On the move Club page
RORC
The announcement that the Rolex Fastnet Race was moving to Cherbourg came as a bombshell to some, no surprise to others and was welcomed by many. It was a decision long in the making and one that the RORC committee agonised over given the long history and tradition that goes with the race finishing in Plymouth. The increasing popularity of the race – such that it has become a must-do challenge on the bucket list of budding offshore sailors and adventurers – is a tribute to the hard work of the media teams that work for the RORC and Rolex and the ability through modern communication methods to get stories across to the mass public. In many areas of activity we have seen an increasingly keen interest
in endurance challenges – iron man, triathlon, Everest, visiting the icy poles – that were unthinkable for the ordinary man 20 to 30 years ago but are all now possible. The increasing demand for places in the Clipper Round the World Race highlights this drive for adventure. Rounding the Fastnet Rock and completing the course is another one of those once exotic challenges that, with the right skills, training and preparation, are now within reach. The demand for places in the Fastnet Race has
been on the increase since I started in this post in 2008, when there was a limit of 300 boats for the 2009 race and the limit was reached in 10 days. In 2011 we reached the 300 limit in 24 hours, had 100 boats on the waiting list and to make more room the club decided to remove the non-IRC boats from the limit. So in theory the limit had been artificially raised by the number of non-IRC boats that took part. In 2013 the race sold out in 24 minutes but we
had so many RORC members on the waiting list that the committee increased the limit to 340 boats. This limit has remained in place for the last two editions and the number of boats on the waiting list has increased to the extent that last year we had 150 boats wanting to do the race after it had sold out – this time in less than five minutes. The record number of starters has been broken in the last two editions because of the increasing interest of the non-IRC fleet of Imocas, Class40s and multihulls who race for their own class trophies. Why the limit? It has all to do with berthing
because if we did not have tight control on the numbers of boats berthing in Plymouth it would be the true Corinthians, the families racing their ‘Non- such 36’ who would be the ones to suffer. Imagine taking five days to do the race and arrive in Plymouth only to find that there is ‘no room at the inn’. RORC race management and Plymouth Yacht
totally professional in their approach, agreeing to supply everything that we need to run the finish of the race. Cherbourg will host the event through four partnerships: the City of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the Communauté d’agglomération du Cotentin, the Conseil Départe- mental de la Manche and the Normandy region. The French understand destination marketing and what is not
written in the contract is the unbridled enthusiasm of the French public for ocean racing and on-the-water adventure. Witness the start of the Vendée Globe, TJV and Route du Rhum where hundreds of thousands of the public come to visit the race village to rub shoulders with the sailors. The experience for the Fastnet sailors of 2021 will be very different from what they are used to, with the whole fleet berthed in the centre of the city including the ability to include the Imoca 60s, Class40s and multihulls. The committee has accepted a two-event contract with Cherbourg, for 2021 and 2023, leaving open the opportunity for Plymouth to
Haven have never let anyone down. We got close to saturation in 2017… but the team at Plymouth pulled together, moving boats around and somehow finding an extra 10 places for the last few finishers. Plymouth has the ability to absorb a big fleet but in different
marinas spread out around Plymouth Sound and being in Mount- batten marina is not in the city – not in the historic Barbican where everyone wants to be. The Race Village is an expensive ‘band aid’ to keep weary sailors together and satisfy their need to share recent experiences; old hands are used to the temporary structures and poor shower facilities but newcomers expect more and better and we are always looking to improve the experience for the competitor and interest the general public. After all, it is the biggest offshore race in the world.
Cherbourg There was nowhere else on the UK south coast that could berth the burgeoning fleet we had – and we did explore other options. It was only through a chance conversation that Cherbourg came into the picture. They were keen to put in a proposal and have been
That’ll save me a few bob… not only did British offshore racing’s hardest-working and most loyal and enthusiastic supporter, Janet Grosvenor, receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the RORC’s 2019 awards ceremony in London, Janet was also elected an Honorary Life Member – an honour shared only with a tiny handful of sailors like Ben Ainslie, Ellen MacArthur and Robin Knox-Johnston and a good portion of European royalty. After joining RORC in 1969 as receptionist Janet rose to eventually become race manager – and has always been one of the most helpful and well-informed officials to be found at any major ocean racing competition; her brave call to delay the start of the 2007 Rolex Fastnet, so that a 300-plus fleet hit a looming major storm in the English Channel, not the Irish Sea, was inspired by her painful experience of the 1979 Fastnet tragedy. But given 200 boats would retire from that 2007 race her courage in the face of so much tradition proved priceless
resolve their infrastructure problems and bid for the 2025 edition – which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the race and the found- ing of the RORC. But not all members and sailors have agreed with the decision and the committee expected that. It says a lot for the passion that members have for the club and the history of the race that they voice their displeasure through email, social media and in person to the flag officers. Offshore racing is more popular than it has ever been and it behoves
the club to do the best it can to harness and nurture that popularity. Change needs to be made while a race is popular and not when it has started to decline, which is often the way with reactive organi- sations. We know there is a lot of work to do but it is not as if we’ve not moved before. Sutton Harbour, Queen Anne’s Battery and Mount- batten have all been tried in Plymouth, with the Plymouth Yacht Haven being the most successful. In Cherbourg we will have a language difference to deal with but the enthusiasm for the race and the passion of the French public are what will win over any remaining doubters. Eddie Warden-Owen, CEO
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