The Round the Island race is one of the iconic sailing events in the yacht racing annual calendar attracting a broad range of sailing abilities and personalities.
This year the Race in association with Cloudy Bay, takes place on Saturday 1st July and sees 1000+ yachts sail all the way round the Isle of Wight
As organisers at the Island Sailing Club (ISC) in Cowes count down the days, the Rear Commodore Sailing and head of Race Management Dave Atkinson, is hoping for a late surge in entry numbers to record a final number on par with last year at around the 1,500 mark. Entries currently stand at 1,150.
There are a large number of prizes and, in addition, there are always groups of friends competing against each other in friendly competition and always a carnival atmosphere but with a serious side to things.
The flurry on the start line with its 11 separate starts, will include the MOD 70 Concise 10with Ned Collier Wakefield on the helm and a number of the highly competitive Fast 40+ fleet including Invictus owned by Sir Keith Mills and helmed by Sir Keith and his son Alex. Sir Keith’s long-term skipper Rob Greenhalgh sails as tactician and crew boss and their boat currently tops the Class overall results table.
Peter Morton’s Girls on Film is also racing with Jules Salter and Jason Carrington on board amongst others.