20:00 Sunday 27 July 2025
After a frustratingly light crossing of the Celtic Sea, the Tom Laperche-skippered Ultim trimaran SVR Lazartigue was first to round the Rolex Fastnet Race’s landmark, the Fastnet Rock off southwest Ireland, this afternoon at 15:22:53 BST. However her elapsed time of 1 day 4 hours 2 minutes 53 seconds was some way off her 19 hours 4 minutes 31 seconds time two years ago when she was en route to set the present day race record.
Laperche reported in from the Rock: “We’ve done quite a few manoeuvres. We started the day in little wind and now we’re sailing at 35 knots, flying downwind. We should keep the gennaker – our largest sail – up until Cherbourg. There are tactics to be taken to make the right gybes to get back down to the English Channel.Laperche reported in from the Rock: “We’ve done quite a few manoeuvres. We started the day in little wind and now we’re sailing at 35 knots, flying downwind. We should keep the gennaker – our largest sail – up until Cherbourg. There are tactics to be taken to make the right gybes to get back down to the English Channel.
“We’re really happy with what we have been able to accomplish together. To have the boat ready for this start, to sail with six of us, to have a nice start, to make a nice passage to the Fastnet Rock, and to round the Fastnet in the lead again with the SVR Lazartigue trimaran. We’ve ticked all those off! “We’re really happy with what we have been able to accomplish together. To have the boat ready for this start, to sail with six of us, to have a nice start, to make a nice passage to the Fastnet Rock, and to round the Fastnet in the lead again with the SVR Lazartigue trimaran. We’ve ticked all those off!
“Now we’re going to try to stay ahead. I know the others are going to make it difficult for us, which makes for a great race. There’s Banque Populaire and Actual Ultim 4, who aren’t far behind, and Sodebo who’s going to accelerate. The race is far from over.”“Now we’re going to try to stay ahead. I know the others are going to make it difficult for us, which makes for a great race. There’s Banque Populaire and Actual Ultim 4, who aren’t far behind, and Sodebo who’s going to accelerate. The race is far from over.”
Banque Populaire rounded the Fastnet Rock in 1 day 5 hours 11 minutes © James Tomlinson/RORC
SVR Lazartigue was followed by the Armel le Cleac’h-skippered Banque Populaire which rounded in 1 day 5 hours 11 minutes. Before they rounded, Sam Goodchild reported in: “We’re doing 10 knots, which is basically drifting. The Irish Sea hasn’t been very kind to us. SVR is 15 miles ahead and we’re trying to play catch up from what we lost along the South Coast. We managed to catch up with Actual, which was good, and now SVR. I think their lead stretched out to 25 miles, but now we’ve come back in.”
While slow in the Celtic Sea, they were fast sailing down the English South Coast, initially upwind at 17 knots, but then 30+ once the wind veered into the north allowing them to crack sheets.
However the Ultims haven’t had it all their own way and up until Start Point, the upgraded MOD70s had had the edge on them. “They’re a bit more manoeuvrable so they can play with shifts a bit more, plus we made a mistake going offshore,” continued Goodchild. “Being a bit more manoeuvrable maybe opened up a few more options and they played it well, looking for the new northwesterly coming in in Lyme Bay. They made us work to get past them.”
Having previously raced on Sodebo and on the giant 40m non-foiling trimaran Spindrift 2, this is an early experience for Goodchild on Banque Populaire. “Leaving the Solent and going 30 knots upwind at 50? TWA, I wasn’t expecting! They’re incredible. On board everyone’s in good form. We’d prefer to be leading, but no one’s grumpy. Everyone’s trying to go fast and find the right way through the conditions, which are pretty unstable.”
While in light conditions encountering a foul Alderney Race can prove disastrous on slower boats, on Ultims this is less the case: “You obviously keep an eye on it… but sometimes it’s even the opposite, because in wind against the tide that gives you more wind, and sometimes you go quicker and actually prefer to go against the tide than with the tide. The speed difference is so big with such a small wind gain, obviously wind is key.”
Anthony Marchand’s Actual Ultim 4 rounded in 1 day 5 hours 50 minutes 36 seconds with Thomas Coville’s Sodebo 3 bringing up the rear among the Ultims in 1 day 6 hours 54 minutes 56 seconds.
Four Ultims set sail from Cowes © James Tomlinson/RORC
Behind and still in the hunt were the upgraded MOD70s. Of these Erik Maris’ Zoulou was ahead and lining up to reach the Fastnet Rock early evening. However earlier they too were having hard time (in foiling trimaran terms) ‘only’ making 10 knots.
“It’s been a bit of a game of snakes and ladders up the Irish Sea, but we’re sort of having a nice duel with Actual and Sodebo at the moment,” reported Zoulou’s British crewman Ned Collier Wakefield. The French MOD70 made a great gain diving deep into Lyme Bay, aided by the lighter conditions: “As soon as the Ultims drop off their foils it’s kind of a much of a muchness. We’re a little bit more manoeuvrable so we can react quickly and it is super shifty out here.”
The Zoulou crew includes some major talent, none more so than ‘Mr Multihull’ Loick Peyron, but the offshore legend is currently in Zoulou’s sick bay with flu-like symptoms.
MOD70 Zoulou is owned by Erik Maris, sailed with Ned Collier Wakefield and Loick Peyron © James Tomlinson/RORC
“Everyone is in really high spirits on board. Just finished our second saucisson. Everyone has got very excited about being up there with the big boys,” advises Ned Collier Wakefield.
When Zoulou rounds, conditions look good for a reasonably fast return journey in around 15 knots. “It should be gennaker all the way back. There’s just this, secondary, low that’s causing a little funkiness as it may be sticking around a little bit after the Rock before we get back into proper breeze. But it should mean we can get the foil down and should be ripping at, high 20s, early 30s…”
According to Tom Laperche, SVR Lazartigue’s ETA is difficult to predict: “Between 08:00 and noon. It will depend on the wind, but the finish should be smoother in the last part of the race.”