The last few weeks (well, month really) have been pretty flat out with getting boats and crews ready for the Fastnet.

I skippered John Merricks II to 11th place overall in the RORC Rolex Fastnet race, out of 300 boats competing. This was a great result to the young crew, and testament to the hard work they’d all put in both getting the boat and equipment ready for the race, and in actually sailing the boat. We also did one day of Cowes as a corporate charter for Matrix Group - we managed a creditable 4th place in class, despite many of the guests having never sailed before.

We had a funding crisis with Chernikeeff 2 a couple of weeks before the start of the Fastnet, as a charter for a corporate regatta fell through. This left the campaign short of around £5000 required in order to complete the race. At the last minute, funding was secured from Smart Group, requiring last minute branding of the sails and organising spectator boats for some of their employees. Despite the last minute nature of the preparations, the crew pulled together to get the boat ready and then had a great race. They were leading the fleet of five 52′ race yachts for much of the race but were slowed by damaged equipment half way through. The crew effected a temporary repair to allow them to continue racing hard, eventually finishing 12th overall.

John Merricks II won the team trophy (along with Nick Haigh’s ‘Dark and Steamy’ and John Shepherd’s ‘Fair Dos VIII’) for the RORC team. I also received the Duncan Munro Kerr Memorial Trophy for the best performance by a skipper under the age of 30. I am hugely proud of this, especially given the stature of previous winners including Alex Thomson of Open 60 fame and the late Hans Horrevoets, who tragically died during the 2005-6 Volvo Ocean Race.