ICAP Leopard smashes Rolex Fastnet Race record over 8 hours

At 08h 58m 53sec local time, Mike Slade’s new 100-foot super maxi crossed the finish line off the Plymouth breakwater under spinnaker, breaking the Rolex Fastnet Race monohull race record that has stood since 1999.

With an elapsed time of 1 day, 20 hours, 18 minutes, the Bruce Farr-designed ICAP Leopard (GBR) chopped just under 9 hours off the record set by Ross Field on the 80-foot RF Yachting. Wind was southwest at 10-15 knots as the boat finished in a light rain and reduced visibility.

Only 10 miles behind was George David’s 90-foot Rambler (USA), finishing at 09h 43m 21sec and also well within the previous record time. She currently leads the fleet overall on corrected time.

Dockside in Plymouth, Slade was presented with a Rolex Yachtmaster timepiece in steel and platinum and the Erroll Bruce Cup for his Line Honours win by Lionel Schurch of Rolex SA and RORC Commodore David Aisher.

ICAP Leopard was launched in June 2007 and was sailing in only its first proper offshore race. Slade recounted a great race with the first day match-racing out of the Solent and along the coast with Neville Crichton’s Alfa Romeo (NZL) in 25 – 30 knots (with Alfa later retiring from the race). Recalling the awaited match-up between the two similar length super maxis, Slade said, “You’re always looking over your shoulder. The race against Neville would have been a heck of a struggle, even though the conditions and point of sail favoured us…But to have his old boat (Rambler is the former Shockwave/Alfa Romeo) come and pip us would have been hard to forgive.”

Slade said the worst of the weather was off the Lizard where, “we saw 40 knots, more in the gusts…it’s at night, and it’s hard to gauge the seas.” He continued, “But the boat is very solid, you put water (ballast) in the back and lift the bow…it’s like a Volvo 70 stretched out to 100 feet. We never had to back off, on the contrary, you can push the boat.”

ICAP Leopard had a few dramas during the race including a genoa that fell out of the track, dragging overboard when they were off Portland Bill, and later halfway up to the rock the boat hit a shark, which then hung up on the rudder and required a plucky Australian crewmember to go into the water to free it. Next was an oil pressure valve that shut down and left the boat briefly without hydraulics.

Leopard will be shipped to Australia/New Zealand in September in preparation for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Before that time the boat will undergo some modifications to lighten up the boat – built as a charter boat capable of racing competitively, the boat is 40 tons, considerably heavier than a straight-out race boat such as Alfa Romeo at 28 tons.

Second over the line this morning was the Reichel-Pugh 90-footer, Rambler. Owner George David clearly enjoyed his first Rolex Fastnet Race, attributing their well-sailed performance to the fact that “the boat is very well crewed with 19 onboard, and everybody is very capable.” David bought the boat last fall and it went through a refit including some modifications to the keel, bulb and bowsprit which all seemed to have worked as the boat has had a winning season so far.

Skipper Ken Read assembled a first-class crew of professionals including some half dozen VOR hopefuls who are onboard as a tryout. After rounding the Fastnet Rock yesterday evening, Rambler reveled in 17 – 26 knots, power reaching back to the Lizard where they turned the corner and had a spinnaker run nearing the finish. While the conditions after Lizard Point were slightly more moderate than expected, they managed to rip two spinnakers and the mainsail, one spinnaker as they came down a wave and powered the boat into the wave ahead, blowing the tack out.

Read will continue to use the boat as a training platform for his Puma Racing Volvo Ocean Race program. Next up on Rambler’s racing schedule is the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, Les Voiles des Saint Tropez, Rolex Middle Sea Race and the Rolex Buenos Aires – Rio de Janeiro Race.

As of the latest OC Tracker position update at 1130 BST, leading on corrected time are Rambler (USA) in IRC Super Zero and Overall; Chieftain (IRL) in IRC SZ Canting Keel; Desperado of Cowes (GBR) in IRC Zero; Scarlet Oyster (GBR) in IRC 1; Foggy Dew (FRA) in IRC 2; Tigo IV (GBR) in IRC 3, and PRB, in the Open 60 class, which was due over the finish line at approximately 1300 BST.

As of Wednesday at 1200 BST, 191 yachts have retired from the race, and 80 yachts are still racing. Current weather conditions at the Fastnet Rock are northwesterly winds at 25 knots and rough seas.

Friends, family, press and supporters can visit fastnet.rorc.org and click the tracking page to follow the race and results. Boats automatically report every 30mins (on the hour and half hour), and results and tracking are updated shortly after the report is received. The results will be overall and based on corrected time.

