Sat 11th July 2026
The Round the Island Race (RTIR) is an oddity in the racing calendar; dating back to 1931 as a handicap race for smaller yachts around the Isle of Wight, and has grown into one of the world’s largest participation sporting events. At its peak there were over 1800 entries, and although more recently numbers have been down there were still over 700 entries this year. Part of the appeal is the range of boats and classes taking part: apart from the IRC classes there are classic yachts, Folkboats, sportsboats, catamarans and, in recent years, the ISC Rating System. This last enables cruising boats to race without the complexity of IRC certification. CSORC has taken part in the past: my first RTI was in 1999 on our Dehler 36 Valkyrie, while more recently we have raced under the ISC Rating System. This year, however, we were back competing with the serious sailors in IRC. Phil was supposed to be skippering but managed to break his collar bone, so I stepped in at short notice. This would be my sixth RTIR not counting the numerous races round the Island as part of the IDOR.
The race circles the Isle of Wight anti-clockwise, with Bembridge Ledge east cardinal the one mark of the course. The highlight has typically been the sight of hundreds of spinnakers heading downwind round the back of the island but this year we were to be denied this as the wind remained firmly in the east throughout. In keeping with much of the early summer of 2026 the temperatures were to be full heatwave with moderate to fresh winds from the east.
After a practice day on the Friday and an overnight in Cowes Yacht Haven we rose at 6 (blame the boat inside of us) and got ready to go. Our start was at 7:30 with the tide starting to head west inshore. We made a decent start but avoided the inshore melee. “Keep you wind clear” was the mantra. We kept essentially to the island side, gybing to keep out of the central stream and to avoid crossing boats. Soon the tide turned to go with us and we made quick progress through Hurst and out to the Needles. The gybes had gone well.
We dropped the kite at the Needles ready for the upwind and uptide slog to St Catherines. Winds were up in the high teens at times. We kept well out to avoid the wind shadow off the cliffs in the NE wind. Progress was slow. We headed inshore to catch the east-going eddy nearer St Catherines.
Once round the headland we found ourselves tacking to keep close inshore out of the tide, though by now this was easing and the wind was backing south-east. Once the tide turned we were able to lay Bembridge ledge on starboard.
We decided to go out to Ryde Middle to get better wind and gybe in well clear of Norris. This turned out to be a mistake as we lost several places when we were back with the fleet. Inevitably after nearly 11 hours of racing the last sprint to the line involved some frantic tactical manoeuvres – then we were done.
We hoisted the kite at Bembridge as we bore away downwind. A gybe ended in a wrap which took a while to sort out, Andy doing sterling work at the bow. From here it was a run down to inside No Man’s Land fort and along the island shore past Ryde. We concentrated on racing the boats around us to keep ourselves on the ball in the later stages of a long and hot race.
Back to the Yacht Haven where a surprise celebration (rum and cake) was held for the skipper’s birthday then off to dinner at the Duke of York. The crew stayed for the England game while the skipper headed for an early night.
Thanks to a great crew and the weather gods who delivered sailing of a type it is rare to experience in home waters.
| Finish Place | Division | Class | Finish Time | Elapsed | Corrected | |
| 244th | IRC | IRC Overall | 11/07/2026 18:15:04 | 10:45:04 | 10:47:00 | |
| 29th | IRC | IRC 2A | ||||
Nick