Round the Island Race

1,700 boats, 16,000 sailors, one objective. To circumnavigate the Isle of Wight in the Round the Island Race, a race for all. Sara Whatley talks to Race Director Dave Atkinson 

Eager sailors have their ears pricked for the boom of the official starting gun, then they are off on the Round the Island Race. Heading west into the early morning waters, the competitors of this renowned yacht race circumnavigating the Isle of Wight are set to sail the 50.1 nautical miles ahead of them, before they are welcomed back into Cowes – and probably a drink or two in the Race Village.

Hailed as a race for all, you really do find everybody on the water from multigenerational families and first- time racers, right up to Olympic and America’s Cup sailors. “It’s having fun on the water!” enthused Dave Atkinson, Race Director, when he kindly took a pause from his packed pre-race schedule to speak to me. This year on 7 June sees the 94th year of the race, which was started in 1931 by Island Sailing Club member Maj Cyril Windeler. 

The first race saw just 25 entries partake, with the successful skipper Peter Brett sailing to victory in his 22-foot Cornish fishing boat, Merry Conceit, which he had bought for just £45.

“We’ve gone from what they would call ton boats – trawlers, fishing boats, Cornish crabbers – to more high-tech boats, grown in their capabilities. We still have the old gaffers, the traditional sailing boats that are a lot older, right up to the grand prix sailing yachts,” explained Dave. 

Some of the modern multihull yachts can speed round the course in as little as just over two hours (the current record is held by Ned Collier Wakefield who completed the course in two hours, 22 minutes and 23 seconds in 2017). At the other end of the spectrum some vessels take a good 8-10 hours to make their way round. “In the past we’ve had big French multihulls come across on Friday afternoon, do the race on Saturday, don’t come ashore, and they have probably got back to France before some of our yachts have even finished!” laughed Dave. 

Every year, Round the Island supports a charity, and this year it is Wetwheels Foundation, who provide people with seen or unseen disabilities fully accessible boating experiences, giving them the helm, teaching them new skills and providing a super day out for the whole family. “They are a great charity!” said Dave “They will be around on the day – great to have them on board.” 

Round the Island is known for its beautiful scenery and relatively safe conditions, although there are certain parts of the course that sailors need to be aware of. “The Island is an unforgiving thing, it doesn’t do you any good to go and park yourself on a hard piece of rock,” Dave warned. 

He continued to tell me that through the Needles channel, in certain conditions and winds, the waves chop up a bit. The next challenging stretch is at St Catherine’s Point where again there is a conflict of tides, and “it can kick up a bit lumpy down there”. Back through the Eastern Solent there are Ryde Sands, and the forts to negotiate, but Dave assured me they get very few incidents overall. 

Round the Island is still the same race now as it was back in the 1930s, starting out in Cowes, heading west and coming in from the east back into Cowes. Tradition dictates the direction of travel, but also the practicalities of conducting a race of this size. “It’s all to do with tides, and shipping movements,” confirmed Dave. They have great working relationships with the port authorities in Southampton, who allow them to close the Solent off in the morning. “We’re the only event who can call on that, so we need to get the boats clear away from the main shipping routes,” Dave continued. 

Throughout our chat I get the feeling that Dave knows this race inside out – “you could say that,” he laughed. “I started a very long time ago as a paper shuffler. This is my 46th Round the Island. I’ve done nearly every job that can be done.” 

During that time Dave has come across some funny stories, such as people believing they can enter online, turning up on race day and expecting to enter on the start line... Another chap Dave remembered phoned up the Thursday before the race and said, “I’ve just bought a boat and I want to enter your race.” 

It turned out he had never sailed before, had just seen this boat, bought it and thought he’d do Round the Island as his first ever go at sailing. “People don’t appreciate the enormity of it,” said Dave, “although actually it’s a very safe race and everybody’s going in the same direction which in sailing terms is always a good thing.” 

Last year Round the Island was battered by wet and stormy weather making sailing conditions very challenging. “We’ve never had a year like that before and I hope we never have one again,” said Dave. They had to cancel some classes and work closely with all of their support services and the Met Office team for the forecast. Not wanting to ‘nanny’ the competitors and tell them they couldn’t sail, Dave and his team gave them the choice. “I said, ‘I don’t know what the capabilities are of you and your crew so you’ve got to make the decision given these parameters whether you can go’, and I don’t think I had one complaint last year for the first time ever.” 

Weather watching is a crucial part of the race and starts in earnest two weeks before race day. “We’re looking to all the weather patterns around to see what the weather might be. It’s building a picture up in your mind of what’s doing, collecting data from across the Atlantic, France, the east. You can’t say what is it doing now, you have to say what’s it going to be like in 6 hours, 12 hours, 24 hours.”

Race day is a very long day for Dave, with the first briefings happening around 5am and a finish time in the early hours of Sunday morning. The day before the race is a frantic checking of lists, weather forecasts, team briefs, flags ready for the start... “We have a check list that is pages long which starts in November and goes through week by week. The last month before the race is pretty intense,” said Dave. 

After the race comes a very quick break to let off steam down in the Race Village on the parade in Cowes. Here people can find live music, bars and food and a welcoming atmosphere for everybody – spectators and race goers. Then it’s straight to the debrief, review, and working through all the feedback. “That takes the best part of July, we have August off and then off we go again!” Round the Island is an 11-month operation undertaken by 120 people – out of which only four are paid staff, everybody else is a volunteer. 

And what of August? Well, let’s hope that the team have a well- deserved rest, probably not far away from the water though. As Dave said, “I prefer my sailing these days in warm waters and a nice breeze.”