Marconi Sailing Club
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Round the Island Race by Derek Gardner
June 2009 - Our experience of planning and taking part in the Race
Runner up for Mamgu Trophy 2009
A flurry of snow swept across the garden as we enjoyed a post Christmas drink with family & friends and talked of the sailing season to come. “Let’s do the Round Island Race next season…” I suggested! What is it all about? I only knew it was the biggest yacht race in the world and that it was around the Isle of Wight. Internet to the rescue. Everyone seemed to think it was a good challenge so off we went.
This was the start of what was to be an exciting day’s race for us all. As we are not familiar with the Solent or the IOW research was done and by mid January I had bought charts and signed up to compete on 20th June
The Island Sailing Club in Cowes on the IOW organises this race and has been doing so since its origin in 1931. 2009 was to a record entry with 1,779 boats being entered and an estimated 20,000 people participating on board the boats.
“Why not raise some money for charity as we race” we asked ourselves? We chose to raise cash for RYA Sailability. They use the money to give disabled people the opportunity to try out sailing. We enjoy our sport, so why should not other people less able than ourselves also enjoy it? So a page was set up on justgiving.com and the funds started rolling in – albeit slowly at first!
A lot of planning was needed to enable us to enter a reasonably competitive race. A lot of advice and information was obtained from Island Sailing Club web site and even a beginners guide was available! The tides in the Solent are complex, so a study of these was also very necessary. The course is fairly simple. Start at Cowes and go anti-clockwise round the IOW. There is only one official passing mark as such Bembridge Ledge Buoy on the South East corner of the Island. But then who would in heir right mind would dare to go inside the Needles?! We also read articles about previous races and talked to people to glean what knowledge we could.
Crew selection took place and our two daughters Alice & Nicola with Damian Boreham, Mike Turner and Conrad & Heather Barnard signed up. It was great, as Conrad has also recently retired so he agreed to help sail the boat there and back with me, ably assisted by Nicola and Mike Turner.
The Sailing Instructions duly arrived in early June. No time to back out now! One book called the “Safety & How it affects You” made chilling reading….. How to handle a helicopter rescue, how to call for help, a list of all the hazards en route !! Maybe we will retire before we start?.... Well possibly not, but all good stuff to know about. One sentence even quoted “ If you finish the course without a bump and your gear intact, and no-one has put in a protest against you or even shouted a rude remark, Congratulations”!!! The finish lines and how to text our declaration seemed complicated, but with eight people on board it should be easy, shouldn’t it?
Somewhat nervously we headed off on Sunday 14th June with little wind and managed to reach Dover for the first night. We would only day sail as we did not know the waters at all and also being of retirement age it is difficult to stay awake during the day never mind the night! A good decision, as we encountered mile after mile of lobster pots on the trip, although they were quite well marked. From Dover we passed the landmarks of Dungeness, where we were intercepted by the Lydd firing range warden who told us they were using live ammunition for their firing practice. We decided to stay well offshore to avoid holes in the mainsail! So, on we sailed to Eastbourne for the second night. This was a pleasant experience, as we found a lovely pub and managed to quench our thirsts whilst Nicola went for a “cheap” half price hair do! As the tides were not in our favour for a long push we took in another night at Brighton and from there straight to Cowes via the Looe Channel. The 3 knot tide was with us so this aided our speedy arrival in Cowes. I can see the attraction of the Solent – calm waters, sparklingly blue and lots of choices of places to go to – albeit at a cost! In fairness Shepherds Quay only cost us £23 per night so we stayed for two!
We made shore visits to the Island Sailing Club (the organisers of the race) where we discovered not only a superb local bitter, but found them to be very welcoming. On our second, or was it our third, visit we befriended the Commodore ! It seemed that the other posh yacht clubs probably would not have let us in anyhow!
Friday evening we were due to meet up with the rest of the crew coming down to the Hamble car. Poor Hilary had just been to the IOW all week with the children from her school so had a double journey for her pains.
Our briefing took in our objectives. We wanted to enjoy ourselves, stay safe and minimise damage to the boat, but try and do well. This was to be quite a challenge in these unknown waters.
