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Centenarian Jolie Brise Pilot Cutter Rounds the Fastnet Rock Again

23rd July 2013
Centenarian Jolie Brise Pilot Cutter Rounds the Fastnet Rock Again

#glandoreclassicboats – Star of this year's Glandore Classic Regatta Jolie Brise, arguably one of the most famous cutters in the world, rounded the Fastnet Rock today as part of the 80–boat historic boat Glandore fleet that featured in last Saturday's Sailing blog by WM Nixon. 

Jolie Brise is celebrating the centenary anniversary of her construction by the Paumelle yard in Le Havre in 1913. The world famous, gaff-rigged pilot cutter was the last boat to carry the royal mail under sail and has won the Fastnet Race three times, including the inaugural race in 1925.

Jolie Brise is owned, maintained and sailed by the pupils of Dauntsey's School.

The 56' gaff-rigged pilot cutter built in Le Havre in 1913, launched by the Paumelle yard to a design by Alexandre Pâris.

Published in Historic Boats
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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago