Round the Island Race

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The Book A Berth programme is operated by Yacht Ventures of Southampton.

To make a booking or to find out more about our events, click on the email link at the bottom of each page, or call 0333 4440 477.

We also operate corporate events – take a look at our main site reached via the About us menu button.

Race day: Saturday 20 June 2009
Sailing package: four days 18–21 June

The annual Round The Island Race is one of the highlights of the British yachting calendar, and with Yacht Ventures you can take part on big, fast, exciting yachts. Our package includes two days training immediately before the race, so that our crews can be genuinely competitive.

This is the world’s biggest yacht race: something like 1,800 yachts leave Cowes early on a Saturday morning in June (starting in nine groups, spread over a period of an hour and a half) to race anti-clockwise around the Isle of Wight, finishing back at Cowes in the afternoon. We're offering places on our two First 47.7s.

This year, we are operating a different formula from that offered in past years: a single four-day weekend, with two training days ahead of the race. Cost including crew kit and most meals is £595

Our two First 47.7s will be entered in IRC Class 1, alongside some of the cream of British yacht racing. Given a decent wind, we’ll get round the island in around seven hours.

You can book individual places for this exciting event. The only qualification required is enough sailing experience to know that you can handle a full day at sea; given that, everyone is welcome, whether you do or don’t have racing experience. Each yacht will be skippered by an experienced racing yachtmaster, who will be assisted by a competent mate – so we will not be dependent on the skills or experience of our guests for safe handling of the boats. Everyone will play a full part in sailing the boat, and we go to some lengths to get everyone up to speed during training. The basic idea of this training is simply that by knowing the ropes (and knowing the rest of the crew) everyone will have more fun on the big day; we also hope to get into the top half of Class 1 in the results.

We plan to take 10 guests on the First 47.7s. This is about right for racing. It means the boats are pretty full overnight, but our many return bookings suggest that people don’t mind that. We have cockpit tents for the boats, so that a select few crew members can enjoy a cool night in the open air without getting drenched by dew.

Thursday 18 We will assemble at Ocean Village, Southampton on the Thursday morning. After a detailed safety briefing and dockside spinnaker practice, the boats will head out into the Solent for a day’s basic on-the-water training. We’ll probably spend the Thursday night in Hamble or Cowes.

Friday 19 We’ll devote the Friday to practising tacks and gybes, hoists and drops. During the day we’ll sort out what roles people want to play/are competent to play on race day. We will probably spend the Friday night in Cowes.

Saturday 20 Saturday is race day. The start sequence kicks off this year at a relatively late 0730, so our start (IRC Group 1) is likely to be approaching 0800. Barring accidents, we’ll finish in time to find plenty of empty berths when we get back to Cowes (the Yacht Haven operates on its usual first-come, first-served basis after the race.) We should be in by mid afternoon. We will have tables reserved for dinner.

Sunday 21 What we do on Sunday is up to the crews, but experience suggests a lazy start and a late breakfast will be followed by an easy cruise to Ocean Village for a late lunch there.

You get 4 days’ sailing with breakfasts and lunches included, and accommodation on board. Foulies and lifejackets are provided. Embroidered crew shirts and jackets/fleeces/gilets are included this year. The cost is £595. Demand always exceeds supply, so book soon!

Click to download a pdf event summary:
RTIR09