North Sails LOFT NEWS

Story Contributors: Campbell Field Story Contributors: Pete Redmond, Ronan Grealish

IS YOUR SAIL INVENTORY READY FOR THE ROLEX FASTNET RACE 2021?

Live Webinar: Campbell Field & North Sails Talk Through the New Course

© ROLEX/Carlo Borlenghi

Over 400 yachts will set off from the Royal Yacht Squadron start line on the 8th of August 2021 to compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race, organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club. With a finish in Cherbourg, France, the route now totals 696 nm, adding 90 nm (15%) to the previous course and presenting new challenges for both crews and navigators. North Sails has teamed up with professional navigator, Campbell Field, to help you prepare for this much-anticipated yacht race.

Campbell has run route optimizations based on 10 years of weather data about windspeeds and angles on this new race course. Analyzing this information, alongside your IRC rating and sail inventory, is the best way to improve your performance.

A new course brings new opportunities, but identifying areas to improve will vary with boat design and your existing inventory. To optimize your sails for your IRC rating, first, we need to answer a few questions. What are the 2021 rating updates? Are there any free gains you could make, or should you increase your rating to improve a weakness in your current inventory?

By combining Campbell’s routing data with your knowledge of your boat, North experts Pete Redmond and Ronan Grealish will help you figure out the best strategy for this longer course.

Special guest, Campbell Field, will discuss the route and weather predictions alongside North experts Pete Redmond and Ronan Grealish during a live, free webinar on Thursday, 18th February at 7:00 pm GMT / 8:00 pm CET. With a Q&A session at the end, don’t miss the opportunity to optimize your inventory for this year’s new and different Rolex Fastnet Race.

If you already have specific questions, get in touch with Ronan or Pete ahead of time so we can prepare answers. Or just show up. We look forward to seeing you there.

Register Today

Average from 10-year data by time % at different TWA bands © Field Yachting Ltd.
10 years of Expedition Navigation Software Optimal routes © Field Yachting Ltd.

 

Story Contributors

Is Your Sail Inventory Ready for the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021? headshot
Pete Redmond

Sail Expert — Gosport, United Kingdom Manufacturing – Gosport, UK

Pete started working for North Sails UK in 2011 as a sailmaker before moving into the office in 2015 as part of the sales team. Pete’s sailing history is varied and includes, everything from sports boats to Maxi’s. He has...

Is Your Sail Inventory Ready for the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021? headshot
Ronan Grealish

Sail Expert — Gosport, United Kingdom

Ronan specialises in optimising sails in order to get the best out of a rating and also spends time working with double-handed crews around the UK to develop effective sail inventories. He started in the industry in 2007 and joined...

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