Round the Island Race - 30th June

Luxcinda and I went back to Portsmouth and had a couple of days preparing the boat and also looking round the historic docks in Portsmouth.  Stuart, Iain and Linda joined us on Friday night which was also our 33rd Anniversary.

On Saturday we had a 5 a.m. start to get to the starting line at Cowes by 7 a.m. The race attracted 1647 entrants and it was a spectacular sight as we all raced down the Solent, out by the Needles, round the Isle of Wight and back to Cowes.  Throughout we had strong winds of between F5 and F7.

Our class of Bridgedeck catamarans was one of the early starters and we had the tide under us as we tacked West. As we reached the Needles the wind and seas picked up and boats crammed closely together. We then sailed South and then East round the bottom of the Isle with the wind behind us and the tide against. At this stage we were in the middle of the pack with hundreds of boats both ahead and behind. The wind slowly increased and the monohulls were rolling under their spinnakers with their siderails loaded with wet and miserable crew. We were sitting down enjoying our sandwiches with a cup of tea. As we turned West again around the bottom of the Isle we were averaging 8 to 9 knots on a close reach before enduring a final tack against the tide to cross the short, hectic finishing line.

Our total time for the race was 9h56m14s - and incredibly we won our class.  That was a considerable achievement for which we have been awarded a trophy. Thanks to Lucinda and all the crew. It was an amazing and exhausting day. Lucinda and I are now going home for a few days before setting off again. Finally I must confess that although we did win our class we were the only boat that completed the race so the award is more about perseverance and the seagoing properties of the boat than our speed and tactical prowess.