Tell Tales

ROLEX FASTNET RACE

Classics battle it out in high winds

he 1939 yawl (above) gives a lesson in the benefits of heavy displacement to a modern compatriot, as the two boats batter through a punishing wind-against-tide start to the Rolex Fastnet Race in August. The oldest boat in the race, the 50ft , was built by Moodys for Lord Mountbatten’s Aide de Camp, Ernest Harston. She was being raced double-handed in the Fastnet by owner Paul Moxon and Steve Jones. While the modern boats took a pasting at the heavy winds start, with almost 50 retirements, was not as heavily reefed as many of the retirees. She did suffer as winds abated later in the race. competed in the 1959 Fastnet Race and again in 2019, but finished neither. She finished the 2021 Fastnet in 5d, 22h, 44m, 26s. The other big-name classic in the race was , racing to mark the anniversary of her win 60 years ago. With an experienced Cowes-based crew under Kiwi skipper Graeme Henry, and with the owner of 40 years on board, the newly refitted boat had a superb result, 50th in line honours, 7th in IRC overall and 6th in IRC1 against some of the most advanced monohulls on the water. was built in 1961 with groundbreaking design