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Round the Island Race

Annual sailing race around Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

Summary

Annual sailing race around Isle of Wight, United Kingdom

The Round the Island Race 2008, seen from the viewpoint at [[Blackgang]], viewed north-west towards [[the Needles]].

The Round the Island Race is an annual yacht race around the Isle of Wight. It starts and finishes in Cowes, and is organised by the Island Sailing Club. The course is about 50 nmi long. It was first held in 1931, it was sponsored by JP Morgan Asset Management from 2005 but in 2017 Cloudy Bay took over as the Presenting Sponsor, the 2019 race was sponsored by Helly Hansen, Raymarine, MS Amlin and Chelsea Magazines. The race is generally chosen to be the Saturday in June with the most favourable tides; a date in late May or early July may be chosen if there is no suitable date in June.

History

The race was the idea of Major Cyril Windeler, who commissioned a gold Roman-style bowl as prize for the winner. The first race, in 1931, had 25 entries. The silver bowl second prize was introduced a few years later when Chris Ratsey impressed Windeler with his good sportsmanship. The last race before World War II, in 1939, attracted 80 entries. In 2008 a total of 1750 boats took part. In 2022, more than 1100 boats took part.

Course

The course runs all the way around the Isle of Wight, with a total distance of 50.1 nmi.

The course has varied slightly with buoys tried at the Needles and a requirement to leave No Man's Land Fort to port.

Race record

Multihull/outright race record

It was in 1961 that multihulls first entered the round the island race and the record has since fallen considerably.

Year	Time	Boat type	Boat name	Crew	Ref
2017	2 h 22 m 23 s	MOD 70	Concise 10	Ned Collier-Wakefield	T Lawson
2016	2 h 23 m 23 s	MOD 70	Phaedo^3	Lloyd Thornburg
2013	2 h 52 m 15 s	AC45 catamaran	J.P.Morgan BAR	Ben Ainslie, helm/skipper
2001	3 h 08 m	60 ft trimaran	Dexia Eure et Loire	Francis Joyon, skipper
Rodney Pattison, navigator
1986	3 h 05 m	60 ft trimaran	Paragon	Mike Whipp
Rodney Pattison
1985	4 h 04 m	Nigel Irens 60 ft trimaran	Apricot	Tony Bullimore
1963	5 h 50 m	Catamaran	Snowgoose of Wight	Don Robertson
1961	6 h 00 m	Catamaran	Snowgoose of Wight	Don Robertson
1932–1960	Various	Monohulls
1931	9 h 51 m	Monohull		Thomas White Ratsey

Monohull race record

Year	Time	Boat type	Boat name	Crew	Ref
2013	3 h 43 m 50 s	100 ft Farr design canting keel	ICAP Leopard	Mike Slade	url=http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk/web/code/php/main_c.php?map=rir13&ui=rir4&style=std&override=&page=news&section=race&storynum=211	title=Race Record Broken	publisher=Round the Island Race Event Media	access-date=1 June 2013}}
2008	3 h 53 m	100 ft Farr design canting keel	ICAP Leopard	Mike Slade
2001	4 h 5 m 40 s	Reichel Pugh 92 ft maxi	Skandia Life Leopard	Mike Slade
1931	9 h 51 m			Thomas White Ratsey

Outright record

The outright record as recognised by the World Speed Sailing Record Council on behalf of International Sailing Federation has in the past also been the race record.

Year	Time	Boat type	Boat name	Crew	Notes and ref
June 2017	1 h 17 m 17 s	Catamaran	Red Jet 6	Howard Ray	Motorised vessel - not sailing
July 2023	1 h 56 m	Monohull		Oliver Pendleton	Fully electric record attempt
August 2012	2 h 21 m 25 s	MOD 70	Foncia	Michel Desjoyeaux	Set during Cowes Week
November 2001	2 h 33 m 55 s	Catamaran	PlayStation	Steve Fossett, skipper
Standalone record attempt
June 2001	3 h 08 m	60 ft trimaran	Dexia Eure et Loire	Francis Joyon, skipper
Rodney Pattison, navigator	title=Round the Island in 80 years	url=http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk/web/pubs/2011/RIR11-ExhibitionBrochure.pdf	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004221321/http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk/web/pubs/2011/RIR11-ExhibitionBrochure.pdf	archive-date=2013-10-04}}
1994	3 h 35 m	Trimaran	Lakota	Steve Fossett, skipper	Set during round the island race

Gallery

Image:RoundTheIslandRace2010.jpg|Some of the 1700 boats in the 2010 Round the Island Race. Image:Yachts racing during Round the Island Race 2010.jpg|Yachts flying spinnakers during the 2010 race Image:Round the Island Race 2009 off St Catherine's Lighthouse.jpg|The fleet rounding St. Catherine's Lighthouse in 2009 Image:Round the Island Race 2009 off The Needles.jpg|The 2009 race, with yachts seen racing off The Needles Image:Round the Island Race 2009 off The Needles 5.jpg|The 2009 race, with yachts seen racing off The Needles Image:Round the Island Race 2009 off The Needles 4.jpg|The 2009 race, with yachts seen racing off The Needles

References

"Island Sailing Club".
Fisher, Bob. (20 June 2009). "Round The Island Race proves frustratingly slow going". [[The Guardian]].
Owner, Practical Boat. (2017-02-28). "Round the Island Race announces corking new sponsor".
"Eeyore wins 2019 Round the Island Race Gold Roman Bowl".
Neville, Martin. (20 May 2011). "Round the Island in 80 years". [[Isle of Wight County Press]].
Ayles, James. (26 June 2015). "Get set for popular Round the Island race". [[The News (Portsmouth).
"Rotarians to rescue in race capsize". [[Isle of Wight County Press]].
(26 June 2022). "Thousands take part in Isle of Wight's Round the Island Race". BBC News.
"Round the Island Race – The Course". Round the Island Race.
"Race Record Broken". BAR Racing.
"Race Record Broken". Round the Island Race Event Media.
"Round the Island Race Results Book 2001".
"Record Round the Island time | Media & PR | Red Funnel".
"BBC News".
"Passage Records". World Speed Sailing Record Council.
"Paralympic Sailing".
"Round the Island in 80 years".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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