Rolex Fastnet Race : Rambler 100 Loses Keel

Rambler 100. Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi.

by Trish Jenkins

At midnight, Monday 15 August, Eddie Warden Owen, Chief Executive of the Royal Ocean Racing Club received a call from Mick Harvey, Project Manager of George David's Rambler 100 (USA). Harvey spoke about the harrowing incident when the 100' Maxi Rambler 100 capsized in the Celtic Sea during the Rolex Fastnet Race.

The incident happened just after Rambler 100 rounded the Fastnet Rock at 17:25 BST. At the time, Rambler 100 was leading the monohull fleet and vying for monohull line honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race which started on Sunday 14th.

Mick Harvey's account of the incident was charged with emotion. The tough Australian, who now lives in Newport, Rhode Island (USA), is a seasoned veteran, but he was understandably shaken by the incident:

"Soon after rounding the Fastnet Rock, the wind went southwest, right on the nose. We were beating into big seas, launching Rambler off the top of full size waves. I was down below with navigator, Peter Isler when we heard the sickening sound of the keel breaking off. It was instantaneous; there was no time to react. The boat turned turtle, just like a dinghy capsizing. Peter Isler issued a Mayday and we got out of there as quickly as we could."

The EPIRB had been activated and a number of crew climbed over the guardrails and onto the hull as the boat capsized and helped those swimming to safety. The Atlantic swell made it difficult for the crew to get out of the water however, working together, 16 of the crew managed to scale the upturned hull.

Five of the crew were swept away by the waves out of reach of the stricken Maxi and these included Skipper, George David and partner Wendy Touton who were in the water for two and a half hours. This group linked arms, forming a circle. Valencia Coastguard diverted a local fishing boat, Wave Chieftain to assist, which winched the crew on board. Earlier a helicopter had been scrambled from Shannon Airport helicopter, Wendy Touton was airlifted for medical attention due to the effects of hypothermia and the four remaining crew were taken to Baltimore Harbour where they were re-united with the 16 crew rescued by the Baltimore Lifeboat.

"It was a scary moment. One that I will never forget," admitted Mick Harvey. "I can't begin to tell you how relieved I am that all of the crew are safe. The town of Baltimore has given us a wonderful welcome. I can not thank our rescuers and the people of this lovely village enough. Wendy is in Kerry Hospital and doing fine, I am just so relieved that everybody is okay."

Rolex Fastnet Race

Rolex Fastnet Race : Video of Rambler 100 Crew in Ireland after Rescue

Rolex Fastnet Race

Rolex Fastnet Race : Video of the New Race Record Holder, Banque Populaire V, en route

Banque Populaire V
Rolex Fastnet Race

Rolex Fastnet Race : Awesome Images from the Start

Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Carlo Borlenghi


Image copyright Rolex/Daniel Forster.


Image copyright Rolex/Daniel Forster.


Image copyright Rolex/Daniel Forster.


Image copyright Rolex/Daniel Forster.

Rolex Fastnet Race

Rolex Fastnet Race : Record Fleet Bound for the Fastnet Rock

Image copyright Rolex/Daniel Forster.

by Trish Jenkins

The record-sized Rolex Fastnet Race fleet set sail from Cowes in classic conditions – a beat westward up the Solent in a building west-southwesterly and sunshine, but with an ominous looking cloud line over the mainland.

In the end there were 314 starters, the largest fleet ever to start the Rolex Fastnet Race following the previous record of 303 in 1979.

The first start at 1100 BST saw the giant multihulls heading off. Fastest out of the blocks were Gitana 11 (FRA), the 23.5m trimaran skippered by Vendee Globe and Volvo Ocean Race skipper Sebastien Josse and Roland Jourdain’s MOD70 Veolia Environnement (FRA). With round the world yachtswoman Dee Caffari manning her aft grinders, Veolia’s sistership, Steve Ravussin’s Race For Water (SUI), was over the line early and had to restart.

Visible from most parts of the Solent with her 40 meter long hulls and 47 meter tall mast, the world’s fastest offshore boat, the Loick Peyron-skippered Maxi Banque Populaire (FRA) trimaran, thundered across the line and had reached the Needles within an hour, sailing upwind at more than 20 knots. Five hours after starting, Banque Populaire was already approaching Start Point, close to 100 miles down the southwest coast from the start.

