{"id":159268,"date":"2025-07-25T13:41:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T12:41:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=159268"},"modified":"2025-07-25T13:44:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T12:44:25","slug":"rolex-fastnet-race-set-to-be-biggest-offshore-race-ever-heres-who-to-watch-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/all-latest-posts\/rolex-fastnet-race-set-to-be-biggest-offshore-race-ever-heres-who-to-watch-for-159268","title":{"rendered":"Rolex Fastnet Race set to be biggest offshore race ever – here\u2019s who to watch for in the incredible fleet"},"content":"The Rolex Fastnet Race<\/a> looks set to celebrate its 100th birthday (24 years sponsored by Rolex) with a record fleet, making this year\u2019s running the biggest offshore race ever.\r\n\r\nThe 51st edition of the famous race starts from Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, UK, this Saturday, 26th Juy, with a 695-mile course to Cherbourg, France, via the eponymous Fastnet Rock off Ireland.\r\n\r\nThe entry list currently stands at 451 yachts, which would smash the previous record entry of 430 (in the 50th edition, in 2023) and also make it the biggest ever yacht race for sheer number of competitors. Over 3,500 sailors will take part, aged from 14-81 years!\r\n\r\nThe fleet is not only massive, but diverse, and spectacular. It includes three 100-footers: Black Jack<\/em><\/a>, SHK Scallywag<\/em> and Leopard<\/em> down to the 27ft (8.5m) Puffin<\/em>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_159272\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" SHK Scallywag returns for the 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race, one of three 100-footers. Photo Kurt Arrigo\/Rolex[\/caption]\r\n

Flying Multihulls<\/h2>\r\nFirst to start on Saturday will be the multihulls at 1120, which includes four Ultime giant trimarans. Manoeuvring these high speed behemoths in a crowded Solent is particularly challenging, and four giant multis will make for a truly impressive sight. \u2028\u2028The fleet includes current course record holder SVR-Lazartigue<\/em><\/a>, who two years ago was first to finish in Cherbourg in just 1 day 8 hours 38 minutes 27 seconds. Along with co-skippers Franck Cammas and Tom Laperche, the fighter-jet style foiling trimaran welcomes America\u2019s Cup<\/a> winning helmsman Pete Burling onboard.\r\n\r\nBurling has been on board<\/a> training in the Ultime, and commented: \"It's an amazing boat \u2014 huge, powerful, yet very stable. It's also incredible to see how much these boats have evolved since the last time I sailed an Ultima.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_159273\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" The four-strong Ultime fleet will make for a spectacular sight on the Cowes startline. Photo: Carlo Borlenghi\/Rolex[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAlso on the Ultime startline will be Actual Ultim 4<\/em>, which is the former Maxi Edmond de Rothschild\/Gitana 18<\/a> - another former Fastnet winner and record-setter; now skippered by Anthony Marchand and joined for the Fastnet by British ocean racer Alan Roberts.\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s also Thomas Coville\u2019s<\/a> Sodebo<\/em><\/a>; and Armel le Cleac\u2019h and his team on Maxi Banque Populaire XI<\/em><\/a>, whose crew includes Briton Sam Goodchild.\r\n\r\nThe Ultimes aren\u2019t the only fast multihulls in the fleet - there are 20 MOCRA entries, including two MOD70s, Jason Carroll\u2019s Argo<\/em> and Erik Maris\u2019 Zoulou<\/em>, with an all-star crew list including Loick Peyron (Zoulou) and Brian Thompson (Argo). There are also nine Ocean Fifty trimarans - the class Sam Goodchild once described to me as \u201carguably one of the most dangerous and sketchy boats to sail offshore!\u201d.\r\n

Foiling IMOCAs<\/h2>\r\nNine IMOCAs<\/a> will line up on their own start , many teams using it as a pipe-opener before The Ocean Race Europe, which starts in August. Likely favourites include Vend\u00e9e Globe runner-up Yoann Richomme with Paprec Ark\u00e9a<\/em><\/a>. Richomme was also runner-up in the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race - four minutes behind winner Charlie Dalin\u2019s Macif<\/em> - and will be looking to go one better this year.\r\n\r\nAnother hotly fancied IMOCA is the brand new Association Petits Princes-Queguiner<\/em>, which only launched in February and finished 2nd in its debut race, June\u2019s Course des Caps race around Britain.\r\n\r\nDesigned by foiling genius Guillaume Verdier the new IMOCA is an updated sistership to the Vend\u00e9e Globe winner Macif<\/em><\/a>, and skippered by Elodie Bonafous, a top Solitaire du Figaro racer. Her crew includes ocean racing legends Pascal Bidegorry and Yann Eli\u00e8s.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_159274\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Nine IMOCAs start the 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race, including Sam Davies on Intiatives Couer. Photo Rick Tomlinson\/RORC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe star-studded IMOCA fleet also includes J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Beyou with his Manuard-designed Charal 2<\/em>, Britain\u2019s Sam Davies, racing with offshore protege Violette Dorange on Initiatives-Coeur 4<\/em>, and Justine Mettraux with SNEF Teamwork<\/em>.\r\n\r\nRegular Yachting World contributor and British Vend\u00e9e Globe entrant Pip Hare<\/a> will be racing with Canada Ocean Racing \u2013 Be Water Positive<\/a>.<\/em> The former Ocean Race winning and 3rd-placed Vend\u00e9e finishing boat (S\u00e9bastien Simon\u2019s Groupe Dubreuil<\/em>) is now owned by Canadian Scott Shawyer<\/a>, who is building up to a 2028 Vend\u00e9e Globe campaign.\r\n

