Month: July 2025

In a particularly competitive Rolex Fastnet Race, Oren Nataf at the helm of his Rayon Vert did the Yacht Club de Monaco proud in finishing 5th in corrected time in the multihull category. A solid performance on a complex 695 nautical mile course between Cowes and Cherbourg via the legendary Fastnet Rock.

This past week, there were several high notes from this summer’s sailing, with fast races, fierce rivals, and plenty of fun ashore. 
There’s no denying it, this season has delivered some of the most memorable racing we’ve seen in years. From the storied 100th edition of the ROLEX Fastnet Race to wild Pacific Northwest fun at Race Week Bellingham, J/Teams across the globe have been stacking podiums, battling breezeless blues, and most importantly, enjoying every chaotic, competitive, and comical moment of the summer season.
We’ll start with a serious feather in the cap: a J/99 takes the division win in one of the world’s most legendary offshore events, the Fastnet. That race offered a full test of grit, skill, and gear. It was a long upwind slog to Ireland’s iconic rock, then a kite-charging ride to Cherbourg. Meanwhile, halfway around the globe, more J/99s were leaving their mark in the Noakes Sydney to Gold Coast Race, kicking off the AUDI Blue Water Series with authority.
Back on this side of the pond, the Great Lakes came alive with Ugotta Regatta’s unbeatable mix of serious one-design competition and tongue-in-cheek T-shirt traditions. The J/111s threw down at their Great Lakes Championship, while J/70s and offshore racers got their fill of fast-paced fun. Further west, Bellingham once again proved that adult summer camp does exist, with great breeze, great bands, and a whole lot of dockside stories best left unprinted.
And don’t blink, because there’s more ahead. Cowes Week is just about to kick off on England’s notorious Solent Water, with its unique blend of tidal trickery and high-energy revelry. Newport is gearing up, too, with the Safe Harbor Regatta drawing everyone from hardcore racers to dock-party aficionados enjoying the best of Narragansett Bay.

J/99 Wins 100th ROLEX Fastnet Race Division!
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The 100th edition of the ROLEX Fastnet Race, hosted by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC), will go down in history as one of the world’s biggest offshore races, with 381 IRC-rated yachts competing. From the start off the famous Cowes/ Royal Yacht Squadron starting line in the Solent, the fleet rounded Fastnet Rock just off the southeastern tip of Ireland, then headed for home to the finish off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France- a distance of 695.0nm. In short, the race turned into a monster windward-leeward race, beating to windward from the Cowes start to “the Rock”. The fleet then popped kites and headed for France on a downwind sleigh ride. There were some amazing highlights for J/Teams in this race. Read more here.

J/99s Dominate Top 10 in Noakes Sydney to Gold Coast Race

(Sydney, NSW, Australia)- The 37th edition of the Noakes Sydney to Gold Coast Race attracted top-tier talent from across Australia and beyond, with seasoned campaigners vying for early-season glory. Among the sixty-one yachts entered, a half-dozen well-sailed J/99s were racing against many of Australia’s “gold-platers”. In the end, five of the J/99s ended up in the top 10! 
The race also marked the opening event of the prestigious 2025/26 AUDI Sydney Blue Water Series and serves as a vital proving ground for teams preparing for the Rolex Sydney Hobart and Trans-Tasman Yacht Race.
Spanning 384.0nm from Sydney Harbour to the Gold Coast’s Main Beach, this much-loved winter challenge promised a thrilling mix of tactical coastal navigation and potential fast-reaching conditions. From its spectacular start beneath the city skyline to the warm Queensland welcome at the finish, the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast is a bucket-list race.  Read more here.

SHAMROCK Two-peats J/111 Great Lakes Championship

(Harbor Springs, MI)- Sailing in conjunction with the Ugotta Regatta hosted by Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs, MI, the fleet of fourteen J/111s sailed their 2025 Great Lakes Championship. 
Repeating their 2024 performance, Jeff Davis’s team from Cleveland, OH, sailed SHAMROCK to another dominant performance, posting a 1-2-2-4 tally for 9 pts to repeat as J/111 Great Lakes Champions!  Read more here.

Fun & Games @ Ugotta Regatta
(Harbor Springs, MI)- Traveling far and wide, sailors from across the Great Lakes always look forward to their mid-summer favorite event, the famous Ugotta Regatta hosted by Little Traverse Yacht Club in Harbor Springs, MI. Rolling out the proverbial red carpet for a fleet of J/70s and offshore handicap racers in ORC and PHRF Divisions, everyone enjoyed the great racing and the famous t-shirts dispensed at the crack of dawn early Saturday morning for hundreds of passionate sailing enthusiasts- a Ugotta Regatta tradition! Read more here.

