By Ossian Shine
July 29 (Reuters) - France's Elodie Bonafous made history and Monaco’s Black Jack 100 hit the jackpot on Tuesday, as the centenary Rolex Fastnet Race delivered a double dose of drama.
Bonafous became the first woman to win the IMOCA class after a down-to-the-wire duel, while Black Jack claimed monohull line honours in a gripping contest that saw record fleets, razor-thin margins and rank outsiders pushing the favourites to the edge over 695 nautical miles.
Bonafous helmed newly-launched Association Petits Princes–Queguiner to a narrow win over Jeremie Beyou-skippered Charal, the 29-year-old clinching victory by only seven minutes. “It was tight at the end. It was a great victory,” she said.
Racing a boat launched only in February, she praised her team’s focus and composure in the tense overnight finish.
Beyou, a former Fastnet winner, acknowledged the close battle. “It was a lot of fun and it was never over until the finish,” he said. “This was a very classic Fastnet race ... always intense in an IMOCA, but a bit more like this.”
Monaco’s Black Jack 100 played its hand perfectly to take monohull line honours in the centenary race, rounding off a fiercely contested few days.
Skippered by Tristan Le Brun, Black Jack crossed the finish line in Cherbourg after two days, 12 hours, 31 minutes and 21 seconds of racing, leading home a competitive monohull fleet that showcased the global appeal of offshore sailing's most prestigious contest.
Hong Kong's SHK Scallywag finished second in the monohull division, followed by Monaco's Leopard 3 in third.
“It feels like relief,” Le Brun said smiling as he stepped ashore. “We were the outsiders and challengers because we were facing some very experienced and established teams and we have been growing our team for just a year and a half.
"We trained very hard and meticulously to arrive here in good shape, but to win here is beyond our expectations."
U.S. entries Pyewacket 70 and Tschuss 2 rounded out the top five in Tuesday's finish, underlining the international flavour of a race that has grown from seven boats in 1925 to a record-breaking 444-strong fleet.
OVERALL HONOURS
The monohull honours came a day after France's SVR Lazartigue had already claimed overall line honours, the sleek blue 32-metre Ultim trimaran slicing through the darkness to become first to reach Cherbourg on Monday.
It was a reminder that in offshore racing line honours go to the first boat home, typically the fastest and most technologically advanced yacht in the fleet.
But it was the Ocean Fifty class that has delivered perhaps the most compelling racing drama of the centenary edition.
France's Inter Invest claimed victory in that category, finishing in two days, eight hours, 38 minutes and 13 seconds as dusk settled on Monday, with Koesio following just 31 minutes and 16 seconds later and Viabilis Oceans another 20 minutes behind.
The tight competition proved remarkable across the entire Ocean Fifty fleet - the top seven trimarans arriving within two hours of each other.
The Ocean Fiftys even gave the bigger classes a serious challenge, with Inter Invest reaching Fastnet Rock on the stern of the MOD70 Argo, while even the mighty Ultims struggled to shake off the Ocean Fiftys before rounding Plymouth.
The biennial contest traces a challenging course from Cowes on England's Isle of Wight around Ireland's famous Fastnet Rock before finishing in Cherbourg — a test that has challenged sailors' skill and endurance for a century.
The overall Fastnet Race winner receives the Fastnet Challenge Cup based on corrected time under the International Rating Certificate (IRC) handicap system, meaning a well-sailed 12-metre yacht can still beat a 30-metre racing machine once handicaps are applied.
The Challenge Cup winner has not yet been determined.
Administered jointly by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) in Britain, and the Union Nationale pour la Course au Large (UNCL) in France, IRC assigns a rating based on a boat’s measurements and predicted performance, producing a time correction factor used to calculate results after a race.