Admirals\u2019 Cup firepower<\/h2>\r\nThe big boat fleet has been bolstered by the 29 boats competing in the Admiral\u2019s Cup fleet<\/a>.\r\n\r\nEach Admiral\u2019s Cup team has had to balance optimisation between the inshore race series and triple-points Rolex Fastnet Race offshore. So it\u2019ll be fascinating to see if the lighter built inshore designs or more experienced offshore race teams come to the fore.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_159275\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" R\u00e1n is one of the Grand Prix fleet joining the 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race as part of the RORC Admiral\u2019s Cup. Photo: James Tomlinson[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFor example, the lead boat in the big boat class is currently the brand new WallyRocket 51<\/a>, Whereas the Royal Irish YC team is currently lying 12th overall, but their team is made up of Sunrise IV<\/em>, a JPK 1180, and the Cookson 50 Privateer<\/em><\/a> \u2013 both hugely experienced and successful offshore teams that have previously won in the Rolex Fastnet Race. With triple points weighted to the Fastnet, there could yet be a reshuffle in the Admiral\u2019s Cup.\r\n

Record Fastnet fleet<\/h2>\r\nBut the huge fleet size has been swelled by large entries across the monohull classes - with over 380 IRC entries, on top of 24 Class 40s.\r\n\r\nThere will be over 45 of the hugely successful JPK line, dozens of J-Boats, 16 SunFast 3600s and the same of 3200s, and 16 Swans of all vintages.\r\n\r\nAn incredible 81 teams have entered the 695-mile marathon as double-handed crews.\r\n\r\nAnd then there are plenty of iconic boats for true yacht racing aficionados to swoon over. They include the famous maxi Kialoa II<\/em><\/a>, 1961 line honours winner Stormvogel<\/em><\/a>, and the Nielsen-designed Hound<\/em><\/a>, built in 1970 (watch our course preview from Hound\u2019s<\/em> navigator Conrad Humphreys).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_159276\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" The stunning 1970-built Hound will be racing hard in the Fastnet, having just completed the Transatlantic race.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nCheck out our full Rolex Fastnet Race coverage on Yachtingworld.com<\/a>,\u00a0social<\/a>\u00a0channels and\u00a0YouTube<\/a> as we follow the Fastnet fleet to Cherbourg.\r\n\r\n ","excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Rolex Fastnet Race looks set to celebrate its 100th birthday (24 years sponsored by Rolex) with a record fleet, making this year\u2019s running the biggest offshore race ever. The 51st edition of the famous race starts from Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, UK, this Saturday, 26th Juy, with a 695-mile course to Cherbourg, France, via the eponymous Fastnet Rock off Ireland. The entry list currently stands at 451 yachts, which would smash the previous record entry of 430 (in the 50th edition, in 2023) and also make it the biggest ever yacht race for sheer number of competitors. Over 3,500 sailors will take part, aged from 14-81 years! The fleet is not only massive, but diverse, and spectacular. It includes three 100-footers: Black Jack, SHK Scallywag and Leopard down to the 27ft (8.5m) Puffin. Flying Multihulls First to start on Saturday will be the multihulls at 1120, which includes four Ultime giant trimarans. Manoeuvring these high speed behemoths in a crowded Solent is particularly challenging, and four giant multis will make for a truly impressive sight. \u2028\u2028The fleet includes current course record holder SVR-Lazartigue, who two years ago was first to finish in Cherbourg in just 1 day 8 hours 38 minutes 27 seconds. Along with co-skippers Franck Cammas and Tom Laperche, the fighter-jet style foiling trimaran welcomes America\u2019s Cup winning helmsman Pete Burling onboard. Burling has been on board training in the Ultime, and commented: “It’s an amazing boat \u2014 huge, powerful, yet very stable. It’s also incredible to see how much these boats have evolved since the last time I sailed an Ultima.\u201d Also on the Ultime startline will be Actual Ultim 4, which is the former Maxi Edmond de Rothschild\/Gitana 18 – another former Fastnet winner and record-setter; now skippered by Anthony Marchand and joined for the Fastnet by British ocean racer Alan Roberts. There\u2019s also Thomas Coville\u2019s Sodebo; and Armel le Cleac\u2019h and his team on Maxi Banque Populaire XI, whose crew includes Briton Sam Goodchild. The Ultimes aren\u2019t the only fast multihulls in the fleet – there are 20 MOCRA entries, including two MOD70s, Jason Carroll\u2019s Argo and Erik Maris\u2019 Zoulou, with an all-star crew list including Loick Peyron (Zoulou) and Brian Thompson (Argo). There are also nine Ocean Fifty trimarans – the class Sam Goodchild once described to me as \u201carguably one of the most dangerous and sketchy boats to sail offshore!\u201d. Foiling IMOCAs Nine IMOCAs will line up on their own start , many teams using it as a pipe-opener before The Ocean Race Europe, which starts in August. Likely favourites include Vend\u00e9e Globe runner-up Yoann Richomme with Paprec Ark\u00e9a. Richomme was also runner-up in the 2023 Rolex Fastnet Race – four minutes behind winner Charlie Dalin\u2019s Macif – and will be looking to go one better this year. Another hotly fancied IMOCA is the brand new Association Petits Princes-Queguiner, which only launched in February and finished 2nd in its debut race, June\u2019s Course des Caps race around Britain. Designed by …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1571,"featured_media":159272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1160,710],"tags":[1397,3010,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159268"}],"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=159268"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159278,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159268\/revisions\/159278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159268"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=159268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}