Fun-in-the-Sun Race Week Bellingham!
(Bellingham, WA)- This year’s infamous “adult sailing summer camp” in the Pacific Northwest- the Race Week Bellingham- was sailed in Bellingham, WA, based out of Squalicum Harbor, with direct access to Bellingham Bay. The regatta featured buoy, distance, and pursuit races for the fleet of J/70 and J/105 one-design classes and ORC/ PHRF offshore handicap divisions. 
The sailors loved the new regatta headquarters based in the Fisherman’s Pavilion, a 9,000 sq ft event space with broad views of the harbor and a bar that had amazing waterfront views, too. The Pavilion served as the site of the notoriously fun, post-race parties that featured live music, silly themes, and an open bar. Read more here.

Cowes Week 2025 Preview
(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- For the first week of August, the Cowes Combined Clubs will be hosting their annual highlight of the summer sailing season on the Solent- the infamous Cowes Race Week off Cowes, Isle of Wight. Yet again, hundreds of boats and thousands of sailors will grace the quaint seaside town with raucous parties and challenging sailing on the capricious waters of the famously fast-flowing Solent Water. 
Again, dozens of J/Teams will flock south from their glass tower offices in London and other parts of the United Kingdom and look forward to engaging their passion for sailing for a full seven days on the water! Here is how that all breaks down by division. Read more here.

Safe Harbor Newport Regatta 2025 Preview 

(Newport, RI)- An increasingly popular regatta during the busy Newport sailing season has been the Safe Harbor Newport regatta. It’s a fun event both on and off the water. The sailing on Narragansett Bay is always fun and challenging, dealing with currents and shifty winds. But, where the Safe Harbor regatta has developed an enthusiastic following amongst sailors is their “apres sailing” events onshore at their world-class yacht harbor facility. With great food, a huge tent, and great bands on Friday and Saturday evenings, the parties are well attended by the eccentric mix of yachties off the magnificent super yachts and the enthusiasts on a range of offshore racing/ cruising yachts. Read more here.

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Yacht Club de Monaco has won the Admiral’s Cup 2025 after a nail-biting finale. Led by YCM vice-president Pierre Casiraghi at the helm of Jolt 6 and Peter Harrison on Jolt 3, the two Monegasque teams fought a collective strategic battle right down to the wire of the Rolex Fastnet Race. This third and final event (coefficient 3) on the Admiral’s Cup programme was the ultimate stage of a three-part format that mixed offshore and inshore races. For its first ever Admiral’s Cup, YCM won the team ranking ahead of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club and Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. An historic feat that marks the Principality’s entry into an exclusive circle of winners of this legendary event.

Black Jack 100, owned by Yacht Club de Monaco member Remon Vos
and helmed by Tristan Le Brun (member of YCM’s Captains Club), was first to cross the finish line of the 51st Rolex
Fastnet Race Tuesday 29 July at 00:21 in Cherbourg. The Maxi monohull took 2 days 12 hours 31 minutes 21 seconds to
claim the Erivale Trophy awarded to the winner in real time in the monohull category.

Two days after the canon fired at Cowes for the start, the Rolex Fastnet Race is in full swing. The pace is intense, fatigue is creeping in, but the fleet remains focused. The 51st edition of this legendary race is living up to its reputation as a 695 nautical mile sprint where every choice weighs heavily.

(Port Credit, ONT, Canada)- The 2025 Lake Ontario 300 Race was recently hosted by the Port Credit Yacht Club on Lake Ontario. The Lake Ontario 300 originated through the interest and vision of several single-handed sailors at Oakville Harbour Yacht Club, now part of Oakville Yacht Squadron, and the Port Credit Yacht Club. Johan Pederson and his group envisioned a long-distance race to challenge the skills of those who usually raced single-handed in the Lake Ontario Short Handed Racing Series (LOSHRS) or around the cans on their club’s race nights, or went to regattas such as the Lake Yacht Racing Association and sailed the Freeman Cup. Most, if not all, of these long-distance races were for fully crewed boats. Johan realized that often the sailing done on Lake Ontario was by 2 people, and racing doublehanded was a good way to improve and challenge skills.
Since then, the Lake Ontario 300 has grown in both crew allowance and race length. While there are still double-handed and solo entries, there are a number of boats that race fully crewed. This year, the handful of J/Teams that participated in the race walked off with a few nice pieces of silverware! Here was the outcome of racing on western Lake Ontario.
PHRF Doublehanded DivisionIn this half-dozen-boat fleet, it was Ard Van Leeuwen’s J/112E HIGH TEA that took class honors by a significant margin, winning by nearly five hours on corrected time!
PHRF B DivisionIn this ten-boat fleet, it was Robert Dewitte’s J/100 PERSPECTIVE that got the bronze medal. Meanwhile, Ralph Neate’s J/88 BLACK DOG took sixth place.
For more Lake Ontario 300 sailing informationhttp://loor.ca/lake-ontario-300/

