70s led the Ultims on the water until Start Point. “The MODs are very good boats,” continued Laperche. “They are light and easier for manoeuvres so they managed to stay in front of us. If we are not foiling they can have the same speed.”
The run and then broad reach back from the Fastnet Rock enabled the Ultims to reach blistering pace, with a top speed of around 43 knots.
SVR Lazartigue’s crew of six included round the world record holder and race winner Franck Cammas and triple America’s Cup winner and 49er Olympic gold medallist Peter Burling, fresh from his Portmouth SailGP victory: “It’s amazing how you can blast along on a reach at 40 knots without doing too much or on autopilot. It’s pretty cool to see how much these boats have evolved.”
Banque Populaire followed in second at 05:23:52 with an elapsed time of 1 day 18 hours 3 minutes 52 seconds, followed by Actual Ultim 4 and Sodebo Ultim 3.
Since yesterday the first trickle of boats round the Fastnet Rock has turned into a steady stream.
In front of the MOCRA fleet Erik Maris’ MOD 70 Zoulou rounded at 19:05:54 yesterday evening, 48 minutes ahead of her sistership, Jason Carroll’s Argo. Since then the two trimarans have blasted back with Argo leaving the TSS south of the Scilly Isles to starboard while further south Zoulou left it to port. Mid-morning in the moderate northwesterly breeze Argo was still trying to close on her rival as the two raced east, closing on Start Point.
Directly astern the cream has been rising to the top among the nine Ocean Fifty trimarans. Matthieu Perraut/Jean-Baptiste Gellée on Inter Invest were first around the Fastnet Rock at 19:58:17 yesterday followed 15 minutes later by Tanguy le Turquais/Erwan Le Draoulec on Lazare and then Koesio, sailed by Erwan le Roux/Audrey Ogereau.
Having given the Scilly Isles TSSes a wide berth, this morning the Ocean Fiftys were closing on the Cornish coast with Inter Invest having just passed the Lizard and Koesio up to second and Thibault Vauchel-Camus/Damien Seguin’s Solidaires en Peloton third.
In the tight battle at the front of the IRC monohull fleet, Seng Huang Lee’s SHK Scallywag rounded the Fastnet Rock last night at 23:00:51 in a time of 1 day 11 hours 10 minutes 51 seconds, just 6 minutes 17 seconds ahead of Remon Vos’ Black Jack 100 and just under another three minutes ahead of Joost Schuijff’s Leopard 3. In the light to moderate conditions this was a fine performance given that in the stormy 2023 race Bryon Ehrhart’s Juan K 88 Lucky had taken 1 day 7 hours 7 minutes 34 seconds to reach the Rock.
Mid-morning the leaders had turned their bows east and were about to pass between the Scilly Islands and the TSS to the south of them, with Black Jack 100 10 miles ahead of SHK Scallywag and another 16 ahead of Leopard 3.
From the chart table on SHK Scallywag navigator Will Oxley reported: “We’ve a bit on here with lack of sleep, rain and a faster yacht ahead of us. Black Jack is doing well with a nice A2. We will be looking for a passing lane in the next 200nm… VMG sailing, rain and tidal gates do offer some opportunities. Fingers and toes crossed.”
However Christian Zugel’s VO70 Tschüss 2 was still resolutely leading IRC SZ on corrected time from Leopard 3 with Roy P Disney’s Pyewacket 70 third. She had also taken the lead in IRC Overall from the Australian-flagged Swan 53 Bedouin, tentatively on track to repeat her overall Rolex Fastnet Race victory (as Wizard in 2019).
From on board Pyewacket 70 navigator Peter Isler reported: “Although the race track has featured a lot more upwind sailing than we are accustomed to we’ve had a close battle with Tschüss 2 for the entire race. As in this year’s Caribbean 600 she is proving to be well sailed and fast when close reaching and upwind. We are hoping to find our edge on the downwind portion of the race track – as our turbo charged configuration (taller mast, longer sprit and deeper foils) comes with a significant handicap cost.”
Among the IMOCAs it was all about choosing the best moment to tack coming into the Rock. Elodie Bonafous’ Association Petits Princes-Queguiner and Jérémie Beyou’s Charal held a little later than Yoann Richomme’s Paprec Arkea and Sam Davies’ Initiatives Coeur to lead into the Rock at around 02:30 this morning. Since then they have taken a long gybe south with Association Petits Princes-Queguiner further south, last to tack back to the east.
This morning the Class40s are still upwind about 80% of the way to the Rock having passed to the west side of the Land’s End TSS and generally erring to the west of the rhumb line. Leading this morning is Axel Trehin and Corentin Douguet’s Faites un Don sur SNSM.org who have painstakingly eked out a three-mile lead over William Mathelin-Moreaux’s Les Invincibles.
In IRC Zero fortune has been favouring the large as David Griffith’s JV60 Whisper has continued to maintain a vice-like grip on the lead. The Aussie maxi rounded the Rock at 05:30:06 this morning with Antoine Magre’s Palanad 4 in second but almost an hour behind. Jens Kellinghusen’s Ker 56 Varuna 6 was third, a further 44 minutes back.
Magre reported from his new Sam Manuard-designed Mach 50 (only launched in France a week ago): “We managed to hold on to the fleet of 81 boats as much as we could. Now it’s about catching up on them and getting ready to go. Our goal was to try and stick with them in the lighter wind as much as we could. Now it’s about making up the ground as we can in the boat’s best conditions. We could do with an extra few knots of wind but at the moment we’re averaging 13-14 knots. It is a good gybing game to get down to the Scillies. It’s looking like it will be relatively fast for the final sections.”
Among the Admiral’s Cup fleet, as expected, Black Pearl was first on the water to the Fastnet Rock at 06:54:11 but under corrected time Karl Kwok’s Beau Geste in the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club was leading Admiral’s Cup 1 by 3 minutes 14 seconds from Peter Harrison’s Jolt 3 in the Yacht Club de Monaco team, with Gordon Ketelbey’s Zen from the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia a further 27 minutes astern. Admiral’s Cup 2 were closing on the Rock late morning with the Pierre Casiraghi-skippered Jolt 6 first on the water. However the JPK 1180s were still holding the corrected time podium with the Michele Ivaldi-skippered Django JPK (representing the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda) ahead of Per Roman’s Garm (racing on their own in the RORC Red team after Ino Noir’s retirement yesterday) and Tom Kneen’s Sunrise with the Royal Irish YC.
Pierre Casiraghi reported: “We had a pretty brutal night. The wind picked up and we had a lot of waves. But all is good on board. We are starting to feel tired but this race has a reputation for a good reason. We are now in the Celtic Sea and we’re going to pass the Fastnet Rock around noon. This race tests the crew and boat and tires everyone, but that’s why we are here. We are all excited to soon be going downwind finally after going upwind since the beginning of the race.”
In IRC One Lorenz Pinck’s Moana was leading on the water and looked set to round the Rock early in the afternoon. However Australian Linda Goddard’s Swan 53 Bedouin was still holding a 3.5 hour lead on corrected time over Ed Bell’s JPK 1180 Dawn Treader (although she carries a 120 minute penalty for being OCS at the start). The heavyweight Swan must be liking the upwind conditions for she continues to lie second in IRC Overall with Leopard 3 third. Also making an unexpected appearance on the IRC One podium is the heavyweight 59ft classic yacht Hound, being campaigned by American owner Dan Litchfield, which is third just ahead of past winner Géry Trentesaux’s Sydney GTS 43 Long Courrier.
Behind, the leaders in IRC Two were halfway across the Celtic Sea, again directly on the wind. Interestingly yesterday afternoon/evening some passed to the east of the Land’s End TSS, led by Lawrence Herbert’s J/133 Corazon while another larger group passed between the TSS and the Scilly Isles, led by Victoria Cox and Peter Dunlop on the J/122 Mojito. A third group took the most extreme route west of the Scilly Isles, led by Herve Chataigner on the new JPK 1050 Pilou, only tacking north at 0630 BST today. The corrected time podium is an international mix of J/122s with Chris and Patanne Power Smith’s Aurelia from Ireland leading Frans Van Cappelle’s Moana from the Netherlands and RORC Vice Commodore Derek Shakespeare’s Bulldog.
In IRC Three no one chose the east passage up the Land’s End TSS last night. Instead Philippe Girardin’s J/120 Hey Jude led the class on the water up to the west of the TSS close to the Scilly Isles, while Denis Murphy on the Grand Soleil 40 Nieulargo chose a similarly extreme westerly option to Pilou. Late morning and the leaders were halfway to the Rock, all west of the rhumb line. On corrected time Rob Craigie and RORC Commodore Deb Fish on the Sun Fast 3600 Bellino were leading the class (and IRC Two-Handed) from the Army on sistership Fujitsu British Soldier, with Simon Bamford and Ollie Grogono on the Sun Fast 3300 Kestrel third (and second in IRC Two-Handed – with the defending champions on Léon fifth).
Remarkably in IRC Four, the majority have chosen to take the ‘extreme west’ option, leaving the Scilly Isles to starboard. As they fan out to begin their Celtic Sea crossing the Royal Engineer YC’s J/109 Trojan leads the easterly group and Jean-Francois Nouel’s Sun Fast 3200 Hakuna Matata ahead to the west. However, under IRC it was Volvo Ocean Race/America’s Cup crewman Simeon Tienpont’s J/35 Fever that led from Fanch Le Guern and Pierrick Penven’s Sun Fast 3200 Zephyrin and Frédéric Hernot’s X-362 Xception 2 in third.
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ENDS/…. James Boyd/RORC
@RoyalOceanRacingClub
#RORCRacing
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