Next up were the IMOCA 60 monohulls, and by the Needles, Marc Guillemot - Yann Elies doublehander Safran (FRA), were leading the newer generation boats.

The ebb tide was beginning to kick in by the time the Class 40s started and most chose to hug the island shore in the most favourable current. By the time they reached the Needles, Tanguy de la Motte’s 2009 Rolex Fastnet Race winner, Initiatives-Alex Olivier (FRA), was a nose ahead of the two Kiwi 40s, Roaring Forty 2 (BEL) and Peraspera (ITA). Shortly after passing through Hurst Narrows there was disaster for the Italian entry, Eutourist Serv-System, when she dismasted.

The wind against tide conditions, that were particularly severe at Hurst Narrows at the western entrance to the Solent, would subsequently take their toll on the 43-foot trimaran, Strontium Dog (GBR), that also suffered a dismasting.

The most impressive display were the smaller IRC boats, funnelling their way through Hurst Narrows, and slowly being overhauled by the larger boats that started after. Doing well in IRC 1 was the Ker 46 Tonnerre de Breskens (NED), skippered by veteran sailor Piet Vroon, competing in his 23rd Rolex Fastnet Race.

Prior to leaving Cowes Yacht Haven this morning, Vroon wasn’t keen to make many predictions about how this race would unfold. He offered, “A big boat race? It could be an advantage for the bigger boats as they will make Portland and they could get to the Rock before the big wind comes.

“But I don’t know. We are bigger than a lot of the small ones! If it is going to be in excess of 30 knots to windward, then it will be hard for the small boats.”
Vroon, who won the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2001 said he was expecting to finish sometime on Wednesday morning. “Once we took six days and once we took 68 hours, I believe. So anything in between is good!”

As expected in IRC Zero, the Jim Swartz/Karl Kwok co-skippered Farr 80 Beau Geste (HKG) appeared to be doing well, leading her class through Hurst Narrows ahead of the two silver streaks: Niklas Zennström’s 72 foot Ràn (GBR) with Andres Soriano’s 68-foot Alegre (GBR) hot on her heels.

Forging their way up the fleet was the intriguing match between the three Volvo Open 70s, due to set off on their round-the-world race this autumn. This is the first time these boats have lined up in anger, and while all three were close as they beat through Hurst Narrows, it was Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing (UAE), skippered by double Olympic silver medallist Ian Walker, that was leading former round-the-world race winner Mike Sanderson on Team Sanya (CHN), with Franck Cammas’ Groupama 4 (FRA) bringing up the rear.

There was a hurrah for British sailing fans as the two largest monohulls in the Rolex Fastnet Race fleet thundered up their way up the Solent, with Mike Slade’s 100 foot ICAP Leopard (GBR) ahead of the more highly-rated Rambler 100 (USA) of George David. The reason for this was that ten minutes after the gun, Rambler had split her headsail in two and the crew had to scramble to set a replacement.

Before the giant fleet had left the Solent, there were a number of casualties. In addition to the two dismastings, the First 375 Little Spirit (GBR) suffered damage to her forestay during a collision with the Bavaria 44 Emerald Star (GBR) and was forced to retire, as was IRC 3 Howling Monkey (GBR) holed in a collision with the J/109 Jambo! (GBR). The canting-keeled Prodigy (GBR) also retired, with mainsail damage.

Conditions for the bulk of the fleet tonight should be relatively fast, particularly for the smaller boats, which will benefit from the wind veering north of west, as the boats further up the course are set to remain headed.

The main trophy for overall victory in the Rolex Fastnet is the Fastnet Challenge Cup. In addition, there are more than 30 other trophies that will be awarded at the prize giving on Friday, 19 August at the historic Royal Citadel. The Citadel, home to the 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery, overlooks Plymouth Sound and Sutton Harbour, where the majority of the fleet will berth.

Rolex Fastnet Race

Olympics : Bronze for Burling and Tuke at Pre-Olympics

by Jodie Bakewell-White

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke won the 49er medal race and the Bronze medal at the Weymouth and Portland 2011 International Regatta overnight.

The medal comes for the NZL Sailing Team on the final day of the Olympic test event and rounds out a solid showing from the team which includes four top four finishers in the nine events New Zealand contested.

