(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- The annual JP Morgan Asset Management
Round the Island Race, organized by the Island Sailing Club, is a
one-day yacht race around the Isle of Wight, an island situated off the
south coast of England. The race regularly attracts over 1,700 boats and
around 16,000 sailors, making it one of the largest yacht races in the
world and the fourth largest participation sporting event in the UK
after the London Marathon and the Great North and South Runs.Competitors come from all over the UK, other parts of Europe and as far away as the USA to follow the 50 nautical mile course round the Isle of Wight. Starting on the famous Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes, the fleet races westabout, to The Needles, round St Catherine's Point and Bembridge Ledge buoy, and back into the Solent to the finish line at Cowes.
This year’s race starts on Saturday, June 27th at the crack of dawn. The weather forecast is for the high pressure to move south, providing good weather that follows the typical summer pattern of light variable winds early in the morning and a sea breeze developing in the afternoon. There is however a low 600nm west of Ireland and this will change weather fronts cross the country on Friday. These will push the high to the SE but as the fronts come up against it they will lose some of their intensity and what will be a heavy rainband in Cornwall and will be showers by the time the front reaches the Isle of Wight.
The last of these showers should clear the Solent late on Friday afternoon or early evening and Saturday will be a mainly sunny day as the high pushes back in and we get a moderate south westerly wind. As the land heats it will help to enhance the gradient wind which will increase to 15-20 knots and a little stronger around St Catherine's and where the wind is funnelled in the western Solent.
Looking forward to the wonderfully benign conditions are a variety of J teams that range from J/70s and J/24s up to J/133s. The J/80s are sailing as a class with 13 entries that include top boats like AQUA J (Terence O’Neill) and MOJO (Jim White). In the J/70 sportboat class, there are sixteen entries that have notable teams like Andrew Barraclough’s JENGA 8, Simon Cavey’s JUST4PLAY, and David Mcleman’s OFFBEAT in the mix.
In IRC 1A Class, there are six J/111s like Martin Dent’s JELVIS, Cornel Riklin’s JITTERBURG, and Chris Jones & Louise Makin’s JOURNEYMAKER II. In addition, six J/122s are in the mix including Sergey Senchenko’s JOLOU, David Cule’s MINT JULEP, and William Avery’s JACOBS LADDER. The J/133s include Eric Gicquel’s BLACK JACK from France and David Ballantyne’s JINGS!
In IRC 1C Division class there is a variety of boats, including the J/120s ASSARAIN III sailed by Chris Masterson and Richard Bagnall’s NUNATAK, the trio of J/88s such as Dirk Van Beek’s SABRIEL JR, Richard Cooper’s JONGLEUR, and Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J REPEAT.
The IRC 2A Class includes J/109s such as Jean Lockett & Owain Franks’ JYNNAN TONNYX and Mark Hollis RED ARROW from the Royal Air Force. Also in the class are David & Kirsty Apthorp’s J/88 J-DREAM and the famous J/35 KNIGHT BUILD Ltd from Ireland. Several other J/109s are sailing in IRC 2B class, such as Christopher Palmer’s J’TAIME, Paul Griffiths’ JAGERBOMB, David Richards’ JUMPING JELLYFISH, and RUAG WHITE KNIGHT 7 sailed by Major Rob Hammond, owned and sailed by the soldiers of the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army.
In the IRC 2B Class are a number of J/105s, like William Newton’s JELLY BABY and Fiona & Malcolm Thorpe’s KING LOUIE. Joining them is James Bedford’s J/92S BOJANGLES.
The IRC 2D Class has a raft of J/97s that include Andy Howe & Annie Kelly’s BLACKJACK II, Rob Orr’s JACKAROO, James & John Owen’s JET, and Nick Angel’s ROCK LOBSTER. For more Round Island Race sailing information
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