Saturday morning and up at 0430, steady drizzle….oh dear what a start for the day . Dry mouth syndrome as we headed off to the start line. Hundreds of boats appeared to be going the same way. What a surprise? Our start was at 0810 - one of the largest fleets with 118 boats in total. The start line was not that long as the seconds counted down to the start gun. Where was the line? Could not see it or the ODM for boats. Oh well potluck, we cannot all be over the line! A radio countdown was a help to crank up the sailing speed for the gun. Then we glimpsed the large orange ODM well in front! Not a racing start, but as we all headed off with all the boats pinching wind from each other we suddenly saw a gap. What a wonder in all that melee of boats!! Maybe it was our after-shave? Our luck held as we beat up the Solent in a force 2-3. With sunshine becoming stronger. Some close encounters were inevitable but most competitors were sensible and did not want clashes of gunwales either. As we approached Hurst Castle the narrowest part the wind picked up and so did the tide. The next fast boat fleet were now overtaking us (or trying to) as we sighted the dreaded Needles. The tide was whisking us, and the water, as we closed that familiar red and white lighthouse.
“Keep the Coastguard hut above the Needles light” we were told, to be sure of not hitting the wreck of the Varvassi . Bits of it are scattered around on the shallow rocky ledge but we managed to miss it all. It was rather disconcerting to see the Lifeboat anchored just inside The Needles waiting for some unfortunate to crash onto the rocks or the wreck! Anyhow we rounded it safely. The fleet was busy hoisting spinnakers as fast as possible and the inevitable broaches were witnessed, as several had not realised that the wind on the South of the Island was stronger. We held off for a few minutes to clear away from the fleet before deploying our gaudy pink and powder blue cruising chute. Maybe it might frighten some contestants into submission? Away everyone blasted away on a reach for the next 12.8 miles – so time for FOOD!
What a spectacle to see so many wonderful colourful sails both in front and behind us. Just wall-to-wall boats as far as the eye could see. Some took the inshore route, some took a long offshore route (not sure why) we went straight line route to St. Catherines point. The over falls when we got there caught many sailors out. Spinnakers had to be jibed, and several were seen to tear, many wrapped around the forestays and boats broaching everywhere. We took our chute in to let the mayhem pass so as not to get tangled up in the out of control boats, and remain more manoeuvrable in case we had to take violent avoiding action.
Once relative calm had returned up the chute went again for the reach to Bembridge Ledge Buoy. Sail on for 12 miles then, carnage AGAIN as boats jockeyed for position at the mark. We rounded unscathed giving way to two boats on the inside of us. Many boats then sailed right into the shore across Ryde Sands, but the more cautious (us) decided to stay in deeper water. One of the forts – No Man’s Fort – was a rounding mark in previous years, but not this year. This meant that the causeway to the fort, only 1.5m above datum, would have to be crossed if you went inshore. We would not compromise the boat so had to go into the deeper water and hence the greater adverse tide. This was our Waterloo! We lost a lot of places on those boats inshore, but not knowing the local waters and seeing literally hundreds of boats beating along in the very shallow waters about a mile inshore of us did not tempt us to go in there with our 1.9m draught. The tide was strong and the winds now light. We made slow progress and the chart plotter even showed us doing a circle at one time! Not good enough, time for another ploy.
We broke from the main fleet heading for Portsmouth side. Every time we tacked we seemed to get closer to the Spinnaker Tower not further away. Slowly we crawled our way towards Cowes. With Osbourne House visible in the gloom of early evening we closed the main fleet again as the finish line was spotted in the now gathering mass of boats. As the wind fell lighter the hundreds of boats drifted toward the line. As we closed the finish on starboard tack, this clot directly in front of us on port tack ignored our (initially pleasant) pleas to move out of our way. He ignored us so with cms to spare we crash tacked to avoid hitting him amidships. The jib sheet wrapped itself around Alice’s leg and as she rose from the deck she hurled (politely) the rulebook at him. He just ignored us as though we were not even there. So a few places lost, but we crossed the line 11 hours 46 minutes after we had left.
Relieved, exhausted, elated were some of the superlatives used as we headed back to the Hamble for well-earned drink and food.
Our Results:
31st in class – out of 52
686th out of total starters 1,779
In summary then:
· Did we enjoy it – resounding, YES. We were lucky to have weather to get there and back with only one lost day due to strong winds, especially knowing what weather was in store for the summer!
· Will we “do it again” next year? – Unlikely as it was quite expensive and took a lot of organising and person power to get boat there and back in the time schedule. Might be good to do it in a boat that is already in the Solent.
· We have so far raised £509.00 for RYA Sailability There is still time to donate see justgiving.com/derekgardner
· Thanks to all “The Lame Duck Team” as without everyone’s help it would not have been possible. (Why Lame Ducks? Well that another story!)
Derek & Hilary Gardner
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