In all but two of those nine events New Zealand made the top ten gaining valuable medal race experience.

“Peter and Blair have sailed well right through the regatta and it was really nice to see them take the medal race win and then stand on the podium,” says Team Director, and 49er Coach, Jez Fanstone. “It is a great result for them, but in typical fashion they want to do even better.”

“Overall I’m pretty happy with how the team has performed here in Weymouth - it's been about gaining knowledge and experience,” Fanstone continues. “While it’s disappointing in some ways not to convert the fourth place finishes into podium finishes it demonstrates that we are really close, and it will really put the fire in the bellies of those guys.”

“Review of our performance here in Weymouth will come over the next few weeks and we’ll be looking to learn the lessons on where we can improve further.”

Burling and Tuke secured the podium finish in style, crossing the finish line seven seconds ahead of their nearest rival in the final pressure test medal race sailed in 10-11 knot winds.

The kiwis are the youngest combined pair among the fleet including representatives from the top 24 nations in the world in the men’s Olympic double-handed skiff, with New Zealand’s helm, Burling, the second youngest sailor in the fleet.

Burling and Tuke, who are coached by Jez Fanstone, have benefitted from an alliance with the Australian’s with whom they trained and competed against earlier this year for Sail Sydney and Sail Melbourne Regattas. Another highlight this season was a bronze medal at the ISAF Sailing World Cup Regatta in the Netherlands in May.

The Bronze medal is a terrific achievement for the young pair who got together following the 2008 Olympic cycle in which Burling represented New Zealand in Qingdao, China in the Men’s 470 class sailing with Carl Evans. Tuke’s talent was honed in the Splash class with a Splash and a 29er world title among other achievements in his CV.

The battle for gold was an epic one going the way of Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen of Australia who had to finish two places ahead of the Spaniards, who have two Olympic medals in their drawer, in the last race. After 16 races the two top placed boats were on equal points the gold awarded to the Aussies as they were the better finisher in the medal race.

The Star class also concluded the regatta overnight and New Zealand’s Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk finished sixth overall with some familiar big names ahead of them. The kiwis placed fifth in last night’s medal race. Brazil’s Robert Scheldt and Bruno Prado sailed away with Star class gold convincingly winning with a 20 point margin.

Dan Slater finished seventh overall in the Finn class improving his standing by one with a solid medal race where he crossed the line second. Great Britain’s Ben Ainslie took out the gold with a massive 31 point margin.

What’s next?

In a few short months the world of Olympic class sailing will descend upon Perth, Western Australia for the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships on from 3 – 18 December 2011.

In Perth all ten Olympic class sailing events will contest their 2011 World Championship titles – at a combined event which happens only once every four years in the pre-Olympic year.

Unlike this week’s regatta in Weymouth, the December event isn’t restricted to one entry per nation so a full NZL Sailing Team contingent and other New Zealand representatives will compete.

The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships is also the first opportunity for New Zealand to earn national qualification and secure a spot for the country in each of the Olympic events for the Olympic Games 2012.

Weymouth and Portland 2011 International Regatta
New Zealand’s final results

Bronze - Peter Burling and Blair Tuke: 49er (11, 16, 3, 3, 1, 3, 9, 5, 3, 3, 2, 4, 1, 6, 21 medal race: 1)
4th - Andrew Murdoch: Laser (4, 5, 2, 3, 11, 4, 8, 12, 9, 2, medal race: 7)
4th - Jon-Paul Tobin: RS:X Men (6, 6, 9, 16, 5, 11, 2, 4, 21, 1, medal race:1)
4th - Jo Aleh and Olivia Powrie: 470 Women (21, 11, 2, 26 BFD, 3, 3, 17, 4, 1, 7, medal race: 1)
6th - Hamish Pepper and Craig Monk: Star (5, 2, 15, 7, 10, 22DNS, 5, 7, 6, 3, medal race: 5 )
7th - Dan Slater: Finn (13, 18, 5, 2, 28OCS, 4, 7, 9, 6, 12, medal race: 2)
10th - Natalia Kosinska: RS:X Women (12, 10, 4, 7, 7, 11, 12, 14, 19, 8, medal race: 9)
15th - Paul Snow-Hansen and Jason Saunders: 470 Men (17, 16, 4, 13, 15, 33OCS, 4, 16, 11,33DSQ)
22nd - Sara Winther: Radial (11, 26, 26, 21, 15, 25, 18, 8, 10, 50DNF)

NZL Sailing Team

America's Cup : Emirates Team New Zealand claims the first AC World Series with a dramatic come-from-behind win

Emirates Team New Zealand : overall winners in Cascais. Image © ACEA (2011)/ Photo G. Martin-Raget

by Stephanie Martin

Emirates Team New Zealand made an incredible recovery during the ‘winner takes all’ fleet race on Sunday to win the America’s Cup World Series Cascais, the first event of a new global series leading up to San Francisco in 2013.

