Dan Neri Gets Ready to Sail this Singlehanded Foiler
When I first set up my Moth, I broke a lot of stuff. Since then I’ve learned what to do (and what not to do) and in what order. First, bring everything to the beach. Set the foils off to the side, safely out of the way of the boat and any spectators.
Rig sail and spreaders
1. Slide the mast into the sail, keeping the mast above all the camber inducers. It is easy to get the mast past the lower cams. You’ll have to shove it past the top two one at a time.2. I keep a string with a couple of spliced loops in my pocket to use as a temporary cunningham. I pull it just enough so the spreader bracket is positioned in its sleeve cutout. After stepping the mast this string is replaced by the regular cunningham.3. Push the cams onto the mast and zip up the sleeve, starting at the top (when you derig, take them off starting at the bottom). To load the cams, put the mast on your knee, push down on the batten (against your knee) with one hand and push up on the cam with the other hand.4. Before you lay down the sail and walk away, make sure the battens are pushed down so the sail doesn’t fly down the beach.5. With the sail laying across the wing bars, untangle the stays, install the spreaders, and then attach the forestay and side shrouds to the mast.
Step the mast
Note: My boat has an adjustable headstay, so I can step the mast with the headstay adjustment at its loosest setting. If you have a fixed headstay, you’ll need to use a longer temporary headstay.
6. Position the boat so that it is pointing about 10 degrees away from head-to-wind. Hook up the shroud on the windward side and the long headstay. Pick up the mast between the two attached shrouds with the masthead into the wind, put the mast butt into the step, and push the mast up into place.7. The wind will do most of the heavy lifting and the mast will fall to leeward, toward the loose side shroud. Hook up the leeward shroud, but leave the headstay long until after you attach the clew to the outhaul.8. Attach the boom to the gooseneck and then hook up the cunningham and pull it tight. The tight cunningham will help to bend the mast and make it easier to hook up the outhaul.9. Attaching outhaul to clew requires three hands; two hands to pull the sail and boom together against the boom vang, and a third to install the clevis pin. I have learned a little trick; I set the boom in the crook of my elbow and simultaneously pull down on the leech with that same hand, until the clew grommet lines up with the outhaul car. Then I install the pin with my other hand. Don’t forget to tension the headstay.
Install blades
10. If you’re rigging on a beach, remember to put a flat rock or a towel or anything other than sand under the tip of the bowsprit and the wand axle bolt. Then capsize the boat so you can install the blades.11. Make sure the sail battens are popped down so the sail does not lift the boat. Tighten the mainsheet so the wind is pushing the sail towards the ground.12. Assemble tiller/rudder and install on transom. Remember to put the tiller under the shock cord.13. Take away the dolly and insert the main foil into the slot. Insert the daggerboard retaining pin. (You may need a hammer to tap it in if you are having trouble lining it up perfectly.)
Final adjustments
14. Hook up the ride height adjuster and gearing (on the floor just aft of the mast).15. Pull the gearing to the middle of the range.16. Attach the ride height uphaul/gearing cap.17. Pull a little tension onto the wand shockcord.18. Use a stiff ruler to check the foil flap gap with the ride height adjustment barrel control line in the middle of its range. For the Mach II, with the wand all the way forward, a 7mm gap is a good starting point.19. Install a GoPro on the tiller so you can compare yourself (unfavorably) to the Nathan Outteridge tutorial videos.
20. Go find your hat if you are bald, and your cheapest sunglasses. Take off the foil covers. Ready to go sailing!
Ellie Driver first competed in the Rolex Fastnet course in 2019, 18 years old and fresh from a 420 campaign – a multiday offshore race was a very different concept. She knew she could drive a boat around a race course fast, but could she drive her Sunfast 3300 fast in one of the world’s most famous offshore races for four-plus days non-stop?
Since her first Rolex Fastnet, Ellie has chalked up an impressive victory list, including;
⭐ Women’s EUROSAF Double-Handed Offshore European Champion (2023)
⭐ Vice Mixed Double-Handed World Sailing Offshore World Champion (2023)
⭐ Yachts & Yachting ‘Sailor of the Year’ (2022)
⭐ Youngest Skipper to Compete in the SEVENSTAR Round Britain and Ireland Race (2022)
⭐ Second Place in Défi Paprec (2024)
Ellie Driver
Ellie raced the Rolex Fastnet again in 2023 double-handed with her father, an 8 times race veteran at that point. Ellie will admit that in her first Rolex Fastnet, “she sailed the course”—soaking up all the hard-won knowledge her father had to give her. In 2023, they were back, and this time, Ellie said she “raced the course, even with the full-on weather”, finishing 10th Double Handed Boat and Ellie the 2nd Female Skipper and the 2nd Youth Skipper overall.
