Dmitry Rybolovlev’s ClubSwan 125 Skorpios (representing the Yacht Club de Monaco) took line honours in the Rolex Fastnet Race this evening, after crossing the finish line in Cherbourg at 2015 BST. Their total elapsed time for completing the 695 nautical mile course from Cowes to Cherbourg was 2 days, 8 hours, 35 minutes and 5 seconds.
Competing in her first offshore race, the recently launched Skorpios came through a brutal first 12 hours of the race in good shape. As the breeze softened, Skorpios extended away from her chief rivals for line honours including previous winner George David’s Rambler 88 and the strong IMOCA fleet.
Having only started sailing in the last few years, this was owner Dmitry Rybolovlev’s first offshore race which he experienced with his daughter Anna Rybolovleva, also her first time offshore racing. “We’re very pleased with the boat, the team was great. We want to thank the whole team for such great efforts. We were trying to stay conservative, especially in the high wind at the start, but we’re excited to see what the boat can do in future races. Rounding the Fastnet Rock was kind of magical, it felt like a really special moment.”
"The boat is very strong, we backed off on speed coming out of the Solent, but so was everyone else. We had an idea of what the boat might be able to do, but we didn’t know for sure, so we learned a lot on this race. The owner is super happy, he’s a good sailor but new to offshore sailing and he enjoyed the experience a lot. I think there is a very good chance we will be back for the Rolex Fastnet Race,” says skipper Fernando Echavarri.
Giovanni Pomati, CEO of Nautor, shared his thoughts following the result of Skorpios: “In this special moment in the history of Nautor I can’t avoid to send my thought and a great thank to the international team that contributed to the building of this racing boat! I’d love to thank once again all the team behind: Enrico Chieffi, Juan K, Adriana Monk, Bob Wylie, Killian Bushe, Richard Ghillies, Roger Sandberg, the team at Nautor yard in Finland, the team at Nautor Swan Global Service that is now taking over the assistance to the boat, the Skorpios crew and shore team leaded by Fernando Echevannri and Pepe Ribes that’s contributing to the boat set up in a great teamwork with Nautor. A huge congratulations and thanks to all of you for changing the pages of the sailing history.”
Nautor’s Swan was founded in 1966 in Pietarsaari, Finland. The builder entered the superyacht market in 1999. Since then, the yard has continued building high-performance sailing yachts in three different lines; ClubSwan, Swan Yachts and Maxi Swan Yachts.
Credits: Paul Wyeth/pwpictures.com/Rolex Fastnet Race