Ten Mini Tonners set for JP Morgan Round the Island Race

This year's record entry for the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race includes ten entrants competing for the Kemp Sails Mini Tonner Trophy in its inaugural year.

A strong fleet includes last years winner of the Mini Ton Cup, Shallott and the her fellow Evolution 22 Glass Onion, which 29years after she won the Gold Roman Bowl with Julia Dane at the helm, is still winning trophies in 2011, most recently securing the Royal Southampton Spring series for current skipper Jacob MacKenzie. Both these Jeremy Everett designs must be among the favourites along with David Cowell’s Eskymo, fresh from a dominant performance in the recent Clarkson Cup.

Two production E-boats are entered, including Antony Chapman’s Energia which was second in the Mini Ton Cup in 2010 winning the Solent Trophy as the best placed production boat. She will one again be crewed by instructors from Rutland WaterSports. Chapman describes the crew as having ‘minimal race experience but up for a challenge’. They are joined by Roughian though due to the latter’s greater downwind sail area, there is a significant difference in handicap.

One Limbo will be on the start line, Cuan Marsh’s Ex Tip, so named because she was rescued from a skip in 2009.

Full details are available on the official website. The Kemp Sails Mini Tonner Trophy will be fought out within IRC Group 3, starting at 0700. The Trophy itself will be presented as part of the official race prize giving at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes on Sunday.