With nine boats on the start line, the competition was close, and with a tricky, patchy race course area, there were passing lanes throughout the day. ORACLE Racing Spithill jumped out to a convincing lead early, but couldn’t protect it. On the second lap of the race course, Kiwi skipper Dean Barker found more wind on his side of the race course to make the pass.


Dean Barker lets fly with the champagne. Image © ACEA (2011)/ Photo G. Martin-Raget

“For us it was fantastic,” Barker said. “It was always going to be a very difficult race, as the breeze never really established. There were big ‘holes’ in the race course, so it was about being at the right place at the right time.”

Artemis Racing, too, was able to work its way up to a second place finish from being back in the pack early; the early leader, ORACLE Racing Spithill, was forced to settle for third.

“The guys did an awesome job to battle us up into the race,” said Artemis Racing skipper Terry Hutchinson, after a day where he climbed back from mid-fleet to second place. “It’s probably the best we’ve gone in the entire regatta. It's a very good finish for Artemis.”

But the feel-good story came from the Spanish Green Comm Racing. From a position of dead last early in the race, Vasilij Zbogar and his crew of dinghy champions began picking off the opposition on the final leg of the race to earn a fifth place finish, an incredible achievement for the novice crew.

“It's a fantastic day for the team, we were last to arrive, and were very last for the first three races, then we have been improving every day,” he said. “We were eighth, then seventh, sixth and now fifth. Today the spirit of the team showed more than ever – we never give up. We fight to the end. Today, we are happy with our improvement, but still not happy with the result. We are a team of winners, so we won’t be happy until we win.”


ACWS Cascais. Image © ACEA (2011)/ Photo R. Pinto

Making its debut along with the AC45 catamaran was the new Guest Racer program – where each team takes a guest aboard its race boat to compete with the team. The list of guest racers this week included VIP guests like Yves Carcelle, the Chairman and CEO of Louis Vuitton, pop singer Little Boots, Cecilia Meireles, the Secretary of State for Tourism in Portugal, along with names more familiar to the sailing world like former Cup winner John Bertrand, Artemis Racing CEO Paul Cayard and team principal Torbjorn Tornqvist, as well as ORACLE Racing founder and principal Larry Ellison, who was aboard ORACLE Racing Spithill today.

“We had a great start but both Artemis and Team New Zealand managed to pass us and that's what these boats are all about,” Ellison said following the race. “It makes the sailing much more exciting; it's not a matter of ‘you win the start, you win the race’. So it's just what we hoped for when we decided on multihulls for the next America's Cup… It's really competitive and that's what people want to see. They want to see close races and the best sailors in the fastest boats.”

The America’s Cup World Series now moves on to Plymouth, UK, where the same nine teams will compete from September 10-18, before moving to San Diego, California in November.


The podium place getters in Cascais : ETNZ, Artemis and ORACLE. Image © ACEA (2011)/ Photo G. Martin-Raget

America’s Cup World Series Cascais – Final points after Sunday’s races
Team - Place - Points

Emirates Team New Zealand 1 10
Artemis Racing 2 9
ORACLE Racing Spithill 3 8
ORACLE Racing Coutts 4 7
Green Comm Racing 5 6
Aleph 6 5
Team Korea 7 4
Energy Team 8 3
China Team 9 3

Cascais AC Match Race Championship – Final points after Saturday’s races
Team - Place - Points

ORACLE Racing Spithill 1 10
Emirates Team New Zealand 2 9
Artemis Racing 3 8
Team Korea 4 7
ORACLE Racing Coutts 5 6
Team Energy 6 5
Green Comm Racing 7 4
Aleph 8 3
China Team 9 3

America's Cup