Shortly before the sun set over the Atlantic on Tuesday evening, the time had come: the first monohull, the ClubSwan 125 "Skorpios", sailed across the finish line of this year's Rolex Fastnet Race at 8.15 pm local time. The crew needed 2 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes and 55 seconds to complete the 695 nautical mile course from Cowes in the south to Cherbourg in France.
It was the first race in which the new ship with the sail number MON 001 of Dmitry Rybolovlev took part. It was also a first for the owner himself: according to a statement from the organiser, the Russian entrepreneur and multi-billionaire was on board himself - for the first time in an offshore regatta. "Rounding the Fastnet Rock was somehow magical, it felt like a very special moment," he was quoted as saying after the race.
"Skorpios" skipper Fernando Echávarri was particularly relieved at the finish: "We had an idea of what the boat could do, but we didn't know exactly. We learnt a lot from this race."
Despite stormy conditions during the start, the ship was able to hold its own, according to Echávarri. Especially when the wind dropped after around 12 hours, the Swan showed its qualities and was the first to round the Fastnet Rock off the southern Irish coast after around 30 hours.
Overall, the "Skorpios" crew managed to prevail over the entire race against a strong Imoca fleet and the former Fastnet winner, the "Rambler 88" of US-American George David.
The The first ship to cross the finish line in Cherbourg was the Ultime-Tri "Maxi Edmond de Rothschild". In a record time of 1 day, 9 hours and 15 minutes, it completed the course of the world's largest offshore race on Monday.
Meanwhile, the first German crew is approaching the finish line: the offshore yacht "Varuna VI" is currently (as of 11 a.m.) a few miles west of the offshore island of St Anne in 16th place in the overall ranking of the monohulls. According to calculations, the KER 56 is expected to reach the finish line at around 2 p.m. local time.
The Volvo Open 70 "Hypr" skippered by Jens Lindner is currently in 18th place. The sailing group Störtebeker on the Carkeek 47 of the Hamburgischer Verein Seefahrt has dropped back to 30th place.
The provisional Results and a live tracker can be found on the Fastnet Race website.
