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A gusty and gutsy Round the Island Race 2024

June 16, 2024

Round the Island Race 2024, 15 June 2024

Thank you very much to Harry for another enjoyable Round the Isle of Wight Race (RTI). We had an experienced crew on board Winsome including Harry (navigation), Leen (mainsheet), Boj (pit/tactics), Dirk-Jan (trimming), Joost Dantuma (trimming), Joost Heikens (trimming/mast), Lennard (trimmimg/mast), Floris (bow) and Laura (helming). 

The weather forecast was very windy, so we knew in advance that this would be a wet, windy and quick RTI. This was the fastest RTI that Winsome has done and we finished in a time of 6 hrs, 48 mins and 36 seconds. We were delighted to win division 2b, 5^th in class 2 and 17^th in IRC overall. Winsome was also delighted to be part of the winning RYS team, finishing 2^nd team overall with our team mates Fargo (Bertie Bicket and crew) and Scherzo of Cowes (Peter Morton and crew) to win the Jeroboam Trophy. 

We started early on Saturday morning with breakfast at Winsome’s cottage at 4.45am and departed the RYS haven at 5.30am. Due to tide times, our start was at 6.30am and we knew it would be a fast race, based on our weather routing, our expected finish time was around 6.5 hours, so approx. finish at 1pm, which was approx. correct, as we finished at 1.18pm. We started middle of the line, with a no. 3 jib and 1 reef in the mainsail. The wind was approx. 15 to 20 knots at the start but quickly increased to a consistent 25 to 30 knots. This was a long beat out towards the Needles. We stayed close to the island side and as we approached Hurst, we decided to put a 2^nd reef in the mainsail. Many boats decided to turn around at this stage and there were a lot of boats who decided to head back to Cowes, instead of continuing, due to the very strong winds. The wind increased again between Hurst and the Needles Lighthouse. We saw 39 knots of wind, as we rounded the Needles and bore away towards St Catherine’s Point. We decided to not, fly a spinnaker – similar to nearly every boat. We changed the job to a no. 2 and we also shook out the reefs and had a full main for the downwind legs. The tide was with us until the Needles but was then against us for the rest of the race, so we decided to stay close to the island, to stay out of the strongest tide. The waves increased as we approached St Catherine’s and there were many waves that made the crew wet and there was plenty of water in the Winsome cockpit. We stayed close to St Catherine’s point and after we rounded, we decided to goose wing the jib (main and jib on opposite sides). This was surprisingly, very fast and very stable! The lifeboat and coast guard, were unfortunately kept very busy with a man overboard (thankfully recovered safely) and many boats needing assistance, but thankfully we believe that everyone finally returned home safely.

As we approached Bembridge Ledge, we decided to change back to the no. 3 jib and 1 reef in the main for the final upwind leg, back to Cowes. We decided to be conservative and instead of gybing, we tacked around to keep everything safe. On the way back to Cowes, it was again very windy, with winds constantly 25 to 33 knots and we added a 2^nd reef to the mainsail. We again stayed close to the island and we were very pleased to finish at 1.18pm, after a great circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight.

The racing was followed by a nice drink at the new and upgraded RORC clubhouse, followed by some nice warm showers, warm teas and coffees and some mid-afternoon naps, given our early morning start! We then headed to RYS for dinner to celebrate our class win and enjoyable day. We had a lovely evening at the RYS and we were delighted to be joined by Graham Bailey and we also enjoyed the company of Marc Castagnet. We finished the evening with some dark and stormies at the RORC.

The Winsome crew were delighted to win some trophies and champagne at the prize giving. Thanks very much to Harry for the great navigation and organising everything. And thanks to Boj for the preparation in advance. We were delighted to return home with no damage to Winsome. We look forward to some more enjoyable regattas on Winsome in Cowes including RYS members regatta, British Classic Week, Cowes Week., finishing the season with the RORC Cherbourg Race. Congratulations and well sailed to the entire Winsome team on a great result, an enjoyable RTI race and keeping Winsome and all the crew safe. 

Laura

Ere wie ere toekomt / Honour to whom honour is due: Right after passing the Needles I became ill and that lasted to Dunnose Point. The navigation on that part of our race has been taken over by Boj Mirck, with success.
Harry Heijst