When the cannon fires at Cowes and the centenary Rolex Fastnet Race gets underway, one of the 400-plus entries will be carrying more than a crew and a sail wardrobe. Roy P. Disney's Pyewacket, the turbocharged Volvo 70 that has spent years rewriting offshore records, will be competing in what her owner has confirmed is her final race under his colours. For Disney, the 2025 edition of this storied contest is a farewell.
The race itself is a landmark event. Staggered starts from the Royal Yacht Squadron line will send an extraordinarily varied fleet westward across 695 miles to Fastnet Rock and on to Cherbourg. Ultim trimarans, foiling IMOCAs, TP52s, Admiral's Cup contenders, and cruising families are all part of the mix, making this centenary edition one of the most diverse offshore gatherings in the event's history.
Pyewacket will contest IRC Super Zero, where she meets a muscular group of former Volvo Ocean Race machines, four VO70s and two VO65s among them. The competition is serious, but the occasion carries a weight that goes beyond placings. After the race, Pyewacket will remain in Portsmouth while she is offered for sale. Disney's association with the boat, and with the name, will be over.
The yacht's history stretches back to 2011, when she was launched as Telefónica for the Volvo Ocean Race. She announced herself immediately, winning the first three legs of that round-the-world contest and finishing fourth overall. Subsequent years saw her migrate to Australia and undergo a substantial transformation as part of the Black Jack programme. A taller Southern Spars rig, deeper keel, extended bowsprit, and hydraulic winches were added, reshaping an already formidable platform into something considerably more potent.
Disney brought the yacht into his stable in 2019, and with her came the Pyewacket name, a banner that carries its own remarkable weight. Over 34 years, vessels sailing under that name have accumulated class wins, course records, and multiple Transpac titles. The lineage even includes a partnership with Wild Oats in 2013. Few names in offshore racing have remained so consistently competitive across so many different eras and designs.
The current Pyewacket has done nothing to diminish that reputation. Her results since the transformation speak plainly to what she is capable of. In 2021 she took Line Honours at both the Transpac and the Cabo San Lucas Race, the latter also yielding an overall win and a new course record. The following year she set a new course record in the Puerto Vallarta Race. In 2023 she claimed Line Honours and IRC Overall at the Caribbean 600. She took Line Honours at the 2024 Bermuda Race, and in 2025, ahead of Fastnet, she won both Line Honours and Overall at Antigua Sailing Week. Few offshore campaigns of any era could point to a comparable record.
Scott Easom, who has worked closely with the team, described the atmosphere from the dock in Portsmouth. "This will be Disney's final act with Pyewacket," he wrote. "She's ready. They'll race, then leave her here until she sells."
That combination of competitive intent and quiet finality runs through the whole campaign as it prepares for the start. The Fastnet becomes something more than a race, a closing chapter for a programme that has tested itself across oceans, pushed the limits of offshore design, and set standards that others have measured themselves against.
The boat's story does not end with Disney's departure, however. With her turbocharged VO70 configuration, full North Sails inventory, and race-ready systems still intact, Pyewacket represents a serious opportunity for whoever takes her on next. Another Transpac campaign, a Sydney Hobart tilt, or involvement in a VO70 class revival could all lie ahead. Her next chapter remains unwritten.
For now, the focus is the Solent, the Rock, and 695 miles of racing. When Pyewacket crosses the start line at Cowes, she does so carrying the weight of a remarkable legacy, and the knowledge that her crew will be racing not only for the result, but in honour of everything that name has come to mean.