Further information about the RORC and the Rolex Fastnet Race may be found at fastnet.rorc.org

ICAP Leopard smashes Rolex Fastnet Race record (from Kate Fairclough)

Taking line honours an incredible nine hours faster than previous holder

ICAP Leopard, the Farr designed 100 foot super maxi yacht owned by Mike Slade, today smashed the Rolex Fastnet Race monohull record. Sailing in brutal seas and winds of up to 40 knots, which have forced 186 yachts to retire from the race, ICAP Leopard completed the 608 mile course in just one day, 20 hours, 18 minutes and 53 seconds. Beating the previous record by an incredible eight hours and 50 minutes, ICAP Leopard crossed the Rolex Fastnet Race finish line in Plymouth, UK, at 08:53:53 BST this morning.

The Rolex Fastnet Race started off Cowes, Isle of Wight, on 13th August, following a 25 hour delay to the start of this classic race due to the forecasted adverse weather conditions. Skippered by Mike Slade and racing with a professional crew comprised of several Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup sailors, ICAP Leopard excelled in the windy conditions. Rounding the Fastnet Rock at 18:00:38 BST last night, the cutting edge super yacht shot back across the Irish Sea, to the finish line in Plymouth via Bishop’s Rock on the southern tip of the Isles of Scilly.

The Rolex Fastnet Race was ICAP Leopard’s first competitive offshore race. The previous record holder was Ross Field’s 80 foot maxi yacht RF Yachting, who in 1999 finished the race in two days, five hours and eight minutes. Several more boats finishing today are likely to better RF Yachting’s record this year.

To spice things up in this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race, Mike Slade, owner of ICAP Leopard, and his Kiwi adversary Neville Crichton, owner of Alfa Romeo, placed a wager based on which of the two yachts will be the first to cross the finish line in Plymouth. As they retired from the race on Monday evening, Alfa Romeo will be donating £5,000 to the Ellen MacArthur Trust, which gives children suffering from serious illnesses the opportunity to go sailing.

Mike Slade, Chief Executive of London based property company Helical Bar plc commented: “What a race. We’re absolutely delighted to have shattered the Rolex Fastnet Race record. To finish almost nine hours faster than Ross Field’s 1999 record is fantastic. The crew of ICAP Leopard did a fantastic job of sailing this beast very fast but safely. ICAP Leopard handled really well in the strong winds and sailed beautifully. In this time of celebration for us, my condolences to those yachts who have been forced to retire from this year’s race, especially Alfa Romeo.”

ICAP Leopard’s star studded crew included Volvo Ocean Race veteran Jules Salter as tactician and navigator. Gordon Maguire, who has sailed four Whitbread/Volvo Ocean Races, was a key member of the afterguard providing support to both Mike and Jules tactically. Also racing were fellow Volvo Ocean Race sailors Jason Carrington, and Justin Slattery, as well as Alinghi’s America’s Cup winning bowman Jan Dekker and Team Shosholoza’s Paul Standbridge co-ordinating the 24 strong crew.

Update from Spirit of Weymouth (from Louay Habib)

The Fastnet Rock lighthouse at last

After two days and nights of pounding into the waves and wind The Spirit of Weymouth could finally see a light that would signal the end of 48 of the most tiring hours one could spend at sea. By 2:30 Wednesday am the sweeping beam from Fastnet Rock lighthouse was finally visible, still 20 miles away, but visible.

It would take until 5:45 am Wednesday, London Greenwich time, before we would eventually round the dramatic cliffs and tall lighthouse clinging to the side of them - and when we did it was a moment to savour. Steve White, the owner and co-captain, and David Melville, the other co-captain and I sat quietly for 45 minutes pondering our achievement as we rounded the rock and began our journey back across the Irish sea towards Land's End once more.

As we passed within a few miles of the Irish coast our cell phones fluttered to life briefly and Steve managed to talk to his wife, Kim, about how the race was going as a whole. Try as I did I could not reach My wife, Donna. We were starving for news. While we have email we have no access to the internet and had not seen another boat in the race for almost 24 hours.

We learned that of the 300 who started the race at noon on Monday 180 had dropped out on account of bad weather. We also learned that of those who remain we were, as of 6:00 am, in 15th place overall. Almost half of the 16 boats that had started the race in our fleet of Open 60s had been among those retired.

