IOW Challenge for the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation
by Eddie Mays 22 May 2009 08:47 BST
16 May 2009
2009 Isle of Wight Challenge
The inaugural Isle of Wight Challenge was organised in aid of the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation, sponsored by HarbourWorld.com and held on Saturday, 16th May. The early morning uncompromising weather forecast of Southwesterly Force 5 – 7 gave the race team from Fairview Sailing no alternative but to alter the original plans to race round the Isle of Wight. Instead the competitors were set a course that took them out past the Needles into Christchurch Bay to the cardinal mark ‘Bridge’ before running back through Hurst Narrows down the length of the Solent to the ‘Sand Spit Fort’. After rounding the fort the fleet beat back to the finish at the ‘Wight Vodka’ buoy near the mouth of Southampton Water.
The sail over from Hamble to the start line off the entrance to Cowes Harbour was enough to clear everyone’s head. The fleet of larger yachts started first at 0640 with a class of matched Oceanis 37’s starting 10 minutes later. The long beat down the Solent and through the very rough waters at Hurst Narrows and out into the Bay were energy sapping for all the crews. In particular the seas around the ‘Bridge’ buoy were testing for even the most experienced skippers. Three of the smaller boats reached Hurst Narrows and decided that discretion was the better part of valour and proceeded no further.
Guthrie Steer helming the First 40.7 ‘Blue Juice’ had gained a good advantage on the first leg over the all female crew on the Sigma 38 ‘Premier Cru’ but suffered steering gear problems on the way back past Cowes and had to retire. Behind these two the first of the Oceanis 37s, ‘Crème de la crème’ helmed by Richard Clarke had made up time on Mike Burton’s ‘Lily of Hamble’ (Oceanis 50) and reached the top mark first. However the bigger boat slowly clawed her way back and the two boats then had a titanic battle all around the rest of the course. At the finish line there was less than a boat’s length between them after six hours of racing. ‘Premier Cru’ had already finished 10 mins earlier but finished 2nd to ‘Crème de la crème’ when the time handicaps had been applied.
With all the boats safely back in their berths in the Hamble the crews and their friends adjourned to the Boomerang Bar in Hamble Square for an evening of Caribbean themed entertainment that included an auction and raffle on behalf of the Foundation. In the packed restaurant John Bird, the Event Organiser for the Isle of Wight Challenge welcomed Rosemary Gillespie, CEO of the Roy Castle Foundation, to the evening. She told the guests that she was very pleased to be back in southern Hampshire. She and her husband had lived for 14 years in the Petersfield area. More importantly she thanked the sponsors for their support and everyone for their efforts in raising money for the Foundation. As the only UK charity that is solely concerned with finding a solution for lung cancer all the monies raised will be channelled directly into their research programs. Due to everyone’s generosity the event has raised over £3,000 towards this work.
The sponsors Harbour World also used the event to launch their new website, www.harbourWorld.com where there will be a wide range of information available across a broad spectrum of yachting activities. The day was also supported by TAS Engineering, Riverside Engineering & Rhyal Engineering. Afterwards Event Organiser John Bird thanked them for their help and looked ahead to next year’s event where there is already a significant level of interest by a number of new companies.
For more information about either the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation please visit www.roycastle.org