The 32-meter Ultime Maxi Edmond de Rothschild has set a new record in the Rolex Fastnet Race; no surprise given that the crew comprised a star-studded mix of sailors including a number of Vendée Globe and Volvo Ocean Race veterans. Franck Cammas and Charles Caudrelier acted as co-skippers to a crew of David Boileau, Erwan Israel, Morgan Lagraviere and Yann Riou. They completed the new 695-mile course in just one day, nine hours, 15 minutes and 54 seconds.
“The boat is amazing—we have improved since last year, so we are very happy,” said Caudrelier. “The team has done a fantastic job over the last year to develop the boat and we can’t stop that because new boats are coming. We are very happy about this race and the result of it, and the way it has happened.”
Despite logging long upwind stretches, the crew briefly hit a max 41 knots during their record setting race.
Cammas credited some of their speed to his co-skipper and Israel’s tactical routing decisions “we had one good shift by going further south that enabled us to put more than 20 miles on Sodebo and Actual. What was strange was that the French boats went on the south of the Channel and the English boats stayed in the north!” Cammass said.
French-flagged Actual and Sodebo Ultim 3 fill out the podium in the Open Multihull class. To check on results for other classes as they come in, click here. To view the race tracker, click here.
