A Royal send off planned for J.P. Morgan Round the Island Race

Thendara showing off her lines in the yard © Chris Day

The Island Sailing Club in Cowes, Isle of Wight, is delighted that Prince Michael of Kent GCVO, has been confirmed as the Race Starter for the 2016 J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race on Saturday, 2nd July 2016.

Prince Michael will join Race officials on the Royal Yacht Squadron platform to commence the spectacular starting sequence and fire the cannon signifying the first of eleven class starts at 0830.

Prince Michael is not competing in the Race and is visiting the Isle of Wight to carry out a number of official visits.

The spectacular Round the Island Race continues to attract an extraordinarily eclectic mix of entries whether it be the boats or their owners (and sometimes both); enthusiastic mariners from all walks of life, and representing all levels of the sport and all age groups.

The organisers are delighted that the entries have now started to ramp up and are currently at 1,140 - a J/105 Jos of Hamble registered at #1,000.

In amongst those boats jostling for position in the second Class start at 0840 on July 2nd (Multihulls Grand Prix and MOCRA Racing (LOA 9.15m and over) are a number of well-known names not least of which are the MOD 70 multis; the duelling duo Phaedo^3 and Concise 10.

As well as owning the phenomenally successful record-breaking Phaedo^3, Lloyd Thornburg from New Mexico, USA, also jointly skippers the boat with legendary sailor, Brian Thompson, one of the world's best-known sailors, especially in the field of multihull sailing and offshore races and records. Phaedo^3, is also stacked with a core of professional sailing talent including navigator, Miles Seddon and Sam Goodchild.

Lloyd says he's "very excited to be participating in the Round the Island Race for the first time."

Their Race rival is Concise 10, who pipped Phaedo^3 to the post by 12 seconds in the Round Barbados Race in January. Team Directors, Tony Lawson and Ned Collier Wakefield, launched Team Concise in August 2006, with the intention of helping young British sailors forge a future in competitive offshore racing. This team is absolutely meeting its objectives.

On board for this year's Race are: Ned Collier Wakefield, Jonny Malbon, Paul Larson, John Hamilton, Martin Watts, Fraser Brown and Tom Dawson.

"The Round the Island Race is something that we look forward to each year and the iconic event certainly shouldn't disappoint with two MODs racing this year. After taking a fairly easy line honours last year the team and myself are expecting a closely fought race between ourselves and Phaedo. Hopefully the spectacle doesn't disappoint." Ned Collier Wakefield, Skipper/ Team Director - Team Concise

Meanwhile...

Ilios, a Bavaria 37, definitely has a fun crew to watch out for! These guys mean business, headed up by Stephen Hartigan and led astray by two friends flying in from Dubai; Craig Marks who is from the IOW and Paul Marks who is General Manager of 'Build A Bear Workshop' in the Middle East. Aw! They are joined by friends from the insurance market and neighbours who have raced with Stephen in the RTI twice before. Stephen is a member of Lloyds Yacht Club and also the ISC where they will all be enjoying a celebratory dinner after the Race.

Ratatosk - Adam Beaumont and his team are from Linton in Leeds, one of the most inland areas in the UK and they're racing on Adam's Hanse 445. Last year they did pretty well in their first time out in this race, scoring a 2nd in IRC 4B with an undersized spinnaker.

Illiria is a Sparkman & Stephens 40ft RORC Class sloop being raced by Andrew Easdown, family and friends. She's mahogany built in 1968 in Italy by Cantiere Carlini, Rimini and is in near original condition.

Thendara is a pretty 1960 Buchanan 33 sloop, owned and sailed by Chris Day and his son Nick, from Oxfordshire with two other crew. As Chris rightly points out, "People in the yard with very fast modern boats do still admire these classic long keels and it's nice to show her lines off." (See photo above)

Nimble Chiquita is hot footing it in from Germany, owned and helmed by Christophe Nielsen who is a famous German Folkboat Winner amongst his other accolades and was also part of the 1987 Admiral's Cup Team.

Get your questions prepared!

June 22nd is the third and final web Q&A and your chance to quiz expert panelists on their top tips for final Race preparations, start tactics and things to watch out for and avoid! To replay the previous two sessions and/or join the last session on June 22nd at 1300hrs, see rtir.me/qanda

J.P. Morgan Asset Management Highlights

Completing the selection of highlights during 12 years of partnership with J.P. Morgan Asset Management, David Dimbleby and the official Race charity, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust took pride of place in 2014/2015.

The BBC Question time presenter David Dimbleby was the Official Race Starter in 2014 before competing himself on June 21st, a day that was dubbed 'the longest and the greatest day', owing to the date but also mainly due to the lack of wind because the 'bunching' also produced some of the most spectacular fleet shots at the Needles!

Charity fundraising has always been a fun and exciting part of the Race. Many charitable causes benefit, including the official Race charity, the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust that has raised £226k from its involvement. This sum has enabled an additional 334 young people to join the Trust for a four day trip and 95 young people in recovery from Cancer to be able to sail in the Race. In total, the amount raised for good causes since 2010 has reached a fantastic sum of £500,000.

Standard entries to compete in the 2016 Round the Island Race close at midnight on Saturday 18th June. See www.roundtheisland.org.uk

David Dimbleby on board his boat 'Rocket' for the BBC One series 'Britain and the Sea' - photo © BBC Media Centre