JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race roundup
by Flavia Bateson 20 Jun 2005 11:05 BST
18 June 2005
Nokia rounding the Needles in the JPMorgan Asset Management Round the Island Race 2005 © Phillip Plumtree
For many of the 1,692 competitors in the JPMorgan Round the Island Race, held on 18th June 2005, the day turned out to be a longer one than expected. The breeze was often light and variable, but the sun shone and everyone found keen competition in their own particular section of the event as they raced the 50 miles round the Isle of Wight.
The first warning signal, for the Open 60s, was scheduled for 0640 but Saturday morning dawned with very little wind. The race management team wisely decided on an hour's postponement for a gentle breeze to fill in and whilst there was fog in the Channel, only a light mist appeared in the
Solent that soon burned off leaving blue skies. The breeze picked up as the front of the fleet neared The Needles and beat down to St Catherine's in a south-easterly, but once round the corner there were some very large wind holes near Ventnor before a further beat to Bembridge and a final run up the eastern Solent.
Given these conditions, this was never going to be a record-breaking year. The first boat home, unusually, was a monohull, the state-of-the-art New Zealand super-maxi "Cityindex Maximus" (Bill Buckley/Charles Brown) which completed the 50 mile circumnavigation in 7 hours and 1 minute to take the Observer Trophy. Just 39 seconds adrift, and first in the multihulls, was the trimaran "Nuvu Hiva 2" chartered from Brittany-based Team Ocean by Deutsche Bank. Skipper Robert Gray, Chairman of UK Investment Banking, was delighted to receive the Freedom Challenge Bowl, particularly since three years ago Deutsche Bank's race was cut short when they were unable to find
clear water to tack and grounded at Lepe Spit after the first beat. They made up for this the next year, winning the trophy on "Eure et Loire" sailing with Francis Joyon.
The majority of boats were out on the water much longer. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, sailing the classic ketch "Suhaili" with his brother Chris and Admiral of the Island Sailing Club Robin Aisher, had a finish all of 6 minutes and 10 seconds before the time limit of 2200 hours. Paul Bayliss skippering his Gibsea 33 "Silver Sea" cut it finer by a slender 7 seconds to spare. Others were less fortunate, including Skandia Cowes Week Director Stuart Quarrie, competing in the family boat. There were a few minor incidents. An early retirement was "Bear of Britain" (Kit Hobday) which grounded on Gurnard Ledge. Introducing the prizegiving, Mrs Susie Hobday gave a special memento to their navigator, who shall be nameless, in the form of a DVD aerial pilot to hazards in the Solent! A few craft also scraped the wreck at the Needles and others found their way onto Ryde Sands.
The Gold Roman Bowl for the top placed IRC rated entry was won by a 25 foot Hamble-based quarter tonner "Purple Haze" (Tony Dodd). "Sareema" (Robert McLeod), a traditional Westerly Fulmar family cruiser was runner-up just 1 minute and 40 seconds behind with "Cloud Nine" (Magnus Wheatley) a further 36 seconds adrift. Several competitors who had come from further afield found success including "Flying Neleb" (Federico Garcia-German) over from Santander to compete in the Swan European Regatta which won IRC6. Dutch entries "Swarte Swaen" (Albert Doets) and "Djambo" (Rem Schuijt) also topped their classes.
Terry Rowe's bright red Corby 25 "Drake's Drum" took the Silver Gilt Roman Bowl as first overall ISC Rating System boat followed by "Vigilant" (William Norris).
The first Grand Prix multihull on corrected time was "Paradox" a Dazcat 33 built originally for a paraplegic sailor to compete in the Round Britain and Ireland Race, but now owned by brothers Simon and Matt Baker from Cornwall. Island Sailing Club Commodore Peter Dickson, on duty at race control, was delighted to see his Hunter 707 finish first in class, sailed by son Simon, daughter Helen and her fiancé.
The Family Trophy, donated by Yachting Monthly, went to the Cowes-based Contessa 33 "Antilope" skippered by Willem Wester, with his wife Heleen, son Allan, daughter Minka and grandson Andrew (13) in the crew, repeating their success of two years ago.
This year's event charity was Prostate Cancer Campaign UK and over £13,000 was raised by competitors and from the auction of a Gold Fleet place in the forthcoming International Fleet Review.
The 69th JPMorgan Asset Management Race will be held on 3rd June 2006.
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