Steve says that he never likes to beat someone because they were forced to quit but I can tell he does take some satisfaction knowing that despite operating on a shoestring budget he is managing what multi million dollar sponsored campagains cannot: a challenge for the finish line. Of ourse there is still a while to go before he can brag of that achievement.

Rounding the Fastnet Rock was only the a milestone not a finish but it signalled the end of sailing into the northerly winds. As we turned the corner we would now have the wind behind us. It would mean travelling twice as fast and with only a third of the annoying motion that was making everyday life on board a nightmare to endure.

Going to the toilet, making a cup of tea, getting dressed over the previous two days was exhausting. Lift one foot up to slip it into your oilskins and you are sent flying across the floor and crashing into something with a corner sharp enough to leave a bruise. Try to go for a pee and you find more of it on yourself than in the bowl. And all this is only supplemental to sitting in the rain for hours on end while trying to sail a boat in one of the world's toughest offshore races.

The last two days have been a real test for Steve and David. Every day they have had to confront their own exhaustion, isolation and will to push on. With the worst of it now behind them I can sense some big sleeps coming on as the favourable winds carry us back to England. Still there is no time for celebration just yet. It is only the morning of the second day. There are still over 200 miles left to go and any manner of things could go wrong to delay our arrival in Plymouth in, what we hope, will be another days' time.

I'll leave it there for now. I can see the sky is clearing and I would like to try and sample some of the first Sunshine I have had in 48 hours before it turns to rain once more.

Update from Miranda Merron, 40 Degrees (from Sophy Williams)

Tuesday 14th August 2007
Well, we had a heinous night - black night, rain, nasty sea, and lots of wind. We had 3 reefs and the storm jib for much of the latter part of the night. Unfortunately didn't manage to make Lizard before the SW shift, so lost some ground there. Now we are trucking along in sunshine and 20-25 knots, lots of water over the deck. However, tonight we will be treated to a low pressure system, big shift to the NW before we get to Fastnet, and lots of wind, cross-sea, rain etc. Once we get round the rock, we should have a decent ride to Plymouth. We have heard that a lot of boats have retired, and when we are getting our second spanking in a few hours, we will no doubt be envious of those safely in port! We are sampling our new freeze-dried and the chicken tikka and korma have been approved by the first tasting commission. That's all from 40 Degrees. Miranda

Wednesday 15th August 2007
Unbelievably we have some sunshine and reasonably flat seas after another few hours under storm jib and 3 reefs - this time though Fraser suggested going to storm jib before the wind hit (we knew it was imminent with the huge shift to the north west). The waves were still from the southwest, so really bumpy. Don't know if anyone got much sleep. We are about 12 miles from the Fastnet Rock, which is of course dead upwind!! We are all looking forward to getting round and putting the spinnaker up and heading downwind. We might even tidy the inside of the boat, which has kit everywhere after 2 days of wet, bouncy sailing. X Miranda

Paul Peggs and Simon Curwen lead the way in the two handers Fastnet (from Jerry Freeman)

Paul Peggs and Simon Curwen are showing all their ocean racing experience as the lead the two handers out to Fastnet after a very tough night that saw the wind veer rapidly to the north at 0500 , Voador their J105 is currently making 7 knots over the ground heading due west on the run in to the Rock. They lay 17th overall in the fleet with just 68 boats racing after 36 hours of destruction.

Speaking on the telephone Paul said they had some minor problems during the first night with the wind peaking at 38 knots in the gusts, the boat was taking a lot of water at one time when the cockpit filled until they located a leak in a cockpit stereo speaker that was promptly sealed. In the worst gusts they rolled up the jib and sailed under deep reefed main only, the auto pilot has been doing most of the work since Portland Bill. The squalor inside the boat has been augmented by a diesel spill from a spare can that now has been banished to the aft rail, charging on starboard tack has been a problem due to air in the fuel lines but sailing on port for most of the time has solved this for the time being.

Simon and Paul gained valuable experience when racing minis in the Mini Transat and have since raced in the Round Britain Two handed and the Transquadra from France to Madeira, they are a formidable partnership and regular winners in south coast two handed races, Paul recently won the Petit Bateau solo race which also visited Fastnet just last month but in more pleasant conditions.

In hot pursuit but without a functioning tracker is Mike West in J105 Juneau, last reported off Lands End just a few miles astern of Voador, it will be interesting to see how the stealth ship has faired in the Celtic Sea in the traditional information black out?

The forecast for the Rock is strong north westerlies easing throughout Wednesday so the fleet will enjoy some easier conditions under spinnaker on the run back to Bishop Rock south of the Scillies.