Over 250 boats rounded the Rock in this year's classic Fastnet Race, supported for the first time by Champagne Mumm. Unusually, the start of the race was postponed to make way for shipping help up by fog. It was just as well, giving time for the sea breeze to fill, though Classes 3 and 4 suffered nevertheless. A Classic beat down the Solent saw the fleet well on the way to Anvil Point before the fog came down and the wind eased steadily. By dusk the fog had cleared off, but so had the wind.

Virtually the whole fleet opted to stay offshore, but few, if any, were beyond Portland before the tide turned. A few light-air flyers managed gains toward the mark during the next few hours. Most took to their kedges, despite the daunting depth and poor holding. In the early hours a patchy easterly allowed 0.5 oz kites and some progress with fairly shallow gybing angles, until the wind settled to a steady and strengthening SE'ly.

By Monday night the wind had veered still further to the south and the firm force 4 to 5 was giving the faster end of the fleet a quick ride to the Rock, while their slower compatriots were nearing the Lizard under white sails. First around was the multihull Primagaz, just after midnight. The maxis, led by the Ericsson 80s BIL and Nicorette (three minutes later), followed shortly after dawn, with Morning Glory 40 minutes off the pace. The W60s rounded before 9am, with Merit Cup leading Silk Cut by just three minutes.

From 4pm onwards a steady stream of CMAC and other big boats followed - Flash Gordon 3 leading Madina Milano by only five seconds after more than 350 miles. Assuage put its mark on Class 1, rounding just ahead of the leading Mumm 36, Bradamante, just after dark Dennis Doyle in his varnished Moonduster made his 19th rounding shortly before midnight, just ahead of Gazprom, from Russia. The Irish showed their home waters strength, with the evergreen Imp first to Class 2 to round, followed by Big Ears and Havoc. Just before daybreak, the Dutch Corbulo led Spiral Galaxy and Sunstone in Class 3; the Class 4 leaders at around 7am were Ballytrim, Cas and Beatnic.

In a race of traditions, 1997 saw three broken by changes in the sailing instructions. At the start, boats were prevented from close tacking up the Green by the treatment of the mooring buoys as a continuous obstruction, thus avoiding the reoccurrence of the multiple collision and protests of four years ago. At Land's End on the way out, navigators were deprived of the option of going west of the Scillies. After the Rock, a new rounding mark, the Pantaenius Buoy, was introduced to divert boats sever miles to the southwest prior to the long leg to the Scillies, avoiding conflict between those in-and outbound.

After the Rock, the fastest and slowest in the fleet had the easiest time, with a southerly force 3 to 4 giving each group a slant to just lay Bishop Rock. For the fleet in between, a more backed SE'ly required one or two short tacks. At the time, the decision about these racks looked to be the only crucial one of the race. Some opted to tack on the backing shifts coming through with the trough, others waited as late as possible for a lift up the mark and a very short tack at the end. For those in mid fleet the former strategy was best, though the big SW'ly veer later brought the back third of the fleet to the mark without a tack, including the Swedish Asile, eventual winner of both CHS 3 and IMS C.

The remainder of the race looked deceptively straightforward - but there was a sting in the tail. With a ridge moving mid-Channel, winds began to fail at the Lizard, turning variable in direction and strength. The leaders were slightly affected, but most carried breeze near the finish, though some had a frustrating few hours struggling across the line. Much depended on the time of day. Classes 2 and 3 were most jumbled by the final lottery, spending a windless Wednesday night working across the bay, to see latecomers bringing up the breeze from the west the following morning.

BIL cleared up the premier trophies in CHS, taking line honours, BCT and Class 1 Morning Glory's rig problems may have taken the edge off it speed, though it still had the compensation of winning IMS A from Madina Milano and Flash Gordon 3. After the maxis, the next three - Aera, Bradamante (winner of IMS B) and Assuage - are a tribute to the rater's arts, as well as their crews' skills.

In Class 2 CHS Imp had a clear victory over Havoc, which was well ahead of Yet Another Cunning Plan and Securon, followed by Serendip. The two OOD 34s, Red Alert and Twee Gezusters, took the honours in Class 3, followed by Corbulo, Imperator of Five Stars and Software Mistress. Behind Asile in Class 4 were Beatnic, Cas and Sherpa.

Merit Cup and Primagaz held their lead positions among the W 60s and multihulls, while Spirit of England took the trophy for the smaller multis. Built in 1936, Avalanche of Aldershot won the lolaire Block. The new Duncan Munro-Kett trophy was presented to the best young skipper, Jason Beaver of Australian Maid.

Fastnet '97 was a pleasant race and relatively unexacting for the many crews which now take part in school or chartered boats - the proportion of which has risen sharply in recent years. It is a pleasure to see new faces on the offshore scene, but it does raise the questions of qualification levels. In the current RORC programme it is possible to qualify without spending two consecutive nights racing offshore. Perhaps that's not enough to prepare for the more demanding Fastnet.