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2 July
Round the Island Race ~ 2007
[Ed: No, not that island, the Isle of Wight... our own RTI (Hilbre) hasn't happened yet!]
Dee SC members Alasdair & Brigid Davidson and Grant Vaughan joined forces with six members of Wallasey YC to enter this years' Round the Island ( Isle of Wight ) Race on Saturday 23 rd June. We had chartered a Jeanneau 41 out of Ocean Village in Southampton and took over the yacht on the Thursday evening. A cruising rather than racing yacht, Solus was to be our home for the next three days.
Friday's weather was fresher than forecast but allowed us to really get the feel for the boat. I for one had not helmed using a wheel since a trip on the OYC Francis Drake at the tender age of 15. Solus is quite unlike Sleeper to sail being slower and less manoeuvrable but once up to speed in the fresh conditions she trucked along upwind at 7 knots. After a good four hours up and down the Solent we headed to Cowes for the night in readiness for our 05.50hrs start on the Saturday.
The Round the Island Race is the world's largest yacht race in terms of the number of competing yachts. Entries were up on last year with just short of 1800 yachts having pre-entered. Motoring towards the Medina River , it felt like all 1800 were arriving at the same time. Picture the M6 around Birmingham on a Friday afternoon and you'll get the idea. We managed to raft up alongside another yacht on a pontoon up-river from Cowes . We tidied the boat and hailed one of the water taxis to take us ashore and off to the Island Sailing Club for a weather briefing. Beer is an essential element of any sailing trip but Saturday's early start didn't lend itself to a skin full on the Friday night so with just a few pints and a pile of fish and chips down our necks we returned to Solus for the night. This was to be Brigid's first night sleeping on board a yacht and I'd told her it would be absolutely fine. I hadn't banked on the wash from the water taxis slapping against the hull every 5 minutes until the early hours.
The alarm clock went off at 04.45hrs and we crawled out of our bunks and cabins. The Medina was still looking like the M6 at Birmingham on a Friday afternoon but with the traffic heading the other way. It had been suggested the day before that I might like to helm the start. At that moment, the realisation of what I'd agreed to hit home. The most boats I'd ever been in the thick of had been 40 at the F18 Nationals and in an hours time I was going to be starting alongside 240 other yachts in Class 2. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound as they say. We cast off and I turned Solus onto the M6 and headed out into the Solent . We needed to find the Northern Waiting Area, a zone back from the line between certain buoys. That will be a major achievement I thought but our navigator was up to the job and we soon had the sails up and the engine off. Whichever way you looked, the Solent was packed with yachts of all sizes. The early starters including the Extreme 40's, the brand spanking new 100ft maxi Leopard, a Volvo 60, a couple of Open 60's, a couple of the Clipper yachts, and various other large and expensive looking machines were off in the distance. We milled around waiting for our warning gun. In the end it all happened fairly quickly although the heart was still beating and other areas twitching!! We did get a good start, a little bit offshore but that was our plan as we reckoned Solus would be better placed in clearer air and not having to tack up the shore which would slow her down.
The Needles arrived about two hours later and we'd picked off a number of supposedly faster boats from the classes ahead of us. The spinnaker was hoisted and John Carrier took over on the helm for the run down the south coast of the Island . It was to be a long run with a single gybe off St. Catherine's Point. Whilst Solus is happy to truck along upwind, she's just too heavy to get going downwind and the big swell didn't help us either. Still, we held our own with most of the boats around us and reached Bembridge after around four and a half hours. Down came the Spinnaker and John handed the helm back to me. At this stage we reckoned we were still in a good position but it was clear that we were not be quick enough to get involved in any sort of a tacking dual up the shore. So we headed out again but this did put us into unfavourable tide. The wind had freshened and several squalls passed through but we kept Solus trucking along. After an hour or so I handed the helm back to John and took over winching the Genoa , as Grants muscles were about to pop out through his jacket sleeves. After a total of 9 hours and 5 minutes we crossed the finish line. We knew we'd lost time on the leg from Bembridge but it had been an amazing race.
Once again we motored up the Medina and rafted up six deep off the Cowes Yacht Haven, which meant we could walk ashore. After a bit of a wait for the showers we headed into town for some well deserved beers and to see if the results were out. Until all boats have finished you can only get an idea of your class and division results but the early indications were looking ok. We certainly weren't going to have disgraced ourselves. After a few beers in the Island Sailing Club we headed off to one of the pubs where we'd booked a table for dinner. En route, a few of us popped back to Solus as the boat inside us wasn't staying for the night and we'd agreed to meet them at 20.00hrs to let them slip away and re-set our lines. Just at the crucial moment the heavens opened. As the guys on the other boat disappeared snug in their oilskins, the four of us were wet through in a matter of minutes. Anyway, after a quick change we headed off to join the others in the pub. There are certain times in one's life when only Steak & Ale Pie with Chips will do and this was one of them. A few more beers later and most of us were flagging so it was back to the boat and nothing, not even the passing water taxis, woke me until the following morning. As Bacon Butties were prepared below, we motored out of the Medina and back to Southampton . The Bacon Butty Brigade also cleaned up down below which was very good of them so on arriving in Southampton all that was left to do was hand back the keys and head off back up north via the real M6.
I'd definitely recommend this event to a Dee team so if anyone wants details of the Charter Company we used and the costs, give me a ring. Oh, and finally the results:
13 th in Division 2D out of 47
83 rd in Class 2 out of 237
309 th Overall out of 1735
Not bad for a bunch of misfits in a big cruising tub!!!
Words - Alasdair Davidson
Photos ? Grant Vaughan
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