Léon wins the centenary edition of the Rolex Fastnet Race
by Andy Rice / RORC 31 Jul 06:05 PDT
31 July 2025
Alexis Loison and Jean-Pierre Kelbert after finishing the Rolex Fastnet Race © ROLEX / Carlo Borlenghi
Alexis Loison and Jean-Pierre Kelbert's JPK 1050 Léon has been crowned overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet Race. No other boat still racing on the 695 nautical mile course can catch the French doublehanded duo for overall honours in this, the 51st edition of the Royal Ocean Racing Club's offshore classic.
Loison and Kelbert have won the event in its centenary year. With a record 444 boats on the start line this year, ranging from 30ft keelboats up to the giant 105ft Ultim foiling trimarans, this offshore race is proving more popular than ever. The ingredients for winning remain the same: experience, courage, skill, a fast boat along with a soupçon of good fortune.
In order to win the Fastnet Challenge Cup, you need to beat your rivals under IRC, the rating rule which is used in order to handicap different designs of keelboats of various shapes and sizes, allowing them to race together. The first battle is to win your division, and yesterday it became clear that Léon had prevailed in the 70-boat IRC Two fleet. Overnight it became increasingly clear that none of the remaining boats still on the race course would be able to beat Léon on IRC corrected time.
"We had a very good boat," said Loison. "I was racing with Jean-Pierre, the builder of the JPK boats, which are now very well-known on the international offshore racing scene, and we had a great time. We really fought hard. We had to work really hard. We were up against some very good boats, racing on a very challenging race course. It means a lot to win this. The messages of congratulations have been pouring into my phone since yesterday, and everything is completely crazy."
Loison becomes one of the few sailors to have won the Rolex Fastnet Race more than once. Alexis first won the Fastnet Challenge Cup in 2013 competing alongside his father Pascal aboard the JPK 1010 Night & Day. That was when the race was still being finished in Plymouth in the south-west of England. That was a special moment, especially as the father-and-son duo became the first ever doublehanded crew to beat all the fully-crewed boats to offshore racing's biggest prize.
Loison said today that his second time of winning feels just as special. "It's really the same feeling as 12 years ago. An unexpected victory, but with just as much joy. Arriving in my home city, Cherbourg, the city of my heart."
This is the third time the Rolex Fastnet Race has finished in Cherbourg, but only the first time that a French team has won overall in home waters. The first time into Cherbourg in 2021 it was the British boat Sunrise who took top honours. Two years ago in 2023 it was the Swiss entry Caro who prevailed.
Not only that, but it is the French doublehanded teams who dominate the podium. Behind Léon, in second place is Lann Ael 3, the Manuard Nivelt 35 sailed by Didier Gaudoux and Erwan Tabarly; in third place a Pogo RC, Amarris, sailed by Achille Nebout and Tanguy Bouroullec.
Loison pointed out the common theme between these three teams. "It's no coincidence that there are Figaro sailors on board each of the top three. There is myself, Erwan Tabarly and my coach Achille in third place. All of us have been through the best offshore racing school in the world, the Figaro."
The JPK boats have dominated offshore competition in the past decade or more, so it was fitting that Mr JPK himself, Jean-Pierre Kelbert, was one half of the winning crew. He was proud of the leap in performance that the 34ft JPK 1050 has brought. "Its reaching performance is just amazing because with this powerful hull, you can sail higher angles with the big kite even in 25 knots of wind. It's so fast, it's like a rocket."
This year was a predominantly light-airs contest, which makes you wonder if we have even seen the best of Léon and its high-speed potential. No doubt Kelbert will be back in two years' time, and certainly his all-conquering boats will be. Loison has already confirmed that he will return for 2027. The Rolex Fastnet Race is in his blood. He has all the experience and he's still only 40 years old. For the man from Cherbourg, the best is yet to come.
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