(Mackinac Island, MI)- It was a “slow-motion thriller” for the 116th edition of the 289.0nm Chicago Mackinac Race- presented by Wintrust. For nearly four days, multiple division leaders were within shouting distance of each other on Lake Michigan, swapping tacks, and trading leads as they clawed their way through the Manitou Passage and up into the Mackinac Straits. A big, fat high-pressure system with nary an isochron in sight was parked over northern Michigan, leading to light and fickle winds from the north, northwest, and easterly quadrants. As one wise navigator explained, it was as good as “rolling the dice” as to where the next breeze line would settle in for an hour or two, then just disappear. In the long run, the “stop & go driving” saw many J/Teams excel in the difficult conditions, leading to many of them garnering silverware on the podium.
This year’s Chicago-Mackinac Race reminded sailors that no two “Mac Races” are ever the same, delivering the kind of dynamic challenge that has made it one of the world’s most iconic offshore races and a fixture on every sailor’s bucket list.
Known as “America’s Offshore Challenge”, the 2025 Mac Race tested sailors’ tactical instincts, patience, and mental endurance over the course up Lake Michigan and into Lake Huron for the finish at Mackinac Island, MI.
Unpredictable wind conditions made this year’s race especially demanding, with many boats taking longer than usual to reach the finish. On average, this year, the racing division took 57 hours. In contrast, last year’s race was one for the record books as the 80-foot canting keeler MAVERICK broke the 22-year-old monohull record (just over 22 hours). It’s this unpredictability that keeps Mac Racers returning year after year. Here is how it broke down by division for the large numbers of J/Teams.
Mackinac Cup Fleet (116 larger boats)Overall Results:4. Doug Evans’s J/122 ELBOW ROOM- only 30 mins corrected from 2nd place!6. Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI10. Blaine Shea’s J/111 STRIKING BACK12. The trio of Nick Gibbons, Rich Murphy, and David Normandin’s J/145 SIC PARVIS MAGNA13. Jeff Davis’s J/111 SHAMROCK15. Chris & Autumn Lamb’s J/111 PADAWAN17. Scott Sellers’s J/111 NO SURPRISE
Division 2- 15 boats1. The trio of Nick Gibbons, Rich Murphy, and David Normandin’s J/145 SIC PARVIS MAGNA6. Bill Schanen’s J/145 MAIN STREET
Division 3- 14 boats3. Jim Murray’s J/125 CALLISTO (a successful J/70 sailor, too!)
Division 4- 13 boats5. Tom Papoutsis’s J/133 RENEGADE
Division 6- 14 boats1. Doug Evans’s J/122 ELBOW ROOM2. Matt Songer’s J/122 EVVAI5. Len Siegal’s J/122E LUCKY DUBIE6. Mike & Bob Kirkman’s J/120 HOT TICKET7. Charlie Hess’s J/120 FUNTECH RACING8. Bob Eger’s J/120 CALIFORNIA GIRL
Doublehanded Division- 6 boats1. Andy Graff’s J/88 EXILE2. Evan Jahn’s J/109 TUMBLER4. Dan Floberg’s J/88 MISTY- missing podium by 3 minutes!
Mackinac Trophy Fleet (119 smaller boats)Overall results:2. Andy Graff’s J/88 EXILE- missing the gold medal by 19 minutes!5. David Gustman’s J/109 NORTHSTAR- just 9 minutes in arrears of the J/88!6. Jim Nacthman’s J/99 RAMBLER 8. Evan Jahn’s J/109 TUMBLER9. Jim Caesar’s J/109 LIQUID LOUNGE II10. Mike Hendrie’s J/109 BULL
Division 7- 13 boats2. Tim & Cathy McGuire’s J/112E ELEVATION- celebrating her 25th Mac was Cathy!3. Tom Dickson’s J/105 WARLOCK6. Todd & Heidi Patton’s J/112E BLONDIE
Division 8- 12 boats1. Jim Nachtman’s J/99 RAMBLER2. Bob Asher & Wes Ory’s J/99 SHING-A-LING3. Ray Douglas & Christine Maybach’s J/109 COURAGEOUS
ONE-DESIGN CLASSES
J/111 Class- 12 boats1. Jeff Davis’s SHAMROCK2. Chris & Autumn Lamb’s PADAWAN3. Scott Sellers’s NO SURPRISE
J/109 Class- 8 boats1. Dave Gustman’s NORTHSTAR2. Mike Hendrie’s BULL3. Jim Caesar’s LIQUID LOUNGE II
J/105 Class- 18 boats1. Paul Hickman & Jody Kjoller’s KASHMIR2. Mark Denuyl’s GOOD LOOKING3. Mark Fruin’s NYCTOSAUR
Level 35 OD Class- 9 boats1. Keith Stauber’s J/35 PAPA GAUCHO II2. Hugh Haggerty’s J/35 NOBLE BUFFALO3. Kim & Linus Isabell’s J/35 REDLINE
For more Chicago Mackina Race sailing informationhttps://cycracetomackinac.com/

