It's about inviting you to be a part of it

A foiling start on day 1 of GC32 Cowes Cup event, which will conclude with the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race © Sander van der Borch / Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour

It's about inviting you to be a part of it - 1,584 boats already are!

As the Commodore of the Island Sailing Club, the organisers of the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, and a boat owner who regularly competes in the Race, Mark Wynter has taken part every year (bar one) since 1977 when he raced his first boat Carte Blanche amongst a then unprecedented 569 starters! Since then he has raced Alchemist, his Dubois Half Tonner, and his best RTI result to date was in 1998 when they were 13th overall. This year in his new role as ISC Commodore, he will be on the RYS Platform watching his beloved boat on the start line with his skipper Andrew Talbot on the helm!

Mark says: "Year after year this unique race challenges all of us who are fortunate enough to compete regularly, and in so many different ways. The weather, the early starts, late finishes, fickle winds, tides, course obstacles, the vast numbers of boats, are all on the day's exciting agenda and hundreds and hundreds keep coming back for more.

"The Round the Island Race is truly a highlight in the yachting calendar for everyone involved, from its title sponsor J.P. Morgan Asset Management and the family of Race Partners, to the masses of wonderful race volunteers and the Race management team. Most of all, it's about inviting you to be a part of it."

It will take an hour and forty minutes to get this year's fleet of 1,584 boats safely underway from the Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes, Isle of Wight, for the start of the Race on Saturday. Eleven classes will set off between 0700 - 0840 in the 84th edition of the Race and the organisers are delighted that the inspirational Isle of Wight-based 'sip & puff' sailor Natasha Lambert BEM, is firing the first gun.

Leading from the front

Likely to attract much of the media attention is Prince de Bretagne, the 80ft Multihull prototype driven by Lionel Lemonchois with Roland Jourdan and Gurloës Merrien on board, and the MOD70 Concise 10 team including Ned Collier-Wakefield with Jean-Pierre Dick and Paul Larsen amongst other crew helping them to try and break the current multihull race record set by Ben Ainslie on 1st June 2013. He was on J.P. Morgan BAR, an AC45 and stole the show setting the record at 2.52.15 beating, by an impressive 16 minutes, the previous multihull race record set by Francis Joyon in 2001 aboard Dexia Eure et Loire of 3.08.29.

Irrespective of setting records, and barring any problems, one of the multihulls is certain to take line honours but they will be chased hard by the five GC32s that are racing as part of the Bullitt GC32 Racing Tour.

In the Monohulls, look out for the 100ft Farr Leopard, with owner Mike Slade on the wheel who already holds the monohull race record on 1st June 2013, standing at 3.43.50.

This is 9 minutes and 45 seconds inside ICAP Leopard's own race record set back in 2008.

Amongst some better-known names taking part this year and racing on an IMOCA 60, are Giles Scott, Olympic Sailor, part of the British Sailing Team and a member of Team Volvo and Olympic silver medallist Hannah Mills who is currently campaigning for Rio 2016 with sailing partner Saskia Clarke in the 470 Women's class. The Race is also delighted to welcome an equestrian Olympic star and medallist Mary King, joining a crew for her first-ever Round the Island Race.

Keep up with the action

The live RTI TV programme will feature pre-race interviews with key competitors and race officials, full coverage of each of the 11 starts, as-live action from key parts of the racetrack, audio interviews with leading competitors during the Race and live coverage of the first winning boats, along with high-quality graphics (including live race tracking of the fleet), key results, weather updates and advertorial features from some of the race sponsors. Two commentators - Simon Vigar on shore and Matthew Sheahan on the water -will anchor the show and keep viewers updated with the latest progress.

RTI TV will be shown on the official Race website but is also viewable locally on WightFibre channel 201, on the big screen in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Race Village in Cowes Yacht Haven, in an assortment of venues in Cowes including the Island Sailing Club. It will also be shown at the Race HUB Clubs on the mainland i.e. the Royal Lymington and the Royal Southern in Hamble.

Armchair spectators can also follow the day's action using the online Tracking facility and the popular Live Blog run by the Event media team, as well as reading the hourly news summaries, all of which will be on the official website.

Dave Atkinson on behalf of the Race Management Team is looking forward to a great day, commenting, "This is my 30th RTI working alongside the ISC and our 170 volunteers and it's shaping up to be one of the best. After two years of light conditions, the weather this year is looking very good for Saturday and we're hopeful that we'll get most of the boats across the finish line before it closes at 2200hrs."

Everyone racing or spectating is encouraged to tweet news and views to @roundtheisland using #raceforall.

Race Village opening times are:
Friday - 1200-1800
Saturday - 1000 - late
Sunday - 1030 - 1500

The Island Sailing Club is grateful for the continued support of the Race Title Sponsor, J.P. Morgan Asset Management, and the Race Partners: Dream Yacht Charter, Haven Knox-Johnston, Henri Lloyd, Old Pulteney, Raymarine, Volvo Car UK.

Official Race Charity: www.ellenmacarthurcancertrust.org

Official Race website: www.roundtheisland.org.uk