23rd Jul 2009

Spirit of Isis

THE ROLEX FASTNET RACE 2009 - 'SPIRIT OF ISIS'

Race Start: 9th August 2009

The Fastnet is considered to be one of the best known offshore races in the world and was first contested in 1925. It is one of the trickiest and most demanding sporting events that an individual or a team can aspire to today. It is renowned for offering up an extreme range of conditions, from ghosting along the Solent in light summer breezes with tacticians forced to work hard to gain small advantages, to potentially gear-breaking and treacherous conditions in the western approaches to the English Channel and Irish Sea.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Fastnet, a race that was hit by what has since been described as "the deadliest storm in the history of modern sailing" and claimed the lives of 17 sailors.

In order to compete our crew has already had to compete in over 300 miles of RORC offshore racing this year, the most exciting of which was the Cowes - Dinard - St.Malo Race (10th-12th July) where the crew enjoyed chicken curry and something resembling spaghetti bolognese (in a blender) in a rather wobbly force 6-7 across the shipping lane. I am sure that the Fastnet will be a great character building experience for the crew with the now standard westerly force sevens and midnight sail changes on a boat yawing, pitching and rolling simultaneously. I do hope we get beef wellington this time!

The Route
We will sail South West down the Solent, past the Needles and out into the English Channel. We then sail past the headlands along the South Coast of England - Anvil Point, Portland Bill, Start Point, The Lizard, Lands End - and then will make our way out into open ocean and the leg North West across the Irish Sea to the Fastnet Rock ("The Rock") with its lighthouse off the South West of Cork. The return leg to Plymouth, via Bishop Rock Lighthouse on the South side of the Scilly Isles, should be very demanding, as fatigue and competition will undoubtedly take their toll.

It may take 3 days....it may take 6......as long as we don't run out of chicken curry, who cares!


At least 300 yachts will start on the morning of August 9th from in front of the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes, Isle of Wight. Among them will be our Farr 65 'Spirit of Isis'. Another 2 matched Farr 65s, Juno and Minerva, are also competing. These boats are built for serious conditions and we are all confident that with our combined experience we are ready for this race.

Please follow our progress online from 9th August by going to FLEET TRACKING on the RORC website below and look for 'SPIRIT OF ISIS':
www.fastnet.rorc.org

We would like to thank those who helped us raise almost £1,400 for Sail 4 Cancer in 2007 and hope that you will all give generously again this year as the crew of Spirit of Isis take on The Rolex Fastnet Race 2009.

Thank You!

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