The RORC Race Office announced during yesterday (Saturday) afternoon’s Race & Weather briefing that the Rolex Fastnet Race start will be postponed for 25 hours due to the continued severe weather warning issued by the UK Met office. The first start for the 300 boat fleet will be Monday 13 August at 1100 BST. The postponement is a first in the 83-year history of the race. The decision was made after consideration of the severe weather warnings issued by the UK Met Office, in order to ensure that the fleet is not in the exposed waters of the Western Channel and the Celtic Sea at the time that the predicted weather is expected.

RORC Racing Manager, Janet Grosvenor said: “it remains the RORC policy to start the race when it is safe to do so and the responsibility for a boat’s decision to participate in the race or to continue racing is hers alone.” With the forecast boding a fast race, plans for the finish in Plymouth remain in place with the prizegiving scheduled for Friday17th August at the historic Royal Citadel.

Most sailing pundits are eagerly anticipating the match-up between the stunning 30 metre canting keelers, Mike Slade’s brand-new Farr-designed ICAP Leopard and Neville Crichton’s latest Reichel Pugh-designed Alfa Romeo, which has had a string of wins since her launch two years ago.

The Fastnet is respected even in beautiful weather maybe because of its slightly gloomy air and its history rich in sinister episodes. The lighthouse was built in 1848 in the midst of the Victorian Age. It is just four miles off the south coast of Ireland, a short distance which is however potentially rich in surprises for those who dare to sail this small stretch of sea.
 

The Fastnet fortress was built to make sailing towards the commercial harbours of Cork and Dublin safer. The tower rises 40 metres out of the water and the signal can be seen 28 miles away. It is the furthermost point of Irish territory, the only land to the west being the United States. The lighthouse that now tops the Fastnet fortress is not the original version as designed by Irish engineer George Halpin, on commission from the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of  Dublin, which financed the project with 18 thousand sterling. In 1881, a storm tore away the highest part of the lighthouse and the go-ahead was given for rebuilding 10 years later. The work was concluded in 1904 with the first illumination on June 21 1904. To make the light strong enough to resist the strength of the sea, 4,633 tonnes of granite were used. An immense and complex job.

Since 1925 not only has the lighthouse been an important point of reference for safeguarding people at sea, but it is also the buoy to round in the Fastnet regatta that departs from Cowes and arrives in Plymouth. Around the Fastnet rocks, the weather is unpredictable, also because of its geographical position which makes it easy prey for the Azores anticyclone and the banks of cloud and turbulent fronts that often arrive from the Atlantic with surprising speed.