Cruising Reports
In windy and occasionally not so windy conditions, Game Changer won the Ellan Vannin Maritime Centre Round the Island Race on Saturday.
It was the Beneteau 40.7 from Bangor’s third time of competing in the Manx Sailing & Cruising Club’s annual race, and it managed to get round in just over nine and a half hours. The boat took the Ramsey Town Cup for first place in the Div 1IRC handicap, with Keith Lord’s A Crewed Interest 2nd.
‘Our boat is beautiful and took us round the corners,’ said skipper Shaun Douglas. ‘If we hadn’t hit a hole at Maughold we might have been on for the course record. That was a shame but we were just glad to finish.
‘It was 18-20 knots off the Point of Ayre and a bit bumpy. We were then reaching down to Peel and hit a bit of calm after the Calf. After Port St Mary we were flying with the S2 spinnaker, doing 8-9 knots.’
There was a big crew of nine, including some older members of the sailing fraternity causing them to call themselves the ‘Saga Tour’.
‘It must have been my thirtieth time in the event and it was exhilarating,’ said David Edwards, a former Commodore of the Manx Sailing & Cruising Club. ‘I had to do two thirds of the spinnaker.’
The boats set of in brisk Force 4-5 conditions at 11am on Saturday morning, and made rapid progress up the island’s north east coast. A Crewed Interest, the A-35 which won the IOM Breweries Cup and which was Overall Winner on NHC handicap, got a superb start.
‘We hit the start line at full speed with six seconds to spare,’ said skipper Keith Lord, who got back to Ramsey about 25 minutes after Game Changer. ‘It was tough going down the west coast.’
‘We had dolphins surfing in our wake around Jurby,’ said Mark Yell, who was crewing on A Crewed Interest. ‘We had rain chasing us all the way round too.’
‘But we kept pace with the other boats, and always had them in range. We took a big wave off Chicken Rock – it came out of nowhere, all over the front end of the boat. There was lots of teamwork with all of us taking shifts.’
There were several different winners in various categories among the eight starters.
‘It was great to see the trophies going far and wide – to Maryport, Bangor, Douglas, and the MSCC’s own James Bishop, who took the Coronation Cup for Div 2 , NHC Handicaps, with Goodrum 2nd,’ said Jerry Colman, current Commodore of the MSCC, whose Sea-Pie of Cultra got back third on the water shortly before Kuba Szymanski’s 40.7 Polished Manx at 11pm.
‘We had a really good crew. We were becalmed for an hour off Peel when the leaders slipped away. We put the spinnaker up by the Drinking Dragon and held it all the way to Maughold. It was cooler than I expected for July. It was windy up at the Point of Ayre. The crew did well in that and so did the old boat.’
It was Bishop’s first silverware in Cutlass of Man. ‘Elizabeth Callow is a superb crew. I wanted to retire but she insisted on continuing and I’m very grateful we finished. For the smaller yachts it was a beat all the way from the Point to the Calf.’
Goodrum and Skyfall also made it back in the small hours. Cadenza unfortunately had to turn back half way to the Point of Ayre after her mast spreaders broke.
Thanks to Ellan Vannin Maritime Centre for sponsoring the race, to race officers Andrew Dean and Yogi Quayle, and to Niamh Poole for organising the supper on Friday night and refreshments for the returning sailors on Saturday.
The Ellan Vannin Maritime Centre Round the Island Race 2024
The 2024 Ellan Vannin Maritime Centre Round the Island Race will start in Ramsey Bay, Isle of Man on SATURDAY 6th July at 11.00 BST, HW is at 12.16 BST. The Round the Island Yacht Race is run annually by the Manx Sailing and Cruising Club in Ramsey, Isle of Man and we would like to thank Robin Bromley-Martin of The Ellan Vannin Maritime Centre for agreeing to sponsor the 2024 event.
Please follow this link for the 2024 Programme and General Information.
Full details can be found on the ‘Round the Island 2024’ tab on the website.
As many of you will be aware this is an invasive species that has recently been found in Manx waters. Please read the notice from IOM Harbours at this link for more information – IOM Harbours and Tubeworms
Write-up by James Penn
The 71st IOM Copiers Round the Island Race went ahead in very challenging conditions on Saturday, with the honours split fairly evenly between the only two finishers.
Lilee won the Ramsey Courier Cup for first on elapsed time and the Golden Jubilee Trophy for overall winner on a National Handicap (NHC) basis, while Seapie of Cultra won the Ramsey Town Cup for first finisher on a Class 1 IRP handicapped boat, the IOM Breweries Cup for Division 1, Class A, and the Maddrell Trophy. Click on this link for the full write-up – IOM Copiers Round the Island Race 2023.
Eight boats started the race but there were only two finishers after a very light but eventful race. David Kelly’s ‘Fan Tan’ was first round at 02:02:15 with Ralph Kee’s ‘Eliza Bee’ arriving at 08:14:42, both boats achieved class wins but ‘Fan Tan’ gets Fastest Elapsed Time and Overall.
MS&CC would like to thank Mark Corrin of IOM Copiers for sponsoring the event and everyone who helped run the race.
