Stealth steals in at dawn

Fiat boss' all-black maxi first monohull in Rolex Fastnet Race with rock star crew

Shortly before dawn this morning the all black form of the Frers 92 footer, Stealth crept across the Plymouth finish line of the Rolex Fastnet Race, the first monohull to finish.

Imported for the race was a crew of very serious hired guns. "Basically everyone is either from the America's Cup or the Whitbread," commented skipper Ben Mennem. Aboard the high tech Mediterranean flier - designed as the yachting equivalent of the Stealth bomber - were 18 including the likes of Team Dennis Conner helmsman (and Racing Skipper for the trip) Kenny Reed, Toshiba skipper and Whitbread veteran Paul Standbridge and an assortment of Europeans, Americans, Kiwis and those of mid-oceanic background including Team New Zealand's Andrew Taylor (known as 'Raw Meat') and a number from One World and Team Dennis Conner crew.

"It was not a good start," said watch leader Paul Standbridge. "There was no favoured tack to Land's End." Despite a slow beat down to England's westernmost tip the reach across to the Fastnet Rock with the boat fully powered up and hammering along under mainsail with one reef and a no4 put them back into the frame to take the monohull record for the course. "We were doing about 15 knots out and 14 knots back," commented Standbridge.

However the wind Gods were not smiling on Stealth or the other leading monohulls in the fleet as it went light overnight. "By the Lizard we were parked up," commented Standbridge. "We ended up tide dodging." The final 70 miles to Plymouth took them nine hours (slow for a 92footer) and they finally crossed the finish line at 03:58 BST this morning.

Sleath is now six seasons old, but this was her first major yacht race (however she has set the monohull trans-Med record from Marseilles to Carthage and made two aborted attempts on the west to east transatlantic record). Considering this and her size Standbridge felt they had broken very little on board - only a couple of batten cars.

"We didn't set a spinnaker for the whole race - just like it was in 1985 [on Atlantic Privateer the Whitbread maxi]," said Standbridge, one of Stealth's regular crew, who added that the ride had been an enjoy one. "It's a bit noisey. It doesn't point like an America's Cup boat. But it behaved very well." Stealth is primary designed as a light weather Mediterranean flier. As one observer commented pithily: "It's not built to go upwind, it's built to go to lunch!"

Kenny Reed said that the 92ft giant launching off waves on the beat down to Land's End had taken some getting used to - "My God! The shuddering and the shaking...") but added that having the likes of Standbridge on board with countless Whitbreads under his belt had been invaluable. "He knows how to take control of a situation, to slow a boat down to do the work such as a sail change."

Ben Mennem says that Stealth's Fastnet race came about because her owner, Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli wanted to have the boat at the America's Cup Jubilee. Mennem suggested that they could do the Fastnet race prior to this and so hired the rock star crew, who will also be on board at next week's Solent-based extravanganza of sail. Mr Agnelli it should be pointed out does not race on board Stealth. He seems to treat her in much the same way as the owner of a race horse - observing without taking part.