Seal Sailing Association - Round the Isle of Wight Race

With gale force 8 winds forecast for the whole weekend, the organisers sensibly elected to set a course for the 2006 event to keep the entrants within the confines of the Solent.

The hardy crews of the smaller and slower marques were first away from the start line off Yarmouth, sent on an exciting very broad reach north east towards South Bramble buoy, some 9 miles away. "Zephyr" Peter Scrivens Parker 235 making the best of their start, closely followed by "Breeze" the Parker 21 of Nigel Walbank and "Caller’ou" the elderly Seal 28 skippered by Neil Palmer. Flying her spinnaker to good effect, it was not long before "Breeze" established an impressive lead on the water. 30 minutes later, the faster Parker 277/325/335’s, accompanied by the sole Super Seal 26 "Ard Righ" of last year’s winner Walter Brown, set off in hot pursuit.

The better of the second starts having been made by "Tilikum"” the 325 of Jonathan Houston, Martin Hopton’s 335 "Shemar", and "Ard Righ", each wrestled to keep their colourful kites in some measure of control as they sped up the western Solent. Conditions were however soon to take their toll, with both "Tilikum" and "Ard Righ" shredding spinnakers in one particularly vicious gust, the former also performing an impressive Chinese gybe and "Caller’ou" contriving to hit South Bramble, sustaining significant damage to her bow in her efforts to avoid a number of yachts competing in another race.

The close reach to Norris and fetch to Gurnard to complete the first triangle, saw the two fleets draw ever closer, though "Shemar" was never to catch "Breeze" who took line honours at Gales HSB buoy, the finish mark, one round later. She was followed by "Ard Righ", having finally overhauled "Zephyr" and "Skylark" the well sailed Seal 22 of Richard Tanner. Next to complete the course was 2005 runner-up, Geoff Harwood in his Parker 21 "Cygnus", followed by "Tilikum", and SSA Commodore Clifford Miller sailing his Parker 275 "Abacus". In the final analysis, the positions on the water were reversed with "Breeze" not quite able to save her time and overall victory going to Martin Hopton, who last won the event in 1988 in a Seal 22. The Association’s thanks go to the committee boat, Mark Goble’s "Delphis" and to the warm hospitality of the Duke of York in Cowes on the Saturday evening after the finish.

Results:
1st, M Hopton, Parker 335, Shemar, 2hrs 23mins 36secs
2nd, N Walbank, Parker 21, Breeze, 2hrs 25mins 51secs
3rd, W Brown, Super Seal 26, Ard Righ, 2hrs 28mins 30secs
4th, R Tanner, Seal 22, Skylark, 2hrs 33mins 03secs
5th, J Houston, Parker 325, Tilikum, 2hrs 38mins 26secs
6th, P Scrivens, Parker 235, Zephyr, 2hrs 42mins 14secs