Fast Cat Race Round the Isle of Wight

Sponsored by TEK KAT Ltd, a member of the The Tek Group.

Over the long weekend of Friday 29 May - Sunday 31 May, a field of 24 International competitors assembled at Calshot Activity Centre to compete in the Tek Group Fast Boat Road The Isle of Wight Race and Regatta.

Open Friday

Friday saw 6 competitors race in near perfect sailing conditions. A South Easterly 16 knots breeze and temperature of 22C and sun greeted the competitors who were about to show exhilarating sailing for those lucky enough to watch. The new M20 Vampire of Will Sunnocks and Simon Farren shot straight to the front but a jib halyard failure saw them quickly scamper to shore to repair, before reappearing fro the 2nd race. This meant that the Tornado of Aaron Young and Rob Butterfield was left to take line honours with the F18 Nacra Infusion of Grant Piggott and Andrew Sinclair taking 2nd on the water but the win on handicap.

Race 2 saw the repaired Sunnocks/Farren M20 Vampire take line honours, with the Tornado not far behind, however it was the Piggott/Sinclair Nacra Infusion that took the win.

Race 3 and again the M20 took line honours, however now getting used to their new boat managed to stretch the legs on the boat before the big race the following day, but once again the F18 of Piggott/Sinclair took the win, to win the Friday series overall.

Fast Cat Race Saturday

The return of the ultimate cat challenge saw 24 competitors taking to line to compete in The Fast Cat Race - Round The Isle Of Wight. The fleet was small this year but with a quality field making the line up. The Nacra Infusion F18 was back to take on the new Shockwave F18 and the Wild Cat F18, the first in the UK. The battle for line honours would be very interesting with the M20 Vampire, a Marstrom 20 modified with 12 foot beam, taking on the Tek Kat in its new format without the integral chute.

Sun and a South Easterly 16 knots greeted the international field that had travelled for the race. The race started with a short upwind leg from the start at Hill Head before the fleet headed towards the Needles twin-wiring and 3 sail reaching.

The wind slightly swung to give the competitors a run towards the first major obstacle on the way to the Needles, the infamous narrows at Hurst Castle. The choice was to carry the spinnaker or not through the chop. One boat that braved the first option was the Tek-Kat of Clive Everest and which came to grief in the chop whilst battling for the lead with the M20 of Will Sunnocks and Simon Farren. Heading the remainder of the fleet was the F18 Loday/White Shockwave of Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch and the Tornado of Aaron Young and Rob Butterfield.

Having rounded the Needles and hardened up, the fleet had to make their second tactical decision, to stay close to the island or head offshore - those that chose the later made the right choice. The M20 really had a chance to stretch its legs and led the fleet with the Tornado a distant 2nd. A few cats came to grief around the back of the Island, but righting themselves continued round.

By now the M20 had reached Bembridge, hoisting the spinnaker, and flew downwind to the finish line at Hill Head. The M20 crossing the line out of sight of any other competitors in 4 hours 14 minutes 31 seconds but would it be enough to win overall? With spinnakers filling and hulls flying the fleet started to finish. Second on the water was the Tornado well ahead of the 3rd placed boat, the F18 of Wilson/Lynch. Slowly the rest of the fleet crossed the line, with bruised and tired crews, no-one really knowing who had won the overall race but all with tales of how they had battled round. The wind, now decreasing as forecast, saw the tail-enders struggling in.

With the results ashore, the question was... who had won? Soon to be revealed - it was the F18 of Wilson/Lynch with the M20 Vampire in 2nd and the F18 Nacra Infusion of Piggott/Sinclair taking 3rd.

Open Sunday

Those that weren’t so tired raced on Sunday, in what was to be the lightest breeze of the weekend. With 3 races planned, a gentle but tricky 6-15 knot breeze greeted the 6 starters.

Race 1, and it was the M20 that took the lead. But again it was the local Piggott/Sinclair pairing that took the win.

With absolute efficiency the race officer got race 2 under way. With what was the usual order the M20 crossed the line first. With wind shifts and gusts, the 3 F18s behind enjoyed close racing, but eventually the F18 of Piggott/Sinclair took the win.

In race 3, in a steady breeze the M20 took off and excelled taking line honours and this time the win over the F18 of Piggott/Sinclair and F18 of Northrop/Ford in 3rd. Despite this small glitch Piggott/Sinclair took the overall ahead of the Sunnocks/Farren and Northrop/Ford.