DIDIER GAUDOUX’S JND 39 Lann Ael 2 was the overall winner of the 47th Rolex Fastnet Race. Gaudoux was awarded with the Fastnet Challenge Cup and a Rolex timepiece at the final prizegiving in Plymouth on August 11.
Lann Ael 2 is the third French yacht in as many editions to claim IRC Overall victory in the biennial race, which is organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) and has been sponsored by Rolex since 2001. This year’s race featured a record-breaking 362 yachts and 2,700 sailors from 29 countries, including South Korea, Japan and China.
Gaudoux, 59, commissioned modifications to his yacht ahead of this year’s race and also sought advice from friend Géry Trentesaux, the victorious skipper in 2015.
“Winning this race is the fulfilment of a dream since I was a child. The Rolex Fastnet is the offshore race par excellence. To win overall is incredible,” Gaudoux said.
“Before the race, we were positive but not confident. We have been lucky as the conditions suited the boat. We were well prepared, rigorous in our organisation, attentive and, as a team that sails together a lot, have great solidarity.”
Gaudoux’s crew featured amateur sailors including his son Thomas and daughter Coralie and also experienced offshore yachtsmen like navigator Frederic Duthil and tactician Christian Ponthieu.
“I was very demanding of the crew and they responded perfectly. It was an intense race,” said Gaudoux, who has also set his sights on one day competing in another 600nm offshore race – the Rolex Sydney Hobart.
Tony Lawson’s Concise 10, an MOD70 trimaran skippered by British sailor Ned Collier Wakefield and including Olympian Giles Scott as crew, was the race’s fastest yacht, claiming line honours in 42hrs 55mins.
George David’s Rambler 88 was the fastest monohull in an elapsed time of 57hrs 34mins. Ludde Ingvall’s 100ft Australian Maxi CQS finished nearly five hours behind Rambler, while the 88-tonne supermaxi Nikata was the third-fastest monohull.
A fleet of seven Volvo Ocean 65s raced each other as part of Leg Zero of the upcoming round-the-world Volvo Ocean Race, with China’s Dongfeng Racing Team eventually defeating Mapfre of Spain by 56 seconds.
Dongfeng skipper Charlies Caudrelier said: “We were leading at the Fastnet, leading the downwind and then suddenly, in big clouds, we lost everything and we were last. Then another cloud helped us to come back, but afterwards Mapfre were still there. They came back, passed us, but we passed again. It was a nice fight with Mapfre.”
By the time of the final prizegiving, 299 of the 362-strong fleet had finished, 27 had retired and 36 were still sailing.
