(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Saturday 1st of June was certainly a day to remember, a day of highs, and more highs and, it was a day for Round the Island Race records to tumble. It was the day when Great Britain's most successful Olympic sailor, Sir Ben Ainslie (past J/24, J/80 and J/109 sailor/tactician) and his all-British crew aboard JP Morgan BAR, trounced the existing Round the Island Race multihull record, held for 12 years, by an impressive 16 minutes. Equalling this awesome, impressive feat was Simon Ling's team aboard the J/70 SPITFIRE, just blowing away their 15 boat Sportboat Class by 15 minutes on corrected time and were declared winner of the prestigious Sir Edward Heath Trophy (named after a former British Prime Minister who dearly loved sailing).
As
dawn broke over the Solent, a weak weather front was clearing away to
the east, leaving clear skies and a northerly airflow in its wake. The
wind strength peaked at 17-22 knots as the front passed over, reducing
to 13-17 knots for the first starters. It was clear it was going to be a
day to break records for all kinds of boats, especially with flat water
and a good wind angle on every leg of the course. A critical turning
point in the race, St Catherine's Point, had a comfortable 15 kts with
occasional gusts to 20-25 kts to make for fast surfing or planing for
the lighter boats. It was nearly idyllic sailing conditions for the
massive 1,500 boat fleet. However, by the time Simon Ling’s J/70
SPITFIRE, the leading sportsboat, was approaching Bembridge Ledge at
1030 hrs there were holes appearing in the breeze, with just 5-6 knots
reported in places. Otherwise, conditions remain glorious on the water,
with almost unbroken sun now warming the 15,000 sailors after a cold
start to the day. The fourteen boat IRC Sportsboat class saw very, very fast sailing. While Ling's J/70 SPITFIRE dominated overall, what's important to note is that they beat a Melges 32 by 15 minutes on corrected time and a pro-sailed Bavaria B-One by over half an hour elapsed-- that's quite a feat! Next up were a string of Royal Yacht Squadron/ Royal Thames YC J/80 one-designs with ROYAL 1 taking 4th, ROYAL 5 in 6th, ROYAL 2 in 7th and ROYAL 3 in 9th. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth @ PWPictures.com. For more Round The Island Race sailing information
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