IOMA Fund and Investment Management Limited trading as IOMA Fund Management and IOMA Investment Management. Licensed by the Financial Supervision Commission of the Isle of Man.

The IOMA Fund & Investment Management

55th Round The Island Race 2010

Race Report and Results

Manx Sailing and Cruising Club

The 2010 IOMA Fund and Investment Management Round the Island Yacht Race started at 1330 on Sunday from the South Stone Pier off Ramsey Harbour. A large crowd cheered the 28 yachts (including 2 trimarans), from all round the Irish Sea as well as the Island, as they raced off the line as the battery contingent fired off the requisite rounds from the end of the pier.

The forecast was for North Easterly winds of around force 4 to 5 slowly backing to North over the next 12 hours or so then maybe to North Westerly later. It therefore came as a bit of a surprise to some when the wind changed from a light North Easterly at the start to a crisp North Westerly within the hour, effectively splitting the fleet in Ramsey Bay and setting many of the competitors a challenge to get back into the reckoning.

At the Point of Ayre, where another good crowd were gathered to watch the spectacle, many of the favoured Division 1 IRC handicap racing yachts were struggling. Alan Hannon’s J124 BJAYSUS from the Royal Ulster Yacht Club rounded only just in front of several  slower Division 2 (PY handicap) Class B and C boats who had started only 15 minutes earlier. Notable was James Walker’s smart new Quarto ¼ tonner QUAKKERS, DBYC, who was well up with the leaders but who later suffered a spreader failure and had to retire hurt. There was plenty of action to watch as Bjaysus was just holding off Robin Wooton’s CHEETAH CUB from Douglas Bay Yacht Club and with Keith Lord’s AC35 A-CREWED INTEREST next in Division 1 close to Class 2A’s QUANTUM (Dehler 36, R&E Moore, DBYC) then the trio of Sigma 33 Offshore One Designs POLISHED MANX (Kuba Symanski’s new boat, DBYC, HONEY of BOSHAM, Laurie Clark, Whitehaven Boating and Sailing Association and SEA-PIE of CULTRA, Jerry Colman, MS&CC) in that order. SEA-PIE came rather close in to the beach to overtake last year’s overall winner from Class 2B PENNY DIAMOND (Copeland 28bk, John Broadhead, Glasson Sailing Club, who successfully defended class 2B/C this year). The fishermen at the Point helpfully reeled in their lines as the fleet passed but some were seen to be preparing to retreat up the beach with their rods as the rigs heeled towards them.

The North Easterly forecast would have meant a pleasant spinnaker run all the way down the West coast but the switch to NW, or even nearer West at times, meant no spinnakers and a cold breezy close reach  instead with a big black cloud out to the West blotting out Ireland and making us wonder what might be coming next. The MS&CC’s E-Boat Eliza Bee (Ralph Kee) and Super Seal 26 (Gerry Wilson) were well down the West Coast before Divisions 1 and 3 were all past (Div 3 being the very quick Dragonfly trimarans RICE PUDDING IX and FLORENCE, Messrs Whewell and Ducklin, both from GSC).

In the event, the wind did track back towards the North a bit allowing the AC35 whose MS&CC tacticians had advised a Westerly track to fly a spinnaker and start to recover their losses in Ramsey Bay. The rest of the fleet progressed down to Peel mostly under white sails and hoisted spinnakers South of Peel where there is a slight change of course towards the Calf. On this reach, PROLOGUE, the big Swan 40 of Keith Freeman (Royal Artillery Yacht Club) began to show her paces under a huge spinnaker but the wind did not hold for her.

At the Chickens channel between the Chicken Rock lighthouse and the Calf, it was Bjaysus just in front but with the AC35 and Cheetah Cub in attendance and with the rest of the fleet still looking a bit too close behind for the fast boats to make up their handicap time penalties.

