Highs and Lows of Round the Island Race

It was a record-breaking day for the 1,533 entrants competing in the Round the Island Race on July 2, a 50 nm course that rounds the Isle of Wight in the UK.

The biggest news was reserved for Lloyd Thornburg’s giant MOD70 trimaran Phaedo^3, which tore round the course in two hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds. In doing so he smashed the record time Sir Ben Ainslie set in 2013 by a stunning 28 minutes.

The coveted Gold Roman Bowl for the first IRC yacht on corrected time went to Bernard Langley’s TP52 Gladiator, which powered around the course to become the second monohull to finish, crossing the line less than four and a half hours after the start.

Despite the unusually testing conditions, only a small percentage of the fleet retired from the race, with the overwhelming majority of competitors – some of whom saw gusts to almost 40 knots – successfully completing the course.

Among those yachts that were not successful was the Dubois designed Half Tonner Alchemist, which sank east of the Needles after hitting a shipwreck. The yacht was competing without its owner, Mark Wynter, who is the Commodore of the Island Sailing Club, the host of the race. Dramatic video footage of the sinking is seen here.

Major trophy winners included:

OBSERVER TROPHY & JPMAM TROPHY – First Monohull to finish
LEOPARD, Mike Slade

GOLD ROMAN BOWL & JPMAM SALVER – First Overall IRC
GLADIATOR, Bernard Langley

SILVER ROMAN BOWL & JPMAM SALVER – Second Overall IRC
INVICTUS, Sir Keith Mills

ROYAL THAMES CHALLENGE TROPHY & JPMAM SALVER – Third O/A IRC
TOKOLOSHE II, Michael Bartholomew

ROYAL LONDON CHALLENGE CUP & JPMAM SALVER – Fourth O/A IRC
YES!, Adam Gosling

JPMORGAN TROPHY – First Overall IRC Group 0
GLADIATOR, Bernard Langley

OWEN PARKER MEMORIAL TROPHY – First Overall IRC Group 1
YES!, Adam Gosling

RAYMARINE RIR YOUNG SAILOR TROPHY
WAVE WHISPERER, Richard Barnes

TENACITY TROPHY – Last boat to finish within the time limit
SEASCAPE, John Hulford-Funnell

Race details – Complete results – Photos