RORC 2023 ROLEX FASTNET RACE Pre-Start Report Cowes Isle OF Wight

Please Subscribe, Share, Like and check the Uploads Alerts Bell. Momentum is building towards todays start of the 50th Rolex Fastnet Race. More and more boats are arriving in Cowes and to moorings and berths across the Solent. Meanwhile an armada had left from Cherbourg and numerous ports around the Breton coast. All are aiming to get to the vicinity of the Cowes start line in good order prior to the first starts of the Royal Ocean Racing Club’s special anniversary race at 1300 B S T. Of great concern to all is the start and opening part of the race being a brutal re-run of the 2021 Rolex Fastnet Race. At yesterday’s skippers briefing French meteorologist and offshore yacht race routing expert Christian Dumard, said the forecasts for start time were showing 20-25 knots upwind from the southwest out in the central Solent. The wind would build as the ebb tide gained momentum in the western Solent. By the time boats reached the Needles Channel, (frankly not long in the case of the large trimarans and the Imocas setting sail first), the wind would have accelerated to 35 knots, possibly gusting to 40.