Due process Club page
RORC
In November 2019 the RORC Committee announced its bold decision to move the Rolex Fastnet race finish to Cherbourg. It recognised such a decision might provoke controversy, and certainly could be unpopular with strict traditionalists and those with strong connections to Plymouth. Concern was voiced loudly and regularly on social media and in other forums. A group of particularly pas- sionate RORC members believed the very fabric of the club had been compromised and called for an EGM to challenge the decision. One could understand the concern. The RORC was founded on the back of the first Fastnet Race in 1925 and the event had, but
for one occasion, always finished in Plymouth. To some Plymouth is regarded as synonymous with the race, just as Hobart and Bermuda are with their eponymous 600-mile classic races. The call for an EGM lost some momentum when the pandemic
restricted group activity earlier this year. It was felt that this enforced period of reflection might allow more time for the reasons behind the move to a finish venue that could take the burgeoning fleet to be better understood and for concerns to diminish. This was not to be and in December an EGM was held after the
RORC’s AGM via Zoom. Some 378 members registered for the meeting and arguments for and against were heard, with both the Commodore and Admiral maintaining that the club’s elected committee should not be restricted in what decisions it can make and that moving the Fastnet finish to Cherbourg was both in the spirit of the founders’ original thinking and the ongoing best interests of the race itself. All three resolu- tions proposed went in favour of the committee by clear margins.
Plymouth We need to look back to see why there was a perceived need to move away from Ply- mouth. When I first joined the club in 2008 the Fastnet fin- ish was hosted at Queen Anne’s Battery Marina. Although only a short walk to the city, the real atmosphere was always over the water in the fashionable and popular Barbican area, the original centre of Plymouth and from where the Pilgrim Fathers set off to settle in America 400 years ago.
The Barbican is chock full of restaurants and bars and is a great
place for a fleet of sailors to swap their stories in the aftermath of a gruelling race. It became apparent that redeveloped Sutton Har- bour Marina, the old fishing harbour right next to the Barbican, would therefore be an ideal alternative for berthing the fleet. The 2009 race was limited to 300 boats and, with increasing
interest from the Imoca 60 class (11 boats), Class40 (19 boats) and big multihulls, only 268 places were available for the IRC fleet that is the mainstay of the Rolex Fastnet Race. Despite its location Sutton Harbour came with problems. The
Top: post-Fastnet Plymouth, convivial but logistically challenging. Above: another reason to move the Fastnet finish is that all sailing boats (yes, even the restored classics) go faster in 2021 than in 1925 – something not everybody seemed to have taken onboard – making the slightly longer course appropriate to staying current. Here Eddie Warden Owen greets 2019 line honours winners Frank Cammas and Charles Caudrelier on Gitana 17 who beat François Gabart’s Macif home by 58 seconds. Gitana finished in 28 hours so for these Frenchies, at least, a few extra hours to Cherbourg in return for a decent meal (for once) would not have been a hardship
78 SEAHORSE
marina had limited space and is accessed by a lock gate, the shower and changing facilities required by 2,000-plus sailors were difficult to locate, and the 24-hour bar and restaurant organised for the event decided that it did not need the additional business servicing thirsty sailors at the end of a long hard slog home from the rock and closed at midnight. We persevered for two editions at Sutton Harbour, setting up our own crew bar sponsored by Pantaenius on Commercial Wharf to guarantee 24-hour food and beverages. We also increased shower and toilet facilities ourselves. For the 2011 edition the 300-boat limit was reached in 10 days
– a record at that time – and with many IRC boats on the waiting list a decision was made to remove the ‘professional’ boats (Imoca, Class40 and multihulls) from the limit to make room for at least 30 more IRC boats.
PAUL WYETH
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