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Marking the 100th anniversary of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, the 2025 edition of the ROLEX Fastnet Race is certain to be a special one. From its humble beginnings, the race upon which the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) was founded has grown to become the world’s biggest offshore race, with 381 IRC-rated yachts competing. From the start off the famous Cowes/ Royal Yacht Squadron starting line in the Solent, the fleet rounds Fastnet Rock just off the southeastern tip of Ireland, then heads for home to the finish off Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, France- a distance of 695.0nm.
Making HistoryIn 1925, before offshore racing was even a sport in the United Kingdom, seven cruising yachts and their valiant crews embarked on what was then called “the Ocean Race”. Inspired by the Newport Bermuda Race, the U.K. equivalent was started off Ryde Middle in the Solent by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. The fleet headed counter-clockwise around the Isle of Wight, before heading west to Land’s End, crossing the Celtic Sea to the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, rounding it to port and returning to the finish off Plymouth, England.
Weather ForecastTeams that competed in the last two ROLEX Fastnet Races and are returning for this Saturday’s special centenary edition will be breathing a sigh of relief looking at the long-term forecast. In contrast to the battering they received from the 30+ knot winds at the start, and the subsequent gale force winds of the first 24 hours, they endured during the last two editions, the long-term forecast for this year’s race shows more benign conditions.
Regardless of the wind conditions, the Rolex Fastnet Race is never easy as it always involves making best use of or attempting to avoid the tide, especially while exiting past the Solent past The Needles and off southern England’s famous headlands – St Alban’s Point, Start Point, the Lizard, Land’s End – and again at the end of the race when all competitors will be affected, for better or worse, by the powerful Alderney Race (a massive cut of fast-moving current) on the approach to Cherbourg.
Along the way, competitors must avoid the Traffic Separation Schemes (TSSs). Exiting the Solent, the Casquets TSS mid-channel limits how far south boats can go before they are obliged to tack. Tactically, one of the most important TSS zones lies off Land’s End, where the shorter passage is between this and the Scilly Isles. But, depending upon the state of wind and tide, it can also be advantageous to take the longer route between the TSS and Land’s End.
Another TSS is immediately south of the Fastnet Rock, acting as a natural spreader mark, separating yachts arriving at the Rock from those exiting it. TSSs also lie to the west and south of the Scilly Isles, and there is a further tactical option to leave the former to port or starboard. Finally, the Casquets TSS once again comes into play, forcing competitors south of it and causing some even to pass south of Guernsey to avoid the worst of the tide en route to the finish line.
While at present the weather looks like it will be dominated by a giant area of High pressure off to the west and southwest, the shape of this and a micro system that may or may not be spinning up in the Celtic Sea on start day are currently playing havoc with the routing.
It’s tricky,” comments Will Best, navigator on Leopard 3. “The difference between yesterday and today is almost 24 hours in routing for us. There’s a system coming, and at the moment, the timing, intensity, and associated weather are not lining up. The U.K. model is quite a big outlier at the moment. The Euro model is looking better today compared to what we expect – probably two and a half days for us. Yesterday, it was a pure windward-leeward with quite light VMG downwind to the finish. Today, it’s not crazy wind speeds, but it just turns into a reach to the finish, which saves us hours on these 100s. It’s pretty normal for it to be this inconsistent so far out.”
RORC Rear Commodore Joe Lacey is racing double-handed. “Big picture, the weather is basically stable,” he says. “There’s high pressure over the Atlantic, which the entire fleet is probably going to be in for the entirety of the race. The exact position of that high pressure changes the angles. For example, going along the south coast, it could be upwind, or it could be reaching. And going across the Irish Sea, it could be upwind, and it could be reaching.
At the moment, it says we’re going to be upwind in 12-15 knots at the start, but then it will take us 24+ hours to go along the south coast of the UK, so by Sunday, we should be reaching. Maybe we will still get some shifts, but I don’t think it’s very stable. The forecast is changing daily. At the moment, it’s giving us some positive readings: our fleet will finish in 3.5-4 days, and it goes well for us if we can reach along the coast of England. At the moment, we’ll never have more than 20 knots of wind and never less than eight knots.
