Tales of the Round the Island race - part 1

madforsailing's team took part in the event on a variety of boats. James Boyd sailed on Gartmore

We have managed to keep slightly to seaward of the fleet but approaching Bembridge we converge with a mixture of boats. These are mainly cruiser racers - Sunsail Sun Fast 36s, the odd Swan, Hunter 707s - and I am thoroughly impressed not just by the sheer number of boats in the Hoya Round the Island Race, but their diversity. There is everything here from a wide range of classic boats, to small keel boats, to racing multihulls to cruising multihulls and a whole bunch of boats which would probably never normally go racing and all this in addition to the expected racing fleet.

We round No Man's Land fort - where there seems to be a party going on (music playing, people dancing on the rooftop) - and revert to the genoa. After a blinding run from the Needles, we were find ourselves increasingly being headed as we - slowly - approach Cowes. With the ebb tide against us we are tacking through about 110degs and the Whitbread 60 Sunergy, which was miles behind at Bembridge, takes us doing two tacks to our every six.

We cross the line and the stopwatch stops. It has taken us 5 hours 25 minutes and 40 seconds to sail around the island and we are 37th fastest boat in the whole race. Except we have been demolished by Mike Golding who covered the course in just 4 hours 37 minutes and 41 seconds ( and he was only 12th fastest).

Josh is now off to France where he is going to fix his water ballast tanks before heading to St Malo for the start of the EDS Atlantic Challenge on 3 July.

To see what it was really like, turn to page 4...