Fastnet 2019

[Livia]

Gauging interest by the number of posts on SA (hardly scientific, I know), I find it surprising that the Sydney to Hobart has a bigger following than the Fastnet, considering the contrasting number of participants and variety of boats in two similar length coastal/offshore races.... or perhaps its just countless posts by a fewer number of subscribers that skews the statistics...

Might be because the Hobart has more cheats so more to talk about.

Hang on forgot about French IRC ratings

Sorry

 

[Gorn FRANTIC!!]

Yeah thought Witty was smarter than that?    Rambler was a new build purpose project whereas Scallywag is a bitzer. Take off the Elliot hull and glue on the Dovell hull off course limited by the deck design and other factors. I think Rambler at 100 feet would be on par with Comanche . Be interesting to know what beam Rambler would end up with if she was designed as a 100?

Your first mistake was thinking Witty is smart.

That was the interview of a man who's just had his arse handed to him by a boat 12ft short, almost got beaten by a boat 30ft shorter across the Atlantic about a month ago, fucked their Carribean campaign and a $300k mainsail on the start line of the first race in that regatta, and now has to go tell the owner that all the money he's just spent on a new keep plus other mods they've done to the boat haven't helped and will most likely need to spend even more to try and be anything other than 4th (maybe 5th) on line honours in the upcoming Hobart.

He's probably starting to worry that he isnt far off having to find another wealthy owner to fleece and leech off to maintain his lifestyle.

 

[DtM]

Harsh but true.

 

[Fiji Bitter]

Bit of video on board Macif, starring a relaxed Jimmy Spithill. 

Courtesy Voiles et Voliers:

https://voilesetvoiliers.ouest-france.fr/course-au-large/fastnet-race/videos-quand-deux-maxi-trimarans-se-croisent-a-35-noeuds-chaud-2063749c-b91c-11e9-b7ad-c427b7b0ae9a

 

[mad]

Your first mistake was thinking Witty is smart.

That was the interview of a man who's just had his arse handed to him by a boat 12ft short, almost got beaten by a boat 30ft shorter across the Atlantic about a month ago, fucked their Carribean campaign and a $300k mainsail on the start line of the first race in that regatta, and now has to go tell the owner that all the money he's just spent on a new keep plus other mods they've done to the boat haven't helped and will most likely need to spend even more to try and be anything other than 4th (maybe 5th) on line honours in the upcoming Hobart.

He's probably starting to worry that he isnt far off having to find another wealthy owner to fleece and leech off to maintain his lifestyle.

Harsh but true.

Just an honest appraisal. 

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Spare a thought for the boats that are still out there, the likes of Agamemnon with DTF of 177Nm doing 2.4Kts, while all the boats near the Scillies and the Lizard are doing less than 0.5kts.  Several boats are predicted to be out there until 9th Aug.  Good perseverance.

 

[P_Wop]

I was having a few sombre moments this week thinking of the fun we had (?*&?!%##@%!!!!) in the 1979 one.  Holy buggery, was that 40 years ago?  I feel ancient.

 

[Fiji Bitter]

He's probably starting to worry that he isnt far off having to find another wealthy owner to fleece and leech off to maintain his lifestyle.

Harsh but true.

Just an honest appraisal. 

Harsh and not true, and not honest, as it seems to be born out of envy and hate.

Do you realize that Witty did an absolute gruelling Volvo campaign, and was pretty much burned out when I saw him at the finish in The Hague? He then almost immediately had to get this Scallywag ready for the S2H, get new sails, break stuff and immediately ship it to the US, do the Antigua week, a transatlantic, and then the Fastnet, and now move to the Med. Meanwhile they also acquired and raced the Orma 60, and are also looking into the Imoca 60 for the TOR. And I believe he, and don't forget his team and PBO in all this, set up a sailing foundation for under privileged kids in Hong Kong.

Calling that job "to fleece and leech off (the owner) to maintain his lifestyle." is just ridiculous and actually highly offensive to him and actually to all hardworking pro skippers.

Gorn, are you a pro sailor working for peanuts, or just a lake sailor, or just  a Jeerker Jerker? 

 

[Cuffy]

Spare a thought for the boats that are still out there, the likes of Agamemnon with DTF of 177Nm doing 2.4Kts, while all the boats near the Scillies and the Lizard are doing less than 0.5kts.  Several boats are predicted to be out there until 9th Aug.  Good perseverance.