It’s going to be a pretty standard beat out of Solent, because it’s a prevailing northwesterly. Once we get out into Christchurch Bay, it could swing round a bit. I don’t know whether it’ll go fully into a reach until we get towards Weymouth.
To the Fastnet Rock, it looks like the wind oscillates between 10 and 20 knots – possibly slightly more as we get closer. And then it’s putting the kite up and going all the way to Cherbourg by the looks of it.”
Royal Engineer Yacht Club’s J/109 ProjectAs regular as the Fastnet Race has been the RORC’s premier event, so has been the Royal Engineer Yacht Club (REYC), which – incredibly – has participated in every single edition. Since 1925, they had already been competing in offshore races for decades.
Since 2021, they have been campaigning their J/109 TROJAN in what is arguably one of the most competitive one-design classes in southern England.
“There’s definitely an undertone of pride to it,” says Andrew Motion, the REYC’s Captain of Boats, TROJAN crew in 2021 and skipper in 2023. “There’s also quite a lot of pressure that comes with it. There’s a real expectation that it’s a no-fail event for us.”
Along with many other services, yachts, their J/109 TROJAN, are based out of Hornet Services Sailing Club in Gosport. In the Rolex Fastnet Race, they compete for the Inter-Regimental Cup for Best Service Yacht Overall and the Culdrose Trophy for Best IRC Services Yacht around the Fastnet Rock on corrected time.
Of their 2025 campaign, Motion adds: “We’ve got servicemen and women coming from all over the country. But, there’s a lot of pressure because of the centenary and because we’ve entered every single one and should continue to do so. It makes it all the more important to achieve. Whatever happens, come hell or high water, we will have that boat across that start line!”
IRC 1 DivisionThe massive 73-boat fleet has four well-prepared offshore J/crews. One of them is the J/121 DARKWOOD from Ireland. Over the years, DARKWOOD has not enjoyed the luck of the Irish, with a retirement in 2019 following rudder damage, and then a collision shortly after the start in 2021. But her owner/skipper Mike O’Donnell is nothing if not persistent, and 2025 is shaping up to be a good year for the J/121 from Ireland. Currently, DARKWOOD lies third overall in IRC One in the RORC’s Season’s Points Championship.
The other J/Teams include Herve Perrein’s J/130 DULCISSIMA, Francois Charles’s J/133 SUN HILL IV from France, and Nick Edmonds’s J/45 STICKLEBACK.
After winning IRC Four in their beloved SUN HILL III in 2023 (and coming third in class twice before), François Charles and his French crew return on SUN HILL IV, a substantially larger, faster J/133. She arrived on Tuesday from Charles’ native Morlaix, where he is a rigger. Morlaix has produced several top French sailors, including Solitaire du Figaro winners Jérémie Beyou, Armel le Cleach, and Nicolas Troussel, who has been calling tactics on board this season. Despite only acquiring their boat this year, they have already notched up a second place in the Cervantes Trophy in IRC One.
As to their prospects this year, Charles says he is resigned to the tough challenge ahead, racing the wily Géry Trentesaux and his now fully tricked-up LONG COURIER. “We want to use this to discover the boat – it’s much faster than our last one, which I’m very happy about,” says Charles. His team has a sponsor/ supporter in his Rolex Fastnet Race campaign by the Cabinet Bourhis Insurance company. “That’s good because it allows us to buy more sails!!” Charles is racing with five crew ranging in age from 22 years to 65.
IRC 2 DivisionThis very large 70-boat fleet has a significant armada of J/crews- nine boats total.
One of the contenders is Lawrence Herbert’s J/133 CORAZON. They scored a second place in IRC Two in the Myth of Malham, and their young crew (all under 30) have been performing well across the past three seasons of RORC racing.
Derek Shakespeare, Vice Commodore of RORC, has been successfully campaigning his J/122 BULLDOOG, with an overall win in RORC’s De Guingand Bowl Race last year as some indicator of the boat’s potential.
JENIS is a J/112 GP from Kazakhstan, skippered by Murat Abdrakhmanov. Last year, this Kazakh crew finished second in class in the Rolex Giraglia Cup.
The J/122 MOJITO, owned by Peter Dunlop and Victoria Cox, and racing out of Pwllheli Sailing Club, participated in the RORC Nelson’s Cup Series and the RORC Caribbean 600 in Antigua in early 2025. In the Nelson’s Cup, MOJITO won races during the week and, ultimately, finished runner-up in IRC Two. In the Caribbean 600, MOJITO also finished second in class.
Cris Miles has covered plenty of sea miles in his professional career, having completed many, many ISORA races, Scottish Islands Peaks Race, and the Three Peaks Yacht Race. However, this is his first attempt at the Rolex Fastnet Race, and he’s skippering the J/111 JEZEBEL. Miles describes his crew as “an exemplary bunch of guys with military background,” but adds intriguingly: “Professions are on a need-to-know basis.” One of the crew will also be scattering the ashes of his late father at the Fastnet Rock as per his wishes.