The 2023 Rolex Fastnet start was brutal, with the fleet setting off from the Solent into a south-westerly gale. And conditions didn’t improve greatly, with Ellie and her father experiencing “sailing through three squalls and a shutdown—it was 4 days of misery”. But Ellie and Jim didn’t retire, and that experience informs her five top tips to teams competing in this year’s 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race: “aside from a catastrophic boat failure, boats need to retire because either the boat or the crew is not ready to tackle the conditions.
ELLIE’S FIVE TOP TIPS
Don’t delay any maintenance job on your boat; start now. Get all the servicing done. Work bow to stern, replacing anything that is showing signs of wear. Do this now, and then do it again in the month prior to the race. I’m constantly checking my boat over, ensuring nothing avoidable will fail during the race.
Plan your spares; based on your inspections over these 4 months, if one area shows deterioration quicker than expected, carry those spares.
It is just as important to build personal fitness as well as maintaining your boat. The stronger you are, the less likely you are to injure yourself and the more energy you’ll have throughout the race. Crucially, it means that you’ll also approach every task with 100% of your strength – making manoeuvres faster – minimizing chances of damage to the boat, lost or torn sails, and fewer personal injuries as tasks in dicey conditions are completed faster. Get swimming, get running, get to the gym – prioritize the fitness of the whole crew in this build-up phase.
Pre-race watch planning: absolutely vital when racing double-handed but also essential with larger crews with varying capabilities. 7-days out from the race, start looking at the course, look at the weather fronts coming through, and align your watch plan to these. Start planning when it will be calmer so the crew can rest, when it will be all hands on deck, and when you’ll need the more experienced drivers on the helm. Keep reviewing the plan alongside the weather updates up until the race start.
My last tip: sing! Despite the best planning, there will be moments when you’re exhausted but need to keep pushing – it’s at these moments my Dad and I sing to keep us awake and morale up. ABBA tunes are a boat favorite!
Following Ellie’s advice to ensure crews who are entered into this year’s Rolex Fastnet Race are adequately prepared, we caught up with Steve Coles, Royal Ocean Racing Club Race Manager.
Steve Coles, Royal Ocean Racing Club Race Manager.
We asked him what the boats with their race places confirmed should be prioritising over the next four months, and he advised:
APRIL
Make sure that the boat details on your entry are correct; you can start to add crew to your crew locker on www.sailracehq.com. Your crew will need an account to fill in all of their details. Add your t-shirt size!
Submit your mileage proposal. At least 50% of the boat’s crew (but not less than 2), including the person in charge, must have completed 300 nautical miles of RORC offshore racing on the boat entered into the race. The qualifying miles must be completed within 12 months prior to the start of the Rolex Fastnet Race.
We will accept mileage qualification proposals from races other than RORC races, but typically, they should be at least 150 miles and include one night at sea. Races can be combined to get to the 300-mile requirement.
The RFR is a Category 2 race; you must complete your checklist on the entry portal and complete the Category 3 checklist before the system will let you complete Category 2. Boats may be inspected for OSR compliance before the race starts.
MAY
Check whether you need a plan review - A monohull with a series date after 2009 of less than 24 m (78’-9”) LH shall have been designed, built, and maintained in accordance with the requirements of ISO 12215 Category A and have a World Sailing/ISAF building plan review certificate issued from an organization recognized by World Sailing.
Order your tracker; trackers are mandatory for the RFR and all RORC races. A subsidy is available upon application to racing@rorc.org.
JUNE
If you have completed your mileage qualification, please let RORC know now
Training—the days are getting longer; use the long daylight days as perfect training days
JULY
Submit the final crew onto the race portal.
All non-UK boats will need to complete the C1331 form before arriving, which can be done online here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/submit-a-pleasure-craft-report#submit-your-report-online.
Ensure the rating is applied for; the deadline is the 4th of July.
Read through Sailing Instructions!
Order your Customised Team Gear for the 2025 Rolex Fastnet Race Today
The off-season is the ideal time to give your sails the TLC they deserve. Keeping your sails on an annual maintenance schedule will aid in extending the lifespan of your sails and maintaining peak performance.
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