Guernsey crews tackle brutal Fastnet yacht race

Sunday 23 July 2023

Sailors from Guernsey are battling tough conditions in the historic 50th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race.

The race sees amateur crews line up with professionals to sail from Cowes to the Fastnet Rock off southern Ireland before finishing in Cherbourg, a course of some 629nm.

Two yachts from the island are taking on the challenge - Majic2 and Killing Time - while another local, Stuart Ogier, is on board Fulmar Fever.

After a good start, Majic2 opted to take shelter for the night outside Yarmouth.

"Several other boats have done the same or retired completely but the majority of the fleet have been slogging it out in Poole Bay overnight," said crew member Sam Peek.

"We were regularly seeing wind speeds of over 30knots which made for a rough sea state against tide, but that has moderated to high teens this morning."

Pictured: Majic2 on the way to Cowes from Guernsey.

Killing Time sailed through the night and is sitting 11th in class.

Peek added: "We overheard multiple distress and mayday calls and the rescue of crew from a yacht that sank near the Shingles Bank with helicopter and lifeboat launched to assist and extract casualties from their liferaft. We also sadly passed a yacht which had dismasted about an hour after the start."

The crew of Majic2, a J120, were all united by scouting.

Pictured: Final preparations are made onboard Majic2.

She is owned by Ron Wilkes-Green, who was persuaded to take part in the race, 30 years after he last tackled the Fastnet, by his daughter Caroline.

There has been some frantic work to get Majic2 ready, including dealing with a fault in the mast which meant they missed one of their qualifying races.

The seven person crew also includes Jeff Wilkes-Green, John Richardson, Nathan Ward, Joe Mahy and Peek.

They sailed to Cowes on Wednesday night, with the 12am to 4am watch being treated to the sight of dolphins lighting up phosphorescent plankton. 

Thursday was dominated by preparation for the race,  loading up with provisions, installing sail wear patches on the new main sail, lubricating running hardwear and testing reefing and rigging up storm sail arrangements, a regulation requirement for the race. 

Pictured: Nathan Ward.

The evening finished with a crew party at the RORC Clubhouse.

Yesterday there was a skippers briefing and fresh race instructions, with the start time altered because of forecast gale force winds.

The crew also bumped into sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnson. 

Pictured: crew from Majic2 get some advice from Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, second from right.

Killing Time, a Jeanneau Sunfast 3600 from Guernsey owned by Alastair Bisson, is also competing. 

Peek raced onboard with them on two of their Fastnet qualifying races, Cervantes and Myth and Malham.

Pictured: Killing Time.

First held in 1925, the Fastnet Race helped establish the sport of offshore racing in the UK and Europe. It was held annually until 1931 and biennially since, excluding the years over WW2.

This year has a record entry, with 450 in a line-up that ranges in size from the world’s fastest offshore race boats, the French 32m long flying Ultim trimarans, likely to cover the 695 mile course in a little over a day, down to 30ft cruiser-racers and classics, such as the Australian 9m long 1932 classic Maluka, which could take six days.

The fleet is divided into nine classes.

All the yachts can be tracked in near real time from https://yb.tl/fastnet2023

Pictured top: The crew of Majic2 before the start of the 2023 Fastnet.