Gold Roman Bowl goes to TP52 Gladiator
by Peta Stuart-Hunt, ISC Race Press Officer 2 Jul 2016 22:18 BST
2 July 2016
The provisional* winner of the race's biggest prize, the Gold Roman Bowl for the first IRC boat on corrected time has been announced as Bernard Langley's TP52 Gladiator. She powered around the course to become the second monohull to finish, crossing the line less than four and a half hours after her start.
Gladiator's owner, Tony Langley, is currently racing his other TP52 in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, but his three children, Tom, Charlotte and Bernard all sailed on board today, the latter as helmsman.
"It was a windy and rough race," says boat captain Brett Aarons, "especially in the overfalls off St Catherine's and Dunnose. It was very wet, both on deck and below." Nevertheless the team never held back, hoisting the A3 spinnaker at the Needles, before peeling to the A4 at St Catherine's Point and hitting speeds of 20-24 knots.
"At that point we knew that we had a chance of a good result," says Aarons. "At that kind of speed, the adverse tide only slows you by a small percentage. Once we were back in the eastern Solent we were still in the last of the west-going favourable tide and were almost able to lay the finish line in one tack - it was a huge advantage."
Although the top four places overall went to high-budget campaigns, the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race has always been one in which amateur sailors and those with possibly shallower pockets can excel.
Paul Dunstan's modest 25ft Folkboat from 1974 was one of the best placed smaller boats this year, taking ninth place overall on corrected time and second place in IRC Division 3D to Andy Shaw's Flying Boat.
*subject to ratification
www.roundtheisland.org.uk