Royal Southampton Island Double to take place on 5th May
by Cathy Crawley 26 Apr 2012 11:16 BST
5 May 2012
Royal Southampton Island Double Race takes place on 5th May © John Greenway
2012 Corona Extra Double Handed Series
Over 100 boats will be vying to break the double handed Round the Island record on Saturday 5th May. "If the early starts off the Royal London YC are combined with brisk winds, then it's possible we'll see the first boats home in the early afternoon but this year's east-about course will call for some different tactics from the more usual west-about course." explained Bob Trimble, Captain of Racing.
He added that the current monohull record of 5hrs 58mins 38secs set in 2009 by ‘Concise', Class 40 (Ned Collier Wakefield/Luke McCarthy), was almost beaten in 2011 but in the event, the closest finish was almost 25 minutes later, so all is still up for grabs again this year.
The RSYC is delighted to see the return of the multihulls who were sorely missed in 2011. Apart from this one year of absence, multihulls have consistently comprised a strong fleet upwards of 12 boats. Even so, the multihull record for the circumnavigation remains unbeaten since 1996 when firebird Catamaran ‘Phoenix' (Martin Hutchings/Tim Hazel) positively flew round in 4hrs 44mins 29secs.
The Island Double has always been the favourite of the annual 8 race series and this year will see racing in 2 IRC classes, 2 Club classes and 1 Multihull class. It's the second race of the Inshore Series and the forth race of the Main Series.
All competitors will be made welcome at the Royal London YC after racing where they can get a well earned drink and their results. All boats successfully completing the course will receive a pair of engraved spirit tumblers to commemorate the day. There are of course prizes for the first 3 boats in each class, plus a race trophy to be presented at the end of Series prizegiving at the RSYC Ocean Village Clubhouse on Saturday 27 October.
www.rsyc.org.uk