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Tally Ho's Coming to the UK

Dr.Al

Dr.Al

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Had a "Big Update" via Patreon last night and I thought others on here might be interested. Apparently Leo's planning to enter the Fastnet race in 2027 so his next big "project" is to prepare the ship (and the route) for sailing it halfway round the world to come to the UK.

Hopefully there will be some sort of open day somewhere for those of us who have been following the project.
 
There was nothing more certain than that Tally Ho would be entered in the Fastnet on the 100th anniversary of her winning it. Leo has always said he would be bringing her back to England. The big question is the route. Does he go south and through the Panama canal, or around Tierra del Fuego, or west across the Pacific, then the Indian Ocean, then around the Cape of Good Hope and up the Atlantic seaboard of Africa, or does he do the North-West Passage.......the shortest trip but only available for a few weeks a year, and fraught with danger? The Pacific route could take most of a year.
 
Yeah, I knew it was going to happen, but it was still rather nice to hear confirmation. He's got time to think about the route and I'm sure he'll let us know well ahead.
 
Perhaps he'll come back here to Bristol, where he started his career? I know a few people who would love to meet him. And his boat!
 
One of the qualifications for entering the Fastnet race, which is always over-subscribed, is to have completed over 300 miles of ocean racing in that year, with that crew. That means Leo would either have to arrive early, and have a season of racing here and France etc, or, he'd do a season of racing in the Carribean, then cross the Atlantic to do the Fastnet.

As an aside, the Fastnet is no longer running on it's traditional route, as it finishes in Cherbourg (I think) to accomodate the larger fleet. I believe that there is a smaller race which follows the traditional route.

Another qualification for entering the Fastnet is to have lifelines fitted around the entire boat. These are like a wire fence usually on steel stanchions. Leo has a wooden cap-rail at shin height, and so will need to devise a way of attaching steel stanchions, even if only temporarily.
 
It wouldn't surprise me if the organising committee and sponsors (Rolex) made a concession for Tally Ho (ex Betty) as it will bring the race a lot of publicity. Possibly a film guy / girl and go-pro set up on board too. The old records show that TH was a very good deep seagoing boat and stable in even wind against sea bad weather. Compared with modern yachts she will be really hard work to sail though, and slow. Brilliant if Leo gets her race ready and is able to compete.

Have any of you guys ever done the Fastnet? When I was actively sailing I did it twice but that was many years ago and it was a freezing cold and wet nightmare both times 🥶. I don't know the current route that Mike mentions as we finished in Plymouth and then hopped round to Dartmouth, but it used to be 600 or so miles on the charts (longer in reality) and take a few days. Looking at the quali requirements on line, they are not very onerous really. You need two with Offshore Level 6 ratings (which I think is still just a 2 day course) plus first aid but realistically you wouldn't get a boat insured for offshore racing without that anyway. The crew should ideally have competent crew ratings (the lowest level) and at least half have at least 300 miles ocean racing in that boat in the previous 12 months. That is easily achieved with just two weekend RORC races. At the time I did the race all of the skippers (who often did not own the boat and now known as the person in charge...) had ocean RYA tickets including me, and I think you would be mad to go on a boat where you will be spending several nights at sea in god knows what weather without someone very experienced on board.
 
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