Day 3 1900: The early stages of the Fastnet Race 2021 on Sunday went from rugged to very rugged, and not surprisingly there were many retirals before the day was out. But aboard Nieulargo from Crosshaven, ace sailor Nicholas "Nin" O'Leary has since found the time today to give an insight today of what it had been like to slug down channel in severe wind-over-tide conditions in a boat which is a heavy cruiser-racer by comparison with the latest designs: "It was a tough exit out of the Solent past the Needles Fairway, wet'n'wild and we lost wind instruments for 24 hours, but thankfully the four dinghy sailors and small keelboat drivers on board have a natural feel while sailing blind. We had a nice battle with Shirley Robertson and Henry Bomby on the Sun Fast 3300 Swell which kept us on our toes, and Annamarie is keeping the troops fed'n'watered with her famous vegetable soup. We expect it to be lighter across to the Fastnet Rock. ETA 03:00 in the small hours of Wednesday morning".

In much of the current spell of weather whether afloat or ashore, who could resist the thought of a nourishing helping of classic vegetable soup? So much so, in fact, that there's arguably a market opportunity for Mrs Murphy's Special Vegetable Soup for Sailors, if Annamarie Fegan could only be persuaded to use her married name just the once……

Meanwhile in IRC 3 generally, the leading places have been permutated from time to time as they make their way from the north side of the Isles of Scilly toward The Rock, with the wind now just aft of the beam, as forecast. The formidable Alexis Loison in the JPK 10.30 Leon has regained the lead despite being two-handed (he also leads the two-handed division), but although approaching 1900 hrs Nieulargo is shown as being 7th in the class of 73 boats, she's very much in contention.

In a different world towards the finish at Cherbourg, the majestic 140ft Skorpios should be finished just before dark to take mono-hull line honours, and it may well be that the much-discussed final tide gate off Cap de la Hague will have turned in her favour by the time she gets there, so we'll need to wait a little for a full analysis from subsequent finishers of the adverse gate effect.

On down the line, the Imoca 60 Apivia (Charlie Dalin) is holding on to her very clear class lead, but George David's Rambler 88 is doing everything possible to make her third on the water, though it's now only an off chance as they're both getting up towards Start Point with Apivia 18 miles clear ahead

But in any case in Cherbourg, the talk of the town is the emergence of Poland as a force in front-line offshore racing. In this morning's bulletin we outlined how the former Volvo 70 I Love Poland has been at the centre of a comprehensive Polish offshore training programme based around a winter berth at Cascais in Portugal.

But this afternoon the Polish breakthrough has become even clearer – I Love Poland has been in the overall lead for some time, but second overall is now being filled by another Polish-ensigned veteran Volvo 70, in this case Sailing Poland which – with both boats south of Western Cornwall and a dozen miles between them - is sailing slightly faster at the time of writing.

The Lombard 46 Pata Negra when she brought RORC Caribbean 600 success for Howth YC. This evening at 18:10 she rounded the Fastnet Rock lying first in IRC Class 1 with Andrew Hall of ISORA and Pwllheli SC in command.

All this is of almost academic interest to the majority of the fleet, who still have to round the Fastnet Rock. But that historic turning point has become increasingly busy as today progressed, and at 1810 this evening there was a rounding of very special significance, as Andrew Hall of ISORA and Pwllheli SC's recently-acquired Lombard 46 Pata Negra put the Fastnet astern and herself into first place in IRC 1 after a wellnigh perfect race from the Isles of Scilly.

Just ahead of Pata Negra on the water is the 1961-vintage 74ft ketch Stormvogel, beautifully restored and in such flying form that she lies 6th on corrected time in IRC 1. The result of a design co-operation for Dutch timber magnate Cess Bruynzeel by Laurent Giles, John Illingworth and Ricus van de Stadt, in many ways Stormvogel still looks as modern as tomorrow, with a rudder separate from her keel in a way that didn't become generally accepted until the mid-60s, yet Bruynzeel had been racing boats like that offshore for years.

Stormvogel's hull profile was ahead of its time when she first appeared in 1961.

In IRC 4, Irish Offshore Sailing's veteran Sunfast 37 Desert Star has slipped from fourth to 13th after electing to go eastward of the large TSS immediately off Land's End. That said, her crew won't have known that the losing move was about to be exacerbated by a local calm right off the Longships Rocks on the very point of Land's End itself.

Meanwhile, with the wind settled in slightly abaft the beam for the long haul to the Fastnet, it looks as though Kenneth Rumball and Pamela Lee's Fiagro 3 RL Sailing is finding enough power for the foils to start being useful, as they're showing better than ten knots and have confirmed their position as leaders of the admittedly much-reduced Figaro 3 Class.

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