J’s in the Round the Island Race at Island Sailing Club
by J/Boats 15 Jul 2018 09:25 BST
26-29 July 2018
What a glorious sight! © Paul Wyeth
As usual, it was another challenging 60nm offshore adventure for the world-famous "Round Island Race" in the United Kingdom, hosted by the Island Sailing Club in Cowes, Isle of Wight.
Over one thousand boats began starting at 0630 hrs. First off was the IRC Zero class, followed by over two-dozen more classes sailing across the glorious Royal Yacht Squadron line in the beautiful morning light. On Saturday, the High pressure system produced a light NE breeze to start, veering SE-SW during the afternoon depending where you were. It was a hot and sunny, very tactical, long day of sailing- even the TP52's took 10-11 hours to complete the course!
The general lack of wind and seabreeze that failed to materialise, left hundreds of teams struggling to reach the Needles before the tidal gate slammed shut in the early part of the race. Those who sneaked through had little option other than to soldier on and endure a slow, challenging, and extremely hot rounding.
Up for that challenge was the J/Navy sailing across the spectrum of classes. It was a dominating performance for many J/Crews!
The highlight was yet another fantastic performance by a J/112E! This time, it was DAVANTI TYRES (Chaz Ivill and Paul Heys) that won the Owen Parker Memorial Trophy- First Overall in IRC Group one and they were also first in IRC 1C Division!
Following them in IRC 1A Class were the following teams: 2nd the J/111 JOURNEYMAKER, 4th the J/120 HANNAM and PARTNERS Team, 5th the J/122 JAHMALI, 6th the J/111 JITTERBUG, 7th the J/122 KAYA, 10th the J/111 KESTREL, and 11th the J/133 ASSARAIN IV.
Sailing in IRC 2A Class were twelve J/109s and, not surprisingly, they led a clean sweep of the podium! First was JUBILEE, second DIAMOND JEM, and third JAGO!
Then, in IRC 2B Class were seven J/105s and six J/109s that also dominated, taking six of the top eight places! Winning was the J/105 JOS OF HAMBLE, 4th the J/105 JIN & TONIC, 5th the J/109 JURA, 6th the J/105 TYREFIX UK, 7th the J/105 MOSTLY HARMLESS, and 8th the J/105 JIGSAW.
Holding their own in IRC 2C Class was the J/92S UPSTART, taking the third position on the podium.
IRC 2D Class had four J/92's and five J/97's, also with an outstanding set of results (five of the top ten). Winning was the J/97 JAYWALKER, followed in 3rd by the J/97 JET, 5th the J/97 JUMBLESAIL II, 9th the J/97 HIGHJINKS, and 10th the J/92 JABBERWOCK.
Taking half of the top six in IRC 3A Class were the following J/Teams; winning was the J/92 SAMURAI J, 4th the J/92 NIGHTJAR, and 6th the J/97 BLACKJACK.
In the world of Island Sailing Club handicap rules (ISC), there were a number of J/crews participating. The highlights were the J/100 TIDERACE taking 2nd place in 5B Class. And, last but not least were the venerable J/24s! In 6C Class taking 2nd was the J/24 J-RIDER and in 6th was J/24 TEAM IMPACT RACING.
In addition to the handicap classes, there are also one-design classes for the Round Island Race!
This year's J/70 Class was won by MJOLNIR, followed by JENGA 8 in second, and the ROYAL SOUTHERN GBR 101 team in third.
In the J/88s, first across the line was TIGRIS, followed by David & Kirsty Apthorp's J-DREAM, and Mister 88's JONGLEUR in third place.
The J/105 class had quite the battle all the way around the island, which is not unusual for this closely-fought class. Winning the battle this year was JOS OF HAMBLE, second was JIN TONIC and third TYREFIX UK.
Perhaps the biggest surprise for all the J/sailors was how well the J/109s did as a class as well as overall. Winning was JUBILEE, followed by DIAMOND JEM taking silver and JAGO the bronze.
However, when you look at the J/Boats Class Trophy (overall IRC- 56 boats total), here is how the top five panned out:
1st J/109 Jubilee
2nd J/109 Diamondn Jem
3rd J/112E Davanti Tyres
4th J/109 Samurai J
5th J/111 Journeymaker II
More Round the Island Race sailing information