Round the Island Race record broken by a minute
A total of 1,342 yachts turned out to compete in the 2017 Round the Island Race, in association with new sponsor Cloudy Bay.
The 70ft trimaran Concise 10 achieved a thrilling race record on 1 July, when Ned Collier Wakefield steered the MOD70 across the finishing line exactly a minute faster than the time set by Phaedo3 in 2016.
This will be the second boat in so many months on which Giles Scott, tactician on Land Rover BAR (and sailing on Concise), will have achieved 40+knots. Scott was among some of the world’s finest sailors taking up the challenge of the 50NM classic, which is organised by Island Sailing Club. Alongside them were families sailing for fun, firsttimers and everyone in between.
Adam Gosling’s JPK10.80, Yes!, stormed round in IRC1 to take the coveted Gold Roman Bowl, awarded to the overall winner of the race on corrected time in IRC.
The 2017 edition of the race was full of excitement, quite literally from dawn to dusk. A north-north-westerly wind in the high teens and some rain showers greeted the earliest starters, who were due to set off west, down the Solent and towards the Needles at 05:30.
The early weather also gave the racers a fast start, closereaching down the Solent with the tide beneath them; there were personal-best times recorded to the Needles across the board. A full list of results is at www.roundtheisland.org.uk.
Race rescues
While patrolling the western Solent, the RNLI’s Yarmouth all-weather lifeboat was called to two injured sailors, a suspected burst appendix and a grounded yacht.
The volunteer Yarmouth crew received a request for help from the yacht Quokka which had hit a submerged object just east of The Needles, resulting in one of her crew sustaining a broken shoulder and another, minor head injuries. With help from the RNLI’s Lymington lifeboat, two Yarmouth lifeboat crew were put aboard. The casualties were transferred to the Yarmouth lifeboat and taken to Yarmouth harbour to a waiting ambulance.
Later, the 48ft yacht Marathon reported the collapse of a crew member. The lifeboat came alongside just off Hurst Castle, and the casualty (with a suspected burst appendix) was transferred to the lifeboat, from where they were airlifted to hospital by the Coastguard’s search and rescue helicopter.
Lastly, the lifeboat was tasked to assist Ajax, which had run aground on Atherfield Ledge. However, when the lifeboat reached the scene the yacht had re-floated and was able to proceed with the race.