I have a friend on Grand Slam with 150nm still to go, could be a bumpy finish for them. Current forecast giving gusts to 45

 

[BoatSlut]

Can anyone explain the divisions/classes in Fastnet? 

I see boat designs (e.g J109) spread across multiple divisions. 

 

[hoppy]

Hang on forgot about French IRC ratings

Ok this is the second reference to this in the past couple of days.. 

Please enlighten.... 

 

[Quagers]

Can anyone explain the divisions/classes in Fastnet? 

I see boat designs (e.g J109) spread across multiple divisions. 

Simple split based on IRC handicap ratings.

The J109s arent all in one design spec and so will have different ratings, if the 109 is near the cut off this might push them into different classes.

 

[Quagers]

Ok this is the second reference to this in the past couple of days.. 

Please enlighten.... 

There is a commonly held believe among a subset of the Solent yachting community that the IRC measurers in France and the French designers/yards might be....friendly.

I have no idea whether it's true or not. But plenty of people believe it.

 

[mad]

There is a commonly held believe among a subset of the Solent yachting community that the IRC measurers in France and the French designers/yards might be....friendly.

I have no idea whether it's true or not. But plenty of people believe it.

Its been talked about for at least 25 years   h34r:

 

[Laser1]

It’s a visiting vessel ffs! Get a grip. 

Like the olden days.  Rock up, stick the Q flag up and hide the booze & fags, offer mr. Customs man a sherbert.

Imagine if they have a sherbert on a couple of 100 boats in Cows & Hamble prior to the Fastnet  :lol:

 

[mad]

Like the olden days.  Rock up, stick the Q flag up and hide the booze & fags, offer mr. Customs man a sherbert.

Imagine if they have a sherbert on a couple of 100 boats in Cows & Hamble prior to the Fastnet  :lol:

In the old days you had to go and find them in the pub to let them know you wanted to clear. 

 

[Fiji Bitter]

There is a commonly held believe among a subset of the Solent yachting community that the IRC measurers in France and the French designers/yards might be....friendly.

I have no idea whether it's true or not. But plenty of people believe it.

Its been talked about for at least 25 years   h34r:

Most measurers are beyond any suspicion, no matter what country they are from. They are also friendly, period. I may have seen some who did not search the boat for hidden weights, or did not check the mainsail when it was raining, but that is not necessarily their task. That are the owners and/or their representatives who are cheating, and that happens in all countries, but maybe in some more than others... I am not gone give you my personal list of worst countries, but I can tell you the frogs are not very high on that list.

So in short, it's ok to make fun of the frogs, but totally unfair to take it seriously, and it's all sour grapes anyway.

 

[DamnSkippy]

Is there a crew list for Wizard? Who was onboard, great job!

 

[Panoramix]

IRC 2 first place a JPK 1180, 3 out of 4 top places are JPK's. 
IRC 3 1st place a JPK 1030, 6 out of the top 7 places are JPK's.
IRC 4 1st place a JPK 1010 and 5 out of the top 8 boats are JPK's

Fairly certain these are the finish results this time and not to the rock (I may be dumb but not unteachable! ).  My past incorrect reports of finishes is probably the reason why I haven't been contacted by the RC to handle PR.  I'll bet I'll still get access to SailGP before the ed though!   Especially when I tell them I have up to 150+ Facebook followers I reach daily and at least 5 of them care about sailing.  Joking aside, it's absurd SailGP is being so incredibly stingy about press passes.  They refused a local photographer and website publisher here in San Francisco access when they came through also.  Ridiculous if you ask me, one thing sailing doesn't suffer from is over exposure to the public.  Just my 2 cents and a bit of a thread drift though...

Jacques Valer (the designer) is an impressive guy. It is also the victory of pencil over computer as he does a lot of his designing from first principles.

There is a commonly held believe among a subset of the Solent yachting community that the IRC measurers in France and the French designers/yards might be....friendly.

I have no idea whether it's true or not. But plenty of people believe it.

Sour grapes!

The reality is that the French crews train regularly, keep optimising their boats, quite often at home they end up racing pros / semi pros (figaro and mini sailors), and there are even semi pro sailors who crew on Corinthian boats and that there are good designers who keep raising their game as the the competition between designers and yards is intense.

 

[Laser1]

Tail enders in for a bit of a pasting tomorrow am. Fortunately on the beam. Hope they get to Plymouth okay.