The big boats started arriving in Plymouth on Tuesday but the overall winner of the Rolex Fastnet race will not be known until all have crossed the finish line and when the handicappers have logged all ratings.

First to finish on Tuesday was the Francis Joyon's French multihull Eure et Loir with Rodney Pattisson, the British Olympic sailor, on board.

The race between the big multis never materialised after Emma Richards was forced to retire in Pindar with gear failure.

First monohull over the line was the Italian boat Stealth, belonging to Fiat magnate Gianni Agnelli and run by Hamble's Paul Standbridge.

The 92-foot black beauty, built in 1996 at Green Marine in Lymington arrived in two days, ten hours, 58 minutes and 58 seconds - more than five hours outside the record set in 1999 by Babbalaas.

According to watch leader Standbridge, the wind died in the last ten miles and, disappointingly, it took six hours to cover the distance to the finish line.

With a crew of 18, the Whitbread veteran said they had been confident of breaking the record until they reached the Scilly Isles and a blanket of calm.

Next in were one of the other pre-race favourites, Hasso Plattner's 80-foot Morning Glory, with Team New Zealand's Dean Barker in charge, and third up was Ludde Ingvalle in Nicorette.

Just 2 mins, 47 secs divided the two but Glory has a better handicap rating and is likely to finish ahead but not in possession of the Fastnet Challenge Bowl.

American yacht Zaraffa, a 65-foot Reichel Pugh design owned by Skip Sheldon, crossed the line after two days 20 hrs 18 mins 20 secs to beat Morning Glory by nearly 40 minutes in four days, 30 mins, 37 secs.

David Lowe's Farr 52 Loco, with Olympic gold medallist Iain Percy, navigator Peter Morton and British America's Cup team tactician Adrian Stead in the crew, finished 19 minutes behind on corrected time and Mike Slade came a disappointing 22nd in Skandia Leopard.

The Volvo 60 race was won in two days, 17 hrs 28 mins 34 secs by Jez Fanstone in NewsCorp by 21 minutes from John Kostecki in Illbruck.

Out at the Fastnet Rock, 240 miles from the finish, over a quarter of the 233 starters had turned for home. The fog horn had been turned off as visibility improved and the breeze was back up to 12 to 15 knots from the south-west.

The majority of the remaining competitors are expected to go round the lighthouse today.