The J/122 WHISKEY JACK is a well-known name in the world of offshore racing in the Far East. Owner/skipper Nick Southward of the J/122 is looking forward to showing what his Hong Kong crew can do in the Rolex Fastnet Race. A fifth place in IRC Two at the Myth of Malham suggests WHISKEY will be one to watch for the Rolex Fastnet Race.
Frans van Cappelle’s experienced crew from the Netherlands has had good offshore success on the North Sea, racing their J/122 MOANA. Their most recent performance was a podium finish in the well-known North Sea Week.
Finally, just beginning to scratch the surface of the potential of their new race horse, the French team on the J/45 JUST, led by the experienced offshore trio of Sacha Vandenbrouck, Yvon Lucas, and Eric Gautier, hope to lead their fellow J/teams across the finish line in Cherbourg!
IRC 3 DivisionIn a still larger fleet of 86 boats, there will be a fleet of seven J/Teams. Here’s the principal guiding force for all IRC 3 participants: it’s always an intensely competitive class! And, it has produced the overall winner of two of the last six Fastnet Races!!
Picking out potential class winners at this stage is an almost impossible task. Competition so far this year in IRC Three has been exceptionally close, with 12 boats from four different countries scoring top-four places in the first five races of this year’s RORC series.
Three J/112E’s are competing and, given the current weather forecasts, they should prove to be quite competitive. Those teams include Simon Harris & Charles Linard’s J’OUVERT, Ubbo Neisingh’s Dutch team on NARWAL, and Wayne Palmer & Kate Ledgard’s THINKING SPACE.
A trio of J/99s should also be significant factors in the division. There are two French teams (Jean-Lin Flipo’s YALLA and Julien Bentz’s WHIMJY 99) and one British crew- Alain Waha’s FURTHER WEST.
Rounding out the J/fleet is Frenchman Philippe Girardin’s very experienced, winning offshore crew on his J/120 HEY JUDE. They’re accustomed to winning silverware in their French offshore circuit!
IRC 4 DivisionIRC Four division, representing the smallest and lowest-rated boats in the race, is the most numerous this year, with 95 entries. They vary from enormously experienced and competitive teams with the potential to lift the Fastnet Challenge Cup, the main IRC Overall prize, to those chasing a bucket list experience. Nevertheless, many of the latter will inevitably get hooked on the race and join the legions of sailors who compete time after time and notch up a dozen or more editions.
An impressive ten J/109s are entered this year. Among them is JUST SO, which has been hugely successful in offshore racing in the 18 years the McGough family has owned her, gaining a slew of trophies. However, success in the Rolex Fastnet Race has always proved elusive, and JUST SO had to retire in both the 2019 and 2021 editions. The ambition this year is modest but heartfelt: “Our main goal is to finish!” says skipper William McGough.
Lesley Brooman is the third owner of her J/109 JUMUNU and has previously taken part in six Rolex Fastnet Races, two in her boat, plus two RORC Caribbean 600s, one Rolex Middle Sea Race, as well as the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. She says their hope is “to finish, preferably in the top half” and for “better weather!”
Other leading J/109s include Rob Cotterill’s MOJO RISIN, which has notably won silver in both Warsash Spring Series and Hamble Winter Series for what seems like decades.
A trio of J/99s will be joining them to vie for division honors. They include Mark Kendall’s JIRO, Jean-Baptiste Brian’s JOLLY JUMPER, and Tim Tolcher & Steven Deutsch’s RAGING BULL.
FEVER, a Dutch-flagged J/35 of 1984 vintage, will be sailed by a group of friends from the Jachtclub Scheveningen, including Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup veteran Simeon Tienpont. The plan is to “sail a neat race from start to finish and have a good time,” says Tienpont. “The most challenging thing will be the luck of timing and good tactical decisions at the finish, considering the strong currents in France.”
IRC Doublehanded DivisionThe fifty-seven boats in this fleet seem to have a common theme- the father and daughter team aspect particularly appeals to several families, providing them a race within the race. One of them is Richard and Emma Breese, who are competing in an older, but competitive boat, the J/105 MOJO. Emma has a long track record of making boats go fast, having been Optimist Junior National Champion in 2019, and finishing as second female at last year’s 420 Youth National Championship– dinghy sailors are fast in J/105s!
MOJO will be up against a “rogue’s gallery” of tough offshore competitors, all with proven silver-winning performances offshore. There are two J/112E’s- the Harris & Linard duo on J’OUVERT and the Palmer & Ledgard pair on THINKING SPACE. In addition, the J/99 RAGING BULL will have the Tolcher & Deutsch team, who are persistent and smart. Finally, a past RORC Season Series IRC Double winner is the McGough & Lavery pair on the J/109 JUST SO.
For more ROLEX Fastnet Race sailing informationhttps://www.rolexfastnetrace.com/en

