Class40s head uphill for final miles of Rolex Fastnet Race

After 72 hours of racing, the Class40 fleet face beating to the finish for the final 70 miles following a predominantly offwind leg from Fastnet Rock to the Scilly Isles.

With less than 200 miles of the 2011 Rolex Fastnet Course remaining, the leading Class40 pack in the 17-boat fleet compressed even further with the lead constantly changing as the group lined-up in the Celtic Sea to round the Isles of Scilly, 70 miles to the south-east. At 14:30 on Tuesday, French skipper, Tanguy de Lamotte and Initiatives – Alex Olivier, took poll position from Michel Kleinjans and his Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR) crew on Roaring Forty 2, bringing the Belgian-British team’s uninterrupted 48-hour spell at the front of the Class40 fleet to an end, until Francesco Piva and the Italian team with Peraspera took the lead, only to be usurped by Ross and Campbell Field’s New Zealand GOR entry, BSL at 16:30.

By the late afternoon, only four miles separated the front five boats with Mathias Mueller von Blumencron’s Red holding fifth place, six miles ahead of the double-handed Concise 2. The second wave of Class40’s also remained tight, led by the Netherlands team on Moonpalace in 7th, trailing the British duo on Concise 2 by 13 miles, with Axel Strauss on the German Class40 Tzu Hang; Andrew Dawson’s British entry Spliff; French yachtswoman, Catherine Pourre, with Eärwen; Benoit Daval with the French Class40 Techneau and Julian Metherell’s British team on MAXVMG spread over ten miles.

Read the full update on the Global Ocean Race website.