Round The Island Yacht Race 2017

Round the Island Race 1st July 2017

Early morning alarms were set to ensure we were all present and correct for 6 am at East Cowes Marina

to board our yacht, Solar Wind, a 37ft Bavaria, only to find when we arrived that those who had slept on

board, namely the Skipper Mike Bottoms and First Mate, Colin Caldicott, had already had a hot breakfast at

the Lifeboat Public House or so they claimed! So with no time to eat we were straight out onto the water to

reach the start line.

A steady breeze from the north west meant we had an easy reach down the western Solent but with dull

overcast clouds rounding the Needles was not the spectacular sight as on previous occasions. Then having

turned the corner, it was an easy run down to the southernmost tip of the Island giving Paul Wilks a chance

to go below and have forty winks. Mike and Colin took the racing all very seriously and were continually sail

trimming which paid off as we did gain some places and it was fun to watch our relative progress.

With a crew average age of 65 plus, we had made the policy decision of inviting along someone fit and

agile namely Paul's son Chris, aged 32, to join us. Chris with his enormous racing experience came into

his own for the final stretch of the race from Bembridge Ledge round to the finish line off Cowes harbour.

He made the 'old men' work with frequent tacking and lots of grinding of the winches. However we reckon

he gained us a few places and it was good to have at the helm someone prepared to remind competing

yachts of the 'Rules of the Road' which tend to be forgotten by other yachts jockeying for position as they

reach the Finish Line. Our position and ranking was greatly assisted by our able tactician, bobbing John

Waterman who was forever nipping down to the chart table, making course corrections and then back up

again.

With enough of a breeze to keep us moving along, it was a fun day out enjoyed by us all. The final placing

was fifteenth in our class out of thirty-three making it a very respectable effort.

A big thanks to Mike and Colin for their enormous effort in all the pre-race training, yacht familiarisation and

general 'baby minding' of the crew, to Doug for bringing the chocolate factory, guest crew Fred and to Geoff

for finishing the last crab sandwich and being a steady hand on the helm.

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Ryde Rotary Club's involvement and support with John's Club

Ryde Rotary Club are supporters of the Tools for Self Reliance project