The overall winner of this year's Fastnet, taking into account handicaps, has now been revealed to be Ger O'Rourke on board his Cookson 50, Chieftain. After a total sailing time of 55:04:43, he reached Plymouth just before 8pm on Wednesday night, just over ten hours behind the fastest finisher.
O'Rourke was sailing in a Farr-designed carbon fibre yacht, built in New Zealand, and she came fresh from the Nordbank Transatlantic race, which finished only six weeks before the start of the Fastnet. By that time, the Fastnet had already reached its 300 boat limit and O'Rourke had to wait in queue for a reserve place. So, he went from being 46th on the Fastnet reserve list, to becoming overall Fastnet winner, in the space of less than two months - not bad going!
Once this year's dramatic Rolex Fastnet got underway, Chieftain experienced fewer problems than most, with only 25 knots of wind on the first night, compared to the 40 knots that led to the withdrawal of many of her competitors. This had dropped to 15 knots by the time Chieftain rounded Fastnet rock, and she returned to Plymouth - and victory - with the Spinnaker up all the way.
Chieftain will be awarded the Fastnet Challenge Cup and a Rolex Yachtmaster timepiece tonight, Friday 17th August, in the historic Royal Citadel in Plymouth.
The race still continues though, and our reporter in Plymouth, Roxanna Maynard, reported this morning that thirteen boats still remained to cross the line. Two class one boats are still out on the course along with three class twos and eight class threes - in fact, no class threes have yet completed the race.
The sea state has now calmed considerably, which gives the remaining competitors some respite after an early buffetting, but travelling speeds of as little as three knots per hour could prolong the race for some time yet.
Meanwhile, back in Plymouth, the prizes for most categories have already been decided:
- Zero Canting Keel: Chieftain (IRL), Ger O'Rourke
- Super Zero: Rambler (USA), George David
- Zero/A: Snow Lion (USA), Larry Huntington
- Zero/B: Courrier du Coeur (FRA), Gery Trentesaux
- IRC 1/A: TBD
- IRC 1/B: Scarlet Oyster (GBR), Gordon Appleby
- IRC 2/A: Antares (NED), F. Winterswijk
- IRC 2/B: Foggy Dew (FRA), Noel Racine
- IRC 3: TBD
- Two-Handed: Voador (GBR), Simon Curwen
Full details are available from the Fastnet website, alongside photos and logs from the race.
Congratulations to everyone who made it back to Plymouth after one of the most arduous Fastnets in the history of the race.
