The Rock - Part One
The Race
This year is the 50th edition of the Fastnet race. Its run every two years. The first race was won by Jolie Brise in 1925. Jolie Breeze is still very actively sailed on the UK South Coast.
This will be the second time that the race has been sailed from Cowes to Cherbourg via the Fastnet rather than finishing in Plymouth.
Our test boat Jengu will be doing the Fastnet race this year; so it seems appropriate to document some of that journey.
I’m a Fastnet newbie. I’ve only seen the rock from the deck of a ferry. Jengu has done the race at least 4 times previously; most recently in 2019 when I acted as delivery skipper, shore crew and general repairer of broken bits but didn’t do the actual race.
The credit for the photo on the right goes to Derrick Evans who took a series of photo as Jolie Breeze swept past us in the run in to the finish of the 2021 Round The Island Race. I was too busy trying not to have my head knocked of by Jolie Breezes boom to really focus on the asthetics.
What I do know is that Gaff Pilot Cutters from the early 20th century don’t sail any near as close to the wind as a 21st Century J109. Jolie Breeze might have overtaken us on the close reach to Osbourne Bay but we beat them to the finish.
The Fastnet Rock
A couple of facts about the Fastnet Rock you may not know.
The first Fastnet lighthouse produced its first light on the 1st January 1854. It was designed by George Halpin and cost £17,390 to build.
Unfortunately it proved too weak as a structure; something about the crockery being thrown off tables in gales, so a new tower was built in 1891. The sea actually broke the glass around the light on the original tower in November 1881.
The new tower was designed by William Douglass and was completed in June 1904 and cost in the region of £90,000.
You can still see the bottom of the original tower in the photo.
The light is 161ft high. In 1985 a rogue wave 157ft high hit the tower….think about that for a minute.
The tramway track used to move masonry from the crane to the base of the tower during construction is still there … not surprising really.
The Race Course
Generally sailing down the English Channel towards the Fastnet Rock is against the wind. Its a long beat today but must have been a lot longer in 1925. The top image on the right from North Sails shows the prevailing wind directions at the time of year we will be sailing the course.
The Fastnet Race is effectively a tour of some of the best lighthouses around the English Channel.
The Needles
St Albans Head
Berry Head - Record breaking for being both the highest and lowest lighthouse in the UK….look it up its true.
The Eddystone
Wolf Rock
Bishop Rock
Fastnet Rock
Casquets
Cap de la Hague
All of which have interesting histories. Tom Nancollas book Sea Shaken Houses is well worth a read if you want to understand what went into the creation of these essential aids to navigation. If only so that you appreciate how many of these houses are second or third attempts to place a light on a rock in what is generally a very hostile environment.
The experts will tell you its a course about tidal gates;
The Needles,
St Albans
Portland
The Lizard
Alderney and the Cherbourg approach.
.. and how you time your approach.
My crew last year were fond of telling everyone about their approach to Cherbourg from the West in 2021 and how they got the wrong end of a foul tide and no wind situation. At one point they were closing on the boat in front the next they were spending six hours waiting for the tide to change while their competitor was in the bar celebrating.
And the other thing to consider are the Traffic Separation Zones where the big ships pass each other in strict formation. Places that us racers will need to steer clear of or cross with a great deal of caution. The pink shaded areas on the Navionics WebApp screen shot show the Traffic Separation Zones around Land End and the Scilly Isles.
They are relatively tame compared to the Casquets zone North of Alderney where the tidal race will sweep unsuspecting boats into the path of massive container ships in the Traffic Separation Zone.
Qualification
Each boat has to qualify for the race.
Qualification involves a reasonably complex algorithm around the number of miles sailed in designated qualifying races by a certain percentage of the crew.
The crew also has to train. We need people on board with First Aid Qualifications, Sea Survival Training, Skippering Experience and we need to learn to sail the boat as a team.
The reality is that with seven people divided into two rotating watches we will be shorthanded sailing the boat most of the time. I would say its a marathon not a sprint but that belittles leg 3 of this years Ocean race at 13000 miles.
The race at nearly 700 miles is one of the longest we will do as a crew on this boat. You have to be a little mad to want to spend 7 nights on a very basically appointed 35foot boat in English summer weather with 7 other people. We have to figure out how we will all sleep, eat and sail for those 7 days. Interesting that I put sleep at the front of that list …
My main recollection of the collecting Jengu from Plymouth after the 2019 race is just how wet she was inside. Its really hard to dry out 7 peoples wet gear once its wet and the weather has turned.
But qualification is about us doing a number of shorter races to learn out to overcome these obstacles as a crew.
So we will go to the Eddystone for the Myth of Malham race in May. Its good for the tidal gates.
We will race around the cans in the English channel for the De Guingand Bowl. Hopefully not trashing a spinnaker in the dark this year.
Then we will head to St Malo like last year for croissants, crepes and moules frites.
With the Morgan Cup being to Dartmouth … a quick stop off at Rockfish by the lower ferry for some of the best fish and chips in the west country, before turning around and sailing home into the sunset.
Then we will line up with our fellow competitors at the RORC Cowes start line at the end of July for what we hope will be a lovely warm race to the Rock with a gentle force 3 all the way (yeah right).
Preparation
One thing I learned from 2019 is that its not really about the Fastnet race itself; its about getting to the start without;
Breaking the boat
Breaking the crew
Having the crew fall out with each other
So now we are preparing.
Both the boat and ourselves. We are a mixed crew in both, age, experience and gender. Very much a Corinthian crew in the true spirit of the word. Our average age is probably well north of forty five.
I’m sure more than one trip to the physio will be involved.
A Common Goal
But we all have a common goal we want to make it to the bar in Cherbourg in a respectable position ideally in front of a couple of other boats that I won’t mention because I don’t want to encourage them.
Bill/March 2023