Round the Island in (what feels like) 80 Days

Find below some of our Southern member's experiences of the Round the Island race 2019...

David Greenhalgh of J'ronimo:

"J’ronimo had a relatively eventful race which started with her mainsail falling down just before her start. 15 minutes with a man up the mast failed to recover the halyard and J’ronimo eventually started 25 minutes late with her mainsail hoisted on a spinnaker halyard with a full reef. The wind blew from the SE for the leg to the Needles, from the SW whilst rounding the Needles and from the S for the leg to St Cats. After St Cats there was a flukey easterly wind which went to NE as we approached the forts. Finally around 7pm the wind came in from the NW which got us to the finish at 9.30pm. Fortunately our amazing 45th o/a result together with the somewhat better results of the two other boats in our team (Scallion and Great Banter) gave us the “team prize”. I think a lot of people did wonder why we were reefed in such light airs!!!"

Lis Robinson of Hot Rats:

"[We were] up at horrible o’clock for rendezvous at the boat 6am. A lot of people stumbling around that early in the morning but cast off on time for fortifying bacon butties washed down with coffee and Calvados. Race start area felt surprisingly un-crowded and plenty of room to spot the Squadron lights enabling not only a cracking start but first boat on the line we believe. Jostled with Jubilee and Jago, both J109s, together with Sunshine down the Solent with IRC 2 spread out behind us. With such a lead the switch off of the wind just after Hurst enabled later boats to spot the hole and tuck in to use tide round the Needles whilst we watched some 500 places slip past us. Some excellent eyes out of the boat enabled us to close back slowly from the Needles to St Cats with some cracking champagne sailing (although the home cooked cold chicken, pork pies and ham sandwiches were not washed down with anything other than water), from just before St Cats to half-way between there and Bembridge when again the wind switched off. At least this time we were the boat coming from behind so managed to get round Bembridge by about 5pm which seemed the right moment for lemon drizzle cake fresh from the oven the night before! By Pier View we had aptly caught our peer group and were heartened to see Frank 3, one of our team members, going well somewhat further inshore. From Pier View, past Ryde to off the Shrape it was a struggle against the GPS finish time which swung frequently between 23.00 Saturday and 14.00 Sunday and an even bigger struggle against the wash from the many race retirees. The crew spirits were kept up by frequent application from the chocolate box and we struggled over the line at 21.25 after what was definitely the longest day ever for Round the Island. Overall two crew lost their RTI virginity for a top 100 finish although our team result was sadly reduced to to 5^th by the retirement of Jago despite a good result from Frank 3!"

William Tahourdin of Frank 3:

"After an early Friday night (well waiting for the bar to stop serving rose) we were well prepared for the annual RTI race. At 0830 the starting horn went and our kite was hoisted for rather a patchy run towards the needles. The wind ran out on several occasions, and by the time we had reached the needles we had experimented with nearly every sail on board. Opting (somewhat belatedly) for the carnage of inshore route - the navigator only later admitted quite how close to the Varvassi we had sailed - we eventually popped out the other side unscathed for the (relatively) windy back of the island leg. Just after St Cat’s the wind started to die off, and several hours of floating around commenced. One by one, the crew realised that their various well planned evening BBQs were looking more and more optimistic - and several discussions were had about retiring. We repeatedly decided against, despite seeing much of the fleet motor past us, and our patience finally paid off when a light south westerly built up allowing us to cross over the line at shortly after 9pm!"

Find the full results here:
http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk/web/pubs/resultsbooks/RIR2019Results.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0Ik-uZ3tTd2S39VasLLZev-g2LWcvN3Djm0g2OTuW32uetXtePvPtPtC4

Photo courtesy of member Christopher Garrod who was flying from Lee on Solent.