Spinnakers were gybed going through the Chickens with a few slip-ups one of which allowed Sea-Pie to slip past Polished Manx but a big broach from Honey a little later was not enough to let Sea-Pie to the front of the Sigma fleet.

The view astern from boats crossing Port St Mary Bay was quite spectacular with the fleet silhouetted against the setting sun and the Chicken Rock, the Dragon Rock and the rest of the Calf framing the picture.

Spinnakers were down again by Langness and it was another close reach up the East coast as the night drew in and the cold wind started to bite. A warming chilli on Sea-Pie gave the crew renewed hope of getting past Honey but drawing level was all that was achieved.

Approaching Maughold Head with only the lighthouse beams to spot the wind lanes, a collection of bright white masthead lights gave a clue as to the state of affairs in Ramsey Bay as midnight approached. Not a breath. A North Easterly then filled in and the procession restarted but with all the boats a little closer together.  Bjaysus was first to finish but not far enough ahead, as with the other faster boats in the IRC division.

Sea-Pie gave Maughold a good offing to avoid the calms and tacked into the Bay just before midnight. It looked as if they might have crossed ahead of the other Sigmas by choosing a better wind lane. However as they approached the finish, a yacht approached from nearer Maughold which turned out to be Polished Manx, now less than a boat length behind and going great guns. Some quick manoeuvres and feints designed to send Sea-Pie off the wrong way nearly succeeded but the home club boat finished just 11 seconds ahead taking the Eventide One Design trophy for the Sigma 33’s, the Class and Overall Trophy for the IRC racing yachts in Division 1 (Brewery Cup and Ramsey Town Cup) and the Maddrell Trophy for second overall under the PY handicap.

Honey, sailing under the PY handicap system in class 2A finished 5 minutes behind the other 2 Sigmas to take the Coronation Cup for the whole of Division 2. First Overall under PY was Jason and Debbie Corlett’s Beneteau First 31.7 EAUVATION, DBYC, who despite coming third in Division 1 had the best result under the PY handicapping system. Eauvation sailed a very good race finishing just in front of the Sigmas and thoroughly deserves the prize.

There were several other fine performances worthy of mention including Penny Diamond who was just 5 minutes behind Honey, and the stalwarts on CHABLIS (Hunter Horizon 31, Ian Sharples, GSC) who had the longest elapsed time of over 13 hours and particularly David Holmes’ JETWIND (Colvic Victor 34 Ketch, GSC), a great friend to Ramsey and the Race who was awarded the Copland Trophy for Endeavour.

MS&CC just managed to bring the Squadron Trophy back home using the extraordinarily complex formula to sneak ahead of Glasson Sailing Club and Douglas Bay Yacht Club despite strong challenges. Hopefully we will see entries from Port St Mary and Peel next year.

Altogether 22 yachts finished with very few retirements (some due to gear failure) given the cold conditions  and corrected finish times at the front of the fleet were very close indicating a competitive race, none more so than that 11 seconds between the Sigmas for Division 1. We look forward to seeing more of Polished Manx and now know that we can expect a proper battle.

Many thanks to our main sponsor, IOMA Fund and Investment Management and also to the local traders who generously placed ads in our programme – we hope they saw some uplift in their turnover from all the merry visiting sailors in Ramsey. Thanks also to Teare’s who provided the meat for the excellent chilli served at the Club to all competitors who came in after finishing and still being served by our volunteers who we also heartily thank at 0400 on Monday. Special thanks also to the Rib teams who operated ferry services to anchored yachts in difficult conditions and who laid the start/finish mark. The Coastguard have noticed (after 55 years) that this has a light on it and so now we will have to apply for permission for it in future.

We look forward to next year and hope that the Department can manage to get the mooring buoys laid in time for the race which is on May 1^st starting at about 10 am.

Jerry Colman

MS&CC Cruiser Captain, Race Committee Member

Skipper Sea-Pie of Cultra (in case you hadn’t guessed)

Results Follow: