Tom Kneen’s Sunrise wins it all at the 49th edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race
Tom Kneen’s JPK 11.80 Sunrise is the latest to join the esteemed list of Rolex Fastnet Race overall winners. Upon finishing, Kneen summed up his team’s race quite simply: “it was hard, it’s been a really hard race.”
With a young, primarily amateur crew, Kneen is the first British winner of the race since Charles Dunstone and his maxi Nokia Enigma in 2003. In addition to overall honors, Sunrise is also confirmed as the runaway winner of the IRC Two division.
Kneen’s reflections on the team’s Fastnet success: “When you get everything in the right place, with the right people, in the right conditions… we had four, five, or six hours of that, between the Scillies and the Lizard, when we had 25 knots of breeze and the boat – our so-called ‘caravan’ – was flying along at 20 plus knots. In moments like that, all the rest of it you forget very quickly, when you’re beating in 30 knots of wind and vomiting over the back and wondering why you’re there. It’s the moments of elation that live with you, and it’s what keeps us coming back.”
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