Fastnet race 2021

Here is the video of the start (yesterday) of the Fastnet race 2021, upwind by 23 knots of wind, the opportunity to have a review of the designs of the racing monohulls in all classes, first start of the monohulls (Class Imoca and Class 40) at about 1:00:00
LIVE: Rolex Fastnet Race 2021 - The Start - YouTube

 

The tracking here below. Amazing performance of the Imoca 60' Apivia (Charlie Dalin, Paul Meilhat) in upwind conditions, presently side to side with Skorpios (a 139' maxi yacht), ahead of Rambler 88 (the monohull winner of the 2019 race), and ahead by a distance of the other Imoca of the likes of Charal, Arkea Paprec, Initiatice Coeur and Hugo Boss.
2021 Tracking Player (rolexfastnetrace.com)

 

That race is amazing!
A 100' trimaran Gitana 17 took line honours in only 33 hours, to cover 700+ miles - she was really shifting!
Maxi Edmond de Rothschild takes line honours in Rolex Fastnet Race - Yachting World https://www.yachtingworld.com/fastnet-race/maxi-edmond-de-rothschild-takes-line-honours-in-rolex-fastnet-race-133626

Here she is on Marinetraffic -
MAXI SOLO GITANA 17 (Sailing Vessel) Registered in France - Vessel details, Current position and Voyage information - IMO 0, MMSI 227498430, Call Sign FAE6509 https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:5139316/mmsi:227498430/imo:0/vessel:MAXI_SOLO_GITANA_17/

A quote from the article above -
"Having blasted out of the Solent as far south as Alderney, the Maxi Edmond de Rothschild trimaran set up on a long port fetch towards Ireland, tacking around the Rock at 0800am. From there, they lit the afterburners, topping 40 knots on a fast reach back towards the Scillies."

And a video -


I sailed in the Fastnet in 1993 on an old S & S yawl - it also started on a Sunday then, and the old race was about 100 miles shorter on the rhumb line distance, and we arrived in Plymouth on the Friday morning. This was after a long beat out to the Rock from the Scillies, and then a fast reach (10 knots average) from the Fastnet to the Bishop.
It was all very different then compared to sailing on these big trimarans now.

 

Here is another video showing the spectacular start in upwind and rough sea state conditions :

 

Apiva's performance was outstanding.

The speed of the multis was, of course, outstanding but in some ways the really interesting issue is that despite years of Fastnet entries and the big French scene, the multis are still very small in numbers.

As with ORC racing, the Transquadra etc, the mass and growth area of the fleet lies in the conventional production racer/cruisers of around 11m. One wonders how much bigger that grass-roots sector could grow if it got publicity in line with its popularity.

The Figaro IIIs did very poorly, all of them getting beaten across the line by boats like J/99 and JPKs and being barely ahead of an X332. They are currently rated at the same speed as the Farr Mumm 30 by the French national system.

Stormvogel made it to 7th overall despite apparently only having dacron sails!

 

What a great race!
I am looking for the contenders in the 1928 Fastnet Race, NIÑA was the winner. Looking for some models for a watercolor painting of a couple of staysail schooners at either Fastnet Rock, The Needles, or some iconic landmark along the race course.

 

I've got the history of the Fastnet by Ian Dear and Loomis' 1940s classic Ocean Racing, which has a few pages on it. Not many of the other entries were that well known. Sherman Hoyt also writes of it in his autobiography, IIRC; he was on Nina.

Other notable entries were the inevitable Jolie Brise, Ilex (plans in one of Uffa's books), Mohawk (60' Alden schooner), and the converted 12 Metre Noreen (retired). Nina was back in the pack at the Needles but well ahead thereafter, although she did come past Mohawk when Nina was on her way back from the Rock, when Mohawk was "Snoring along" with the sun on her ballooner and a bone in her teeth. There's also a pic in Dear's book of Nina, Mohawk and Neptune very close together just after the start.

 

From The Nina https://loiselsden.com/2013/06/30/the-nina/

 

Nina
https://www.boatdesign.net/gallery/burgess-nina-1928.20666/full?d=1493446675

 

CT249
Thanks,
Ian Dear has a great selection of books on large yachts I love the old America Cup stuff..

Tiny Trunip,
Thanks also,
Its helps to have as many stories about a subject as possible when you plan on spending many hours over a canvas.