Round the Island race - 12th July 2008
Report by Walter Brown
Small, yet beautifully formed may best describe the fleet that started the Association’s
thirty-fourth Round the Isle of Wight Race. Half the fleet were unable to get to
the start line off Yarmouth, given the poor weather experienced in the Solent right
up until Friday night.
In the event, the first class comprised of three Parker 21’s, with Nigel Walbank’s
“Breeze” promptly leading Geoff Turner in “Dawn”, who was sailing single-handed
and Paul Burton in “Papillon” away from the line and into the blustery F 4-5 (occas.
F6) westerly wind over tide conditions, on the opening leg towards the Needles.
These three were hotly pursued some 45 minutes later by class two, consisting of
Parker 27 “Jans Express” sailed by David Cooper, the 325 “Kerenza” of Jeremy Parsons
and Martin Hopton’s 335 “Shemar”.
Having rounded Bridge Buoy west of the Needles and with spinnakers much in evidence
the entrants, were accompanied on their way to St Catherine’s Point by the many
competitors in the Two Handed Round the Island race.
For the Parkers, the question as always was, could the smaller, slower yachts keep
ahead of the larger and quicker, let alone save their time on handicap? “Shemar”
thought the answer was no, when she caught and passed “Dawn” and “Papillon”, only
yards apart after 6 hours of racing, at Bembridge Ledge Buoy.
She had, however, yet to catch the nimble “Breeze”, who living up to name, sped
back up the Solent cheating the foul tide along Ryde Sands, to stay ahead and take
both line honours at Gales HSB Buoy and record a first on corrected time. “Shemar”
finished next but was unable to save her time on the singled-handed “Dawn” who was
third across the finish.
Thanks go to the committee boat, Helen & Roger’s “Cân y Môr” which performed
a sterling service, given the lumpy conditions, and to the warm hospitality of the
Duke of York in Cowes on the Saturday evening.
| Position
|
Name
|
Owner
|
Class
|
Sail no
|
PY
|
Start
|
Finished
|
Elapsed
|
Corrected
|
|
1 |
Breeze |
Nigel Walbank |
21 |
81 |
1063 |
1 |
17:15:21
|
7:45:21
|
7:17:46 |
|
2 |
Dawn |
Geoff Turner |
21 |
18 |
1093 |
1 |
17:50:33
|
8:20:33
|
7:37:58
|
|
3 |
Shemar |
Martin Hopton |
335 |
46 |
950 |
2 |
17:42:00 |
7:27:00 |
7:50:32 |
|
4 |
Papillon |
Paul Burton |
21 |
30 |
1073 |
1 |
18:00:10 |
8:30:10 |
7:55:27 |
|
5 |
Jans Express |
David Cooper |
27 |
129 |
1036 |
2 |
18:38:01 |
8:23:01 |
8:05:32 |
|
6 |
Kerenza |
Jeremy Parsons |
325 |
19 |
950 |
2 |
18:42:21 |
8:27:21 |
8:54:03 |
Start times
1 09:30
2 10:15