Round Britain honeymoon

Bob Beggs and Carole Newman to celebrate honeymoon on two handed Round Britain and Ireland Race

There are some races that seem to bring out the best in people. The Shetland Round Britain and Ireland, raced in recent years mