The days leading up to the 87th edition of the Round the Island Race saw the forecasted winds build – and, too, the debate for skippers: to race or not race? The iconic 50nm circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight, organised by the Island Sailing Club (ISC), is an annual highlight for many, a true ‘race for all’; with nearly 1000 boats entered and several thousand crew members due to compete on Saturday 15th June, it was not a choice anyone was taking lightly.
By the Friday afternoon, the race committee – in consultation with weather and safety experts – prudently shouldered some of the decision-making when they announced the cancelation of eight of the smaller classes and issued direct safety guidance to the remaining entrants. Race Director Dave Atkinson explained that, “clear communication about the challenging conditions was vital”. So too, was ensuring all skippers were aware of their responsibility to, “evaluate the capability of their crew and the suitability of their boat to handle the expected conditions” and ultimately, make their own decision as to whether to take part.
Unsurprisingly – given the forecasted strong winds and sea state – a number of individual skippers decided not to risk any potential season-impairing injury to boat – or crew and many of those starting chose not to venture beyond the relative sanctuary of the Solent.
For the intrepid crews who persevered beyond The Needles, a rollercoaster ride along the southern side of the Island awaited, with peak gusts of 45mph and a 4 metre swell in places. The ISC safety boats, joined by the RNLI, Independent Lifeboats and other local rescue services provided safety cover.
The Race Organisers reported nine incidents which was fewer than previous years and praised the decision making and seamanship of race crews. Of the 154 boats that successfully braved a full circumnavigation – the fastest was Irvine Laidlaw’s catamaran, Highland Fling 18, taking multihull line honours in 3 hours, 39 minutes, 5 seconds.
It wasn’t long after that when Peter Morton’s TP52 Notorious secured monohull line honours – a fantastic achievement for the boat which is new to Peter this year. They did so in 4 hours, 21 minutes, 20 seconds, winning the Observer Trophy, and with that, as winner overall under IRC, the prestigious Gold Roman Bowl, which was presented at the very first edition of the race in 1931.
Peter, a renowned Solent yachtsman who resides in Cowes, has competed in Round the Island Race almost every year since 1973 and was delighted to notch up a fourth Gold Roman Bowl win. He was quick to point out that the conditions had made this the “toughest” yet. On top of that, his achievement this year was made particularly special as it came exactly 40 years on from a previous Gold Roman Bowl win; in 1984, he won sailing a Quarter Tonner Odd Job – although in far lighter winds.
Peter also followed up with another Gold Roman Bowl win in 2001, racing his Mills 50 Mandrake which he co-owned with Adam Gosling.
Light winds had also governed the 1986 edition of the race, when Peter again won the coveted Gold Roman Bowl, this time sailing on board Graham Walker’s Three-Quarter Tonner Indulgence. He recalls making a fortuitous decision to sail due south from The Needles in a bid to escape a huge park-up of many far bigger boats; their gamble paid off and they tapped into the incoming sea breeze, putting them way ahead of the rest by the time they reached Bembridge, where the course was shortened. “That was an interesting race,” he recalls. “It was one of those ‘there is no second’ moments – we went for gold, rung the bell and it paid off.”
His 2024 win will undoubtedly be remembered for the battle against extreme conditions. “The forecast was always for a lot of wind, and generally when you see conditions like that and you see a forecast like that, the wind is always going to be a touch higher in the gusts – and it was,” Peter attests.
“I think in those conditions it’s always easier to have a slightly bigger boat. We still had a fair tide all the way up the Solent, whereas the boats behind it had to push in to it. It’s not untypical of the Round the Island Race; if it’s very light the little boats get the tidal advantage, and if it’s windy the big boats get the tidal advantage.”
It was a murky, squall-ridden Solent that awaited Peter and his team as they crossed the start line with the rest of IRC0, speeded on their way by the customary boom of The Royal Yacht Squadron cannons.
“The start of the race was pretty benign – we actually thought, ‘Ooh, maybe this isn’t going to be that bad’,” says Peter. “But as soon as we got to Hurst Castle the breeze kicked in. It was pretty lumpy as we left the Solent. I think the fact that we got there slightly earlier in the tide than the smaller boats meant that we probably had an easier trip around the Needles than others.
“We then got to St Catherine’s rather quickly, we had the three sail headsail up and was reaching there at an average of close to 18 knots. We were at St Catherine’s at 8.45am by which time the tide was fully ebbing and there were big breaking seas.”
After rounding the southern most tip of the Island, the team set course for Dunnose, at which point Peter notes, “it was really a case of keeping the boat on it’s feet and not wiping out”.
“We were quite fortunate because a big rain squall came through and increased the breeze, but it also pulled it left a little so we weren’t tempted there to put the spinnaker up because the wind was too far forwards for us, certainly at the speed we were doing which was dragging the apparent wind even further forwards. We were sitting on 22-23 knots, we even touched 29 knots.
“At one point we tried to put somebody up on the bow but there was just too much water – their lifejacket went off. The waves were three feet deep over the foredeck at that point.”
With the left-hand shift lasting and carrying Notorious most of the way across Sandown Bay, Peter and his team were still packing plenty of pace.
“Even when the wind quietened down and squared a little bit, we talked about the spinnaker but there was still a lot of water on the foredeck. We were doing 20+ knots and the navigator said, look we’re only going to have 6 or 8 minutes before we get to Bembridge Ledge at this speed. So, we elected still to hold off on the spinnaker and we gybed just before Bembridge Ledge. It was then a reach across to the Forts and then we laid back up to the finish in one.”
It had been a question of risk vs reward, as Peter explains: “When you’re doing 23, 24, 25 knots, you’re not going to go any faster. Yes, at times you might drop down to 18 or 20 – but if you are already touching 25 knots with the headsail, staysail combo, there’s a real risk of breaking something or wiping out, which would be a far a greater set-back than just being slightly under your optimum speed for some of the time. Equally, getting people onto the foredeck in breaking waves carried a huge risk. We wanted to win the race by sailing comfortably rather than risk losing it by trying to be heroes.”
Gunning for a fast rounding, Notorious had left her competitors standing long before they’d left the Solent. With the exception of the fastest multihulls, which powered past them just after the Needles, Peter and his crew saw few other boats, and therefore witnessed little of the dramas some of their competitors faced, including a man overboard incident at the Needles and another off St Catherine’s; thankfully, both sailors were successfully recovered.
“It was only when I saw the photographs and was later told that I realised just how big the breakers had been off the Needles and St Catherine’s,” says Peter, who steered Notorious for the entirety of the gruelling race. “It was just good to get round without breaking anybody – or the boat.
“St Catherine’s in particular was incredible. Going down these breaking waves and not knowing whether the bow is going to come up or the stern is going to overtake the bow, you’re facing downhill and just hoping you can just flick the bow up at the bottom of the trough to get it up the face of the next one. I had all the crew except one stacked up behind me to keep the bow out of the water.”
Peter praises his crew for being an “exceptionally strong team” who he was confident would be able to maximise boat speed without needing to take any unnecessary risks. Among the crew were pro-Amercia’s Cup sailors, Nick Hutton and Andrew McLeane, along with longstanding regulars Sam Haynes, Bret Arrons, Darren Marsden, Toby Mumford, Mark Lees, and up-and-fresh talent such as Ben Childerley.
He also acknowledges the other competitors, saying: “Anybody who got round in those conditions did a really good job, especially the little boats – I think they had a really brutal time! So especially well done to them.”
With next year’s race date confirmed as 21st June 2025, Peter has the date already firmly in his calendar. The appeal undoubtedly lies in taking part in what he says is “one of the world’s greatest races” and racing against many thousands of fellow sailors on a course that is famous worldwide.
There is also attraction in the element of the unknown; being just a one-day, one-race event, he says, “you never know what conditions you’re going to get until you get three or four days out. With a week and a half to go you don’t really know what sails you’re going to take, what tactics you’re going to use. You can be first, or – as I suspect, if it had been less than 10 knots of breeze this year that we would have been – 300th! In 2019, Jo Richards won the Gold Roman Bowl in super light airs in a boat which was 18ft long. He took over 13 and a half hours to get round; this time we did it in just over four hours. So, you’ve got that unknown about it which makes this race really quite special.”
“Some of the boats have got a lot faster. When I first started doing the race, boats didn’t really plane, so you might be doing 8, 9, 10 knots on a good day, or if it was a huge blow you might get up to 12 knots. Now some are doing close to 30! And sailing them has probably got a bit easier – the systems on the boats have changed, the running rigging is better, the sails have got better, the boats are probably a bit lighter therefore easier to sail.
“Having said that, the vast majority of the boats are dual purpose cruiser-racers and they go round and have a good time. The ethos of a ‘race for all’ very much remains, and that in itself is wonderful to be a part of.”
We’re already looking towards next year’s race…
The organisers of the annual Round the Island Race, the Island Sailing Club (ISC), have announced a new date for the 2025 edition, following the Isle of Wight Festival’s decision to hold their event on the same day as the Race.
The 2025 Round the Island Race, which attracts over 8,000 competitors, will now take place on Saturday 7th June.
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