Royal Air Force Yacht Club

In the 31 year history of the Three Peaks Yacht Race, there have been few more dramatic, competitive and faster races than the 2008 race, sponsored by sports nutrition experts PowerBar.

The race overall record didn’t fall, but there were new fastest times on the run/ride to Scafell Pike and back, and for the sail from Whitehaven to Fort William, and the top 7 yachts finished within 3 days, which has never happened before.

The new overall winner was the J105 JourneyMaker 5, skippered by Chris Jones, with Louise Makin and Andrew Hayward on the crew for the sail from Barmouth to Caernarfon, Whitehaven and Fort William; and Greg Marsh and Gordon Baxter the two runners who raced up Snowdon, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis. The race was so competitive the winners did not set the fastest times on any of the sailing legs or the runs, and it was only on the final run on Ben Nevis their victory was secured.

JourneyMaker arrived first at the Corpach canal basin just outside Fort William, after battling through rough seas and gales up to force 10, and with favourable Southerly winds for the whole 389 mile sail up the west coast. Both Journeymaker and their closest rivals EADS Innovation Works (a Reflex 35 skippered by Geoff West, the race record holder) arrived with their spinnakers blown out and having broached on the journey.

After such a fast sail Journeymaker was becalmed 30m from the buoy marking the finish line and had to row across the finish line! They pulled alongside with a 35 minute lead over EADS and set their runners off, thinking their lead was inadequate as the following runners, Martin Beale and Andy Rankin, two of the UK’s top ultra endurance runners, had been quickest on each of the previous two peaks. They had set a new record of 6 hours 47 minutes on the Scafell Pike leg which includes 30 miles of running, 18 miles of cycling and over 5000 feet of climbing. With that outstanding time they were hoping to give EADS a winning advantage, but the yacht ran aground in Whitehaven harbour for 5 hours, and only refloated as JourneyMaker came past. The two yachts then raced side by side up to Fort William.

As rain lashed down and cloud obscured the UK’s highest summit Beale and Rankin set off in pursuit, confident of taking the victory – but it was not to be.

Beale was soon struggling on the ascent and Marsh and Baxter reached the summit without being passed. “I didn’t know if we could do it,” said Marsh, “but we decided we’d make it as hard for them as possible and give it our all. When we met them 10 minutes down the path we thought we had a chance but must have looked over our shoulders a thousand times on the descent, and I now know what it feels like to be hunted down!” When they crossed the finish line Marsh was in a state of collapse and unable to speak for some time, but he’d achieved a remarkable double as he skippered his own boat to a win in the race last year.

Their winning time was 2 days 18 hours and 19 minutes, and they finished just 19 minutes ahead of EADS Innovation Works.

The tension continued with another race on Ben Nevis for 3rd and 4th place. The HOD 35 Hazard Chase, skippered by 22 year old Andrew Eggett, took 3rd after arriving 7 minutes behind the Beneteau carrying team RBS Adventure Quest. Their runners did catch their rivals on Ben Nevis to take 3rd place and the prestigious Tilman Trophy, which is for a team who put 4 out of 5 competitors onto a summit.

This year’s race also had one of the highest finish rates ever, with 17 of the 20 starters reaching the finish line – and there is still one competitor aiming to reach the finish line by the race closure deadline of 18.00 on Saturday. The Buchanan 27 from Bangor, Sanoodi, took shelter from the bad weather in port at Stranrear but has now set sail for the finish again.

The race website (www.3peaksyachtrace.co.uk) has profiles on all the competing teams and there there are reports, picture galleries and results on the adventure racing website www.SleepMonsters.co.uk. During the week positions at sea were also tracked by satellite via the website. Press are encouraged to take quotes and information from the website.

Photography from the race is available to download and free for publication on request. For further information please email the press officer Rob Howard on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Here is a copy of the full log for you to read LOG