Day 3, Monday, 0900hrs Chris Power Smith's J/122 Aurelia may have had nearly two miles in hand on Denis and Annamarie Murphy's Grand Soleil 40 when she led the Fastnet 450 fleet round the Fastnet Rock at 0040 hrs in the small hours of this morning (Monday). But in a downwind tacking duel which initially took them well offshore over the 58 miles to the finish at Roche's Point at the entrance to Cork Harbour, the slightest sneeze on Aurelia's part saw both Nieulargo and Cian McCarthy's Sunfast 3300 Cinnamon Girl taking bites out of her lead, and at 0800 hrs this morning running in past the Old Head of Kinsale, the margin on Nieulargo was just under a mile, with Cinnamon Girl barely two miles further back.
Nieulargo pictured off the Cork Buoy this morning Photo: Bob Bateman
The keenly-anticipated firm sou'wester has yet to materialize, and progress eastward has mostly relied on getting offshore and back into the stronger sou'west to west breeze which has doggedly remained in place out on the ocean for more than three days now. That said, after slowish initial progress eastward from the Fastnet, they began to record better speeds offshore, and approaching the Old Head, all three were comfortably over 7 knots, with Aurelia pushing above 8 knots to open the gap slightly on Nieulargo.
Derek & Conor Dillon's Dehler 34 Big Deal from Foynes
Back at the Fastnet Rock, it is still light and lumpy, such that the lower-rated tail-enders, Derek and Conor Dillon's Dehler 34 The Big Deal from Foynes, and Peter Coad's veteran Blackjack, were still struggling to make their rounding as the leaders came past the Old Head of Kinsale. The front runners – slowed to 6.7 knots as we complete this report at 0900 – should be nearing the finish line by 1000 hrs, with every indication that Nieulargo will retain her lead in most of the main contests except for line honours, which Aurelia is fighting every inch of the way.
For now, all attention is focused on simply finishing a quite tough race.
