Oceanic Racing
In 1925 the Royal Western Yacht Club agreed to its burgee being used for a new ocean race in British waters. For boats under 50ft LWL, starting from Cowes, rounding the Fastnet and back to Plymouth, the Fastnet Race was born. The Ocean Race Committee became the Ocean Racing Club on the 9th October 1925 and just over six years later the Royal Ocean Racing Club.
Thirty five years later at 10 o’clock on 11th June 1960, Blondie Haslar, Francis Chichester, David Lewis and Val Howells set sail from Plymouth; “cross the starting line from west to east, leaving the Melampus buoy to starboard then to New York by any route”. Five days later Jean Lacombe followed them out of Plymouth. So began The Observer Single Handed Transatlantic Race (OSTAR). Nearly every four years, the now renamed Original Single Handed Transatlantic Race, starting in Plymouth and finishing at Newport, continues to be one of the principle blue water races of the world for corinthian and professional sailors.
Blondi Haslar, then suggested a race around Britain and Ireland. First raced in 1966 and nearly every four years since, today’s Round Britain and Ireland Race follows an almost identical route. The race starts and finishes in Plymouth, with compulsory forty eight hour stops in Kinsale, Barra, Lerwick and Lowestoft. With the re-launch of the TWOSTAR (two handed across the Atlantic) in 2012, the Royal Western Yacht Club continues to be at the forefront of short-handed ocean racing.
James Bremridge
Director of Oceanic Racing
