{"id":158809,"date":"2025-07-04T06:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T05:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=158809"},"modified":"2025-07-25T12:14:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T11:14:14","slug":"are-you-ready-for-the-fastnet-your-guide-to-fastnet-race-prep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/fastnet-race\/are-you-ready-for-the-fastnet-your-guide-to-fastnet-race-prep-158809","title":{"rendered":"Are you ready for the Fastnet? Your guide to Rolex Fastnet Race prep"},"content":"The Fastnet Race i<\/a>n 2025 will be the a special 100th anniversary of the event and is set to be the largest offshore yacht race in the world, with over 450 entries<\/a>.\r\n\r\nThe Rolex Fastnet Race is one of the most famous ocean yacht races in the world, and completing it widely regarded as one of sailing\u2019s crowning achievements.\r\n\r\nBegun as a challenge between a handful of competing yachts in 1925, the Fastnet Race is run every two years by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC).\r\n\r\nThe original 605-nautical mile course traditionally ran from Ryde on the Isle of Wight, east out of the Solent, before heading west to the Fastnet Rock lighthouse off the south-west corner of Ireland and returning to finish off Plymouth.\r\n\r\nApart from moving the start to Cowes and a west-bound exit from the Solent for the second running of the Fastnet, the race course remained largely unchanged until 2021 when the finish line moved to Cherbourg, France instead of Plymouth. This new course<\/a> added a further 90 miles to the race - much of it a tricky tidal section - making it an even bigger challenge.\r\n\r\nThe race is well known as a challenge just to complete and the 1979 Fastnet Race disaster<\/a> remains at the forefront of the minds of many of those who compete.\u00a0The Fastnet disaster led to huge improvements in yacht and safety gear design, and the race now has stringent entry requirements and fulsome preparation<\/a> guidelines.\r\n\r\n[jwplayer key=\"SIloOcfw\"]\r\n

When is the Fastnet Race 2025?<\/h2>\r\nThe 100th anniversary edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race starts on Saturday 26 July 2025 with the first start at 1120 BST.\r\n\r\nHer Royal Highness The Princess Royal will officially start the race for the 1200 gun. The Red Arrows will also flypast at noon.\r\n\r\nSteve Cole Race Director reminded everyone in the competitor's briefing, \"When they do fly over, please make sure at least one person in the boat is looking forward and not up!\"\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n

What time does the Fastnet Race 2025 start?<\/h2>\r\nFor those wishing to follow the action from the start, there will be a livestream shown on the various RORC channels.\r\n\r\nThe live broadcast will begin at 1100, hosted by presenter Holly Hamilton with commentators Dee Caffari<\/a>, Hannah Diamond<\/a>, Nikki Henderson<\/a> and Lisa McDonald joining the RORC's Louay Habib, Andy Rice, James Boyd.\r\n\r\nLive coverage of the start begins at 1100 with the first class start following 20 minutes later.\r\n\r\nThe first start will be for the multihull fleet (including the four giant Ultimes)<\/a> and is followed by the IMOCA 60s<\/a> starting just 10 minutes later.\r\n\r\nStart sequence continues with the IRC Zero and Super Zero heading off at 1150, the Admiral's Cup fleet at 1200, and so on in decreasing yacht size until the IRC 4 class start at 1320 BST.\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nArticle continues below...<\/em>\r\n\r\n[collection]\r\n

Watch the Rolex Fastnet Race start<\/h2>\r\nRace website: https:\/\/www.rolexfastnetrace.com\/en<\/a>\r\nRORC YouTube: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/rorcracing<\/a>\r\nRORC Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/RoyalOceanRacingClub<\/a>\r\n

Where to watch the Fastnet Race 2025<\/h2>\r\nThe best vantage points of the start on the Isle of Wight will be along Cowes Green and Egypt Esplanade. As the fleet funnels west out of the Solent there will be lots of chances to see the yachts from Yarmouth as well.\r\n\r\nFrom the mainland you can view the yachts on their outbound leg; the best places to watch are from Hurst Castle, Anvil Point, St Alban\u2019s Head and Portland Bill.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_133492\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"600\"]\"\" Windy start to the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race. Photo: Martin Allen\/pwpictures.com[\/caption]\r\n

Track the Rolex Fastnet Race fleet<\/h2>\r\nAll yachts competing in the Fastnet Race are fitted with a YB Tracker so you can follow an individual boat, a class or the whole fleet.\r\n\r\nThe newly updated race tracker is linked to via the official race site https:\/\/www.rolexfastnetrace.com<\/a>\u00a0or direct at https:\/\/cf.yb.tl\/fastnet2023<\/a>\r\n\r\nThe tracker lets you watch the full fleet, separate classes or follow individual yachts.\r\n\r\nYachting World<\/em> will also bring you all the latest news and views in the build up to the race and will be reporting throughout at our dedicated Fastnet Race homepage<\/a>. We will also have several of the team on the ground and will be reporting both online and via video on our Yachting World Youtube channel<\/a> and on Facebook<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.\r\n\r\nA list of competitors can be found at the RORC website<\/a>.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ED7EpHoDGrM\r\n\r\n
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Summer came early this year, with much of northern Europe basking under stable, warm conditions throughout April and May that brought predictably light winds and sunny, dry days. The balmy period finally broke, in typical British fashion, just before the second May Bank Holiday, until another high pressure system firmly established itself across the country for much of June and into July. Significantly, this makes 2025 the third season in a row ahead of the biennial Rolex Fastnet Race when many competitors likely completed early training miles or qualifying races in predominantly light conditions. And while we can\u2019t yet guess what the wind gods will serve up for the Fastnet Race start on July 26, the last two races have seen 30+ knot winds in the first 24 hours. Tough start? The 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race was particularly testing, with one yacht sunk, a man overboard (all crew safely recovered), multiple dismastings and dozens of retirements all before the fleet had even left the Solent. Over the first night in the last race, conditions deteriorated further, with winds gusting to over 40 knots and a sharp sea of over 4m and waves peaking at 7m. Most of the fleet experienced at least one additional battering later on, with multiple fronts sweeping the racecourse. Following the 2023 race, organisers RORC conducted an internal review. Steve Cole, RORC\u2019s racing manager, explains: \u201cSurveys were taken from boats that took part and then retired or suffered damage. RORC also met with HM Coastguard and other agencies to determine any particular issues that arose from the race.\u201d Additionally, RORC held two very informative panel evenings with skippers and navigators from competing yachts across the fleets, sharing their learnings from the 2023 race (we highly recommend watching them at youtube.com\/@RORCRacing). We\u2019ve distilled some takeaways from the review and skippers\u2019 discussions that any boat preparing for a Rolex Fastnet Race \u2013 or any longer offshore \u2013 should consider: Train for the worst The key point that came out of 2023 was to make sure you have trained in all conditions. Cole says: \u201cAlthough the training and mileage qualifications did not change [for 2025], we encourage boats to sail in race conditions for at least 6-8 hours between sunset and sunrise. By race conditions, we mean a watch system operating, and at night. \u201cIn the eventuality of the qualifying races being light wind events, take the boat out in windy conditions and practice reefing, man overboard and emergency drills. Make sure that if the skipper is incapacitated in any way, that everyone else knows where safety gear is kept, and the process for asking for assistance.\u201d His advice was echoed by competitors during the panel discussions. Henry Foster, who skippered the Sun Fast 3600 Fujitsu British Soldier, commented: \u201cThe build up to the Fastnet often lulls us into a false sense of security \u2013 we do too many light races and the Fastnet seems to serve up a kicking in the first 24 hours and we learn the …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1571,"featured_media":158811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[710],"tags":[1397,3010,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158809"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158809"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158860,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158809\/revisions\/158860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158809"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=158809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}