(Edgartown, MA)- As they have for decades, the Edgartown Yacht Club rolled out the proverbial red carpet to welcome sailors from all over the world to their cozy confines on the water in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard. Their annual Edgarton Race Week is a regular stop for many New England sailors for one primary reason- the 60.0nm dash around Martha’s Vineyard Island and the huge awards celebration party afterwards at the yacht club! Here’s how it all took place in this year’s challenging, finicky race.
PHRF 3 DivisionWinning this fleet was Joe Brito’s J/121 INCOGNITO, a repeat performance for Joe and his crew, Round the Island! Second was Robert Littleton’s J/111 SHE’S NO LADY 2.0, and fourth place was Robert Reifess’s J/120 MURMUR.
PHRF 4 DivisionIt was a J/109 sweep of the podium of this fleet. Leading the way was Eliot Shanabrook’s HAFA ADAI, followed by Ed Dailey’s RAPTOR in second, and Ted Herlihy’s GUT FEELING in third place.
PHRF 5 DivisionThe two J/teams in this fleet sailed well, with one making it onto the podium. Taking the bronze medal was Phil Stathos’s J/110 AIRBENDER, then finishing fourth place was Olwen Huxley’s J/35 RESILIENCE.
PHRF 8 Doublehanded DivisionSailing any boat double-handed around Martha’s Vineyard is always going to be a challenge. It’s not a straight line to a mark 60.0nm away, where you just set sails and send it! In the Round Island Race, you’re always going clockwise, turning right around each point of land. So, changing sails and setting them for speed is an ongoing challenge! In the end, Henry Sesselberg’s J/105 UBUNTU sailed a strong race to take the silver medal in this class!
For more Round Island/ Edgartown Race Week sailing information and resultshttps://yachtscoring.com/emenu.cfm?eID=16270

The signal sounded at 11.10am in a typically British setting with overcast skies, a light squall and a 10-12 knot southwesterly. For the 51st Rolex Fastnet Race, 444 boats set off from Cowes, Isle of Wight, a start steeped in history a hundred years after the very first edition in 1925 when there were just seven. In 2025, the fleet line up hail from 34 countries and comprise more than 3,500 sailors. Among them are the boats taking part in the week-long Admiral’s Cup which culminates in the Fastnet.