Following a fantastic race, I have put together a log - hope you enjoy my account of the race ...

Introduction
Well, it all started with an innocent question over a beer, sat in the sunshine on the veranda of the motor boat club … ‘does anyone fancy doing the Round The Island Race?’. Ten months later found sixteen of us from the Windermere Cruising Association stepping on board two chartered F40 race boats in Port Solent. With strong winds forecast for race day of force 6 gusting 7 – that’s up to 30 knots of wind (35mph) – there was just a little bit of trepidation. We had formed two teams – blue and white. This is Andrew’s account from the blue team.

Team Blue
The team were all experienced lake sailors, but with differing levels of experience of racing at sea.
Andrew. Owns Frank Sonata on Windermere. Had done the Round The Island Race twice before. Claimed to know the way.
Dave. ‘Dangerous’ Dave owns Diamond Edge on Windermere, and is proving to be a hot-shot sailor both on the lake and at sea.
Andy T. Never sailed in the Solent, but had plenty of big boat racing experience in the Irish Sea and Scotland.
Jan. Recently converted to sailing, not sure what she had let herself in for.
David P. An old sea salt, having sailed the seven seas, albeit on somewhat bigger ships. Owner of Fast Fwd (F25.7) and very happy trading up to a F40 for the weekend.
Matt. The youngster of the team, missing his school prom in order to do the race.
Steve. The original Salty Rhino, ridiculously enthusiastic - especially when the wind gets up and the seas get bigger.
Ruth. Races Bliss with Steve on Windermere, a hot helm and a great photographer - looking for some big boat excitement!

Friday Practice
Exiting the lock at Port Solent we found ourselves facing a strong gusty wind, horizontal rain and zero visibility. Ruth took the helm and steered us down the snaking narrow channel and down through Portsmouth harbour; the grey of the Navy vessels matched the weather perfectly. Hoisting the mainsail in the relative shelter off of Gosport, we then headed out through the small boat channel … and into some big lumpy waves and a very confused sea. You could feel everyone thinking “What on earth have we let ourselves into?”. The wind died down to a manageable 25 knots and we enjoyed a fast ride up the Solent, past Cowes and up to Yarmouth. We then turned downwind and had a go at hoisting, gybeing and dropping the spinnaker. Whilst we learnt a few things about how to set up the pole, sheets and guys, we didn’t get the chance to properly practice spinnaker work, and there were one or two worried looks as we made it into Cowes Yacht Haven.

Race Day
The 5am alarm rings and it’s race day! After a good breakfast, I was sitting at the chart table revising my navigation notes when I heard the spinnaker pole being lifted from its stowed position on deck onto the mast track. Why, you ask, are two members of the crew messing about with spinnaker poles when they should be getting ready and sorting mooring lines? Andy T provided the answer … “there’s a TV crew here and Steve and Dave are posing”. Anyway, they made it into the official race video – fame at last!

Start
With 1600 other boats, Red Funnel ferries and strong winds to contend with, Andrew took the helm for the pre-start manoeuvring. The start, at 7.20am, went to plan, keeping mid line and tacking onto port in clear air. The favoured (Cowes) end of the line was very congested – by keeping in the middle we kept out of trouble and our first tack back onto starboard put us in a strong position in mid channel where we were able to force a lot of the fleet to duck behind us.

Beat to the Needles
After the start, Steve took over the helm and steered up to Hurst Narrows, tacking into the three bays (Gurnard Ledge, Newton Creek and Yarmouth) to take advantage of the wind shift and funnelling effects off the land, whilst keeping us in the deepest water for the strongest tide. We settled into a steady rhythm, David P and Matt worked hard on the winches, and we overtook most of the Sunsail fleet during this beat. The tacks were near perfect, Dave W keeping us aware of other boats and Andy T calling the tactics. The crew seemed to enjoy the opportunity of plenty of exercise as we started with one reef, then two, then back to one, then back to two reefs. Sometime in the middle of all this, the catch on the galley locker burst, sending food and bowls out into the cabin. Top tip: china bowls are not a smart choice on a racing boat!

Rounding the Needles
The GPS printout shows us taking pretty much the ideal route past Hurst Castle and up to the famous Needles. Andrew took the helm through the lumpy big seas and round the Needles. We had a moment when two port tack boats were unable to keep clear and we had to duck both of them on starboard, missing the stern of the first boat by at least six inches. Since they were in different classes and since we hadn’t lost very much we decided, in the spirit of the event, not to protest them. Andy T kept us clear of the wreck, and we rounded the Needles at 9.32am. We later found out that one boat had struck the wreck, sending a crew member into the boom and giving her injuries and severe concussion.

South side of the Island
Shaking out all reefs, we set off on a fast reach to St Catherine’s point at the bottom of the island. We didn’t stay as close to the shoreline as we had intended, and probably lost a little time here. Andy T took the helm and we reached across the bay. We elected not to fly the spinnaker due to the wind conditions and that we hadn’t had the chance to practice properly on the Friday. Just as Andy T and I were re-considering this decision, we witnessed a number of broaches, including ‘wrong way’ (dangerous) broaches; and this confirmed that we had made the right decision. The VHF channel 16 was busy – and we listened as the Coastguard and RNLI dealt with several capsized yachts, two dismastings, one broken leg, a suspected heart attack, several MOBs, and a helicopter rescue. Our only casualty was Jan who slid into a deck cleat and bruised her coccyx – painful but she carried on for the rest of the race with no complaint.

Bembridge Buoy
Ooops. The only mark on the course and we hit it! By that time, Andrew had taken the helm and took it a bit close – one wave too big, one gust too strong - we rounded up and gave it a gentle bump. We elected to do the decent thing and declare this to the race committee. Usually you would take your penalty turns, but with so many boats around, the rules are changed to give you a 2% time penalty.

Final Leg to the Finish
Steve reminded everyone that accidents are most likely to happen near the end of a trip, so we paid extra care to stay vigilant, and enjoyed a fast safe finish, overtaking a few boats in the run up to the finish.

Finish
We were caught out at the finish by the strong adverse tide, causing us to have to tack twice to make the line. We finished a respectable 7th over the line in our class; and with only 90 seconds between 4th and 7th, it could easily have been higher. Out 7th place was then converted to 13th as we took our voluntary 2% time penalty for hitting the mark at Bembridge. We were then able to return to our berth, get caught again on camera (this time by the BBC), and prepared to welcome in team white, and enjoy a well deserved beer and burger at the class prize giving.

Party Animals
As a team, our average age was somewhat older (three decades?) than the rest of the twenty-something crowd at the post race party. I wasn’t sure whether the team white and team blue would cope with being in the race village, right at the heart of the noise and atmosphere of the Saturday post race party. How wrong can you be! The sight of Dave being lifted up and crowd surfed to the stage was a sight to remember! Certainly the band lead singer thought so as he paused to take a photo from the stage.

Conclusion
A fantastic weekend for all. The fun and frolics at the race village party added to the team race performance and very respectable 13th/42 in our class. Many thanks to both crews – team blue and team white - for a great time. Anyone interested in next year’s race?

Andrew