This year's Fastnet yacht race is to be sponsored by Swiss watch manufacturer Rolex.

It has signed a deal with the Royal Ocean Racing Club which organises the gruelling race from Cowes, to back the next three events.

Peter Rutter, commodore of the Royal Ocean club said: "We are very pleased to have Rolex partnering us in this event. It is the first time in the history of the Fastnet that it has been sponsored. Rolex shares our aim for keeping the profile of this famous race as high as possible and to maintain its status among the elite of international offshore races.

The timing of the Fastnet will dovetail perfectly with Rolex's existing international yachting event in UK waters, the Rolex Commodores' Cup which takes place biennially in even years and is also organised by the RORC.

This year's Fastnet starts off the Royal Yacht Squadron at Cowes on August 12.

The Fastnet is one the toughest yachting events as the flagship event for the RORC, since the first race in August 1925, won by Jolie Brise, a 56ft pilot cutter owned by George Martin, a founder member of the RORC.

The course is approximately 608 miles from the Royal Yacht Squadron westward down the English Channel, across open sea to the south-west corner of Ireland and the Fastnet Rock, and from there rounding the Scilly Isles to finish at Plymouth.