The Isle of Wight is located of the S coast of England,
protecting the port of Southampton. For many years the Island
Sailing Club has organised the Round the Island Race which with
over 1,500 competitors, is one of the largest yacht races in the
world. Total distance is about 52 miles, which makes it a good
day's sail. This year it took place on the 26th June 1999. The
Nic 32s have their own class. Within the class it is boat for
boat racing, without handicaps.
There are several starts; this year's race was unusual in that
because of tides it started rather later than usual, with starts
every ten minutes from 08.30 to 09.30. The wind was an Ely, F3,
so spinnakers were flow down the W Solent to Hurst Castle. At the
Needles the boats came on to the wind, and the still rapidly
ebbing tide resulted in slow progress to S Catherines Point. With
the wind veering to the SSW, and a now favourable tide,
spinnakers were flow again as far as Bembridge Ledge buoy. The
fleet was more concentrated than I ever remember, especially as
the early boats headed inshore after the passage through the
forts, but a favourable wind shift allowed the later boats to
catch up. It was a close reach through the E Solent to the
finishing line off Cowes, where the wind headed the fleet and
there was some exciting (!) close tacking (with loud cries of
'Starboard') as yachts jostled for the finish.
The maratime traffic block (of 30 mins) to reach the declaration
barge was a sight to behold, especially as dusk was falling and
the hundreds of yachts had their nav lights on.
My memory of my first 'Round the Island' race is of having to
stand braced against hard surfaces for long periods of time,
people endlessly complaining about the cramped conditions,
monotonous food indifferently served, and being buffeted around
to the point of nausea. However, as soon as I got off the 17.45
from London and headed for the boat, things got a whole lot
better.
'Judicious', third to be built of the classic 'Nicholson 32'
design, sits on a mooring at Bursledon, a few strokes of the oar
from the Jolly Sailor pub. On board, skipper Tony Howard hosted
me and my fellow crew-member with a fine Friday night dinner,
before ferrying us to the nearby pub for an after dinner drink. I
had been a little apprehensive as I had not sailed with Tony or
his friend Ian before. However, I need not have worried. As
another 'Nick 32' owner, he and Tony had plenty to discuss, and I
soon realised that men will talk endlessly about kitchen layouts,
drawer space, soft furnishings and clothes, as long as they all
relate to activities afloat.
The following morning, Tony showed that he knows how to set up
his crew for the day. In brilliant weather, our motor down the
River Hamble towards the start was accompanied by a fine
breakfast, and 'proper' coffee, while I learned how the winches
worked and generally got oriented. As a newcomer to sailing, let
alone racing, I was somewhat overawed by the milling about around
the start, but with some 1500 boats under way in the vicinity,
this is not surprising.
In what seemed like no time at all we had started towards the
Needles, and before long the West Solent was a forest of
spinnakers, and the hunt was on to spot fellow competitors in our
class. I was even allowed to take the helm for a while.
Once through the Hurst narrows, things started to get interesting
as everyone positioned themselves to get around the Needles.
Spinnakers began to drop and we prepared for the long beat down
to St Catherines which, for a long time, was little more than a
faint shape in the haze. Rounding the point at last, the
conditions changed again. Folkboats and cutters came into their
own in the light airs, out came the spinnakers again, and boats
we thought had been left behind in the mist glided past. The
skipper even took a brief nap. Then we needed to gybe and I was
charged with keeping the boat pointing in the right direction
while others did the real work, and the same again when the
spinnaker was taken down just before Bembridge Ledge.
As my reward I was allowed to stay at the helm as we approached
the forts on a brisk reach. However, after hearing horror stories
of boats squeezed into a narrow gap between fellow competitors
and the unforgiving ramparts, I chickened out, much to the
amusement of the skipper.
Then to the finish. On the port tack, we were obliged to give way
to competing boats positioning themselves for crossing the line.
If the start was confusing, the finish was either exhilarating or
downright terrifying, depending on your point of view. Total
trust in the skipper allowed me to enjoy the situation to the
full. I'm not saying we were close, but I did notice that a
surprising number of the sailing fraternity seem to have problems
with enlarged pores.
Eventually we had to join the jostle, going about several times,
and I'm proud to report that our experience on the beat to St
Cats paid off in a pretty impressive tacking routine. But in
crossing the line the drama was not yet over.
Back at the helm, with 'Judicious' under power, I found myself
confronted by a catamaran ferry whose motto seemed to be, 'If you
can't join them, run the buggers down!'. By the time that I had
negotiated his wake, and turned round to see where he had gone,
there was nothing to be seen but a cloud of black exhaust.
We still had to find the declaration barge to hand in our times
and collect the commemorative pot. That meant we had to join a
queue, sometimes six vessels deep, which stretched away and back
in a huge loop. The camaraderie between boats during the race was
suddenly transformed the sort of jostling that goes on at a
suburban roundabout in the rush hour.
For a while, we just puttered along against the tide coming from
the east, giving us time to look back in the gathering dusk at
the mass of twinkling navigation lights on the port quarter.
"It's like a Fairyland", exclaimed my fellow crew-member. "Not
with that colour scheme", I smiled to myself, as the goody-bag
was hoisted aboard, and we set off north across the line of
stragglers to our home berth and a very late supper.
(Judicious completed the course in 11 h. 29 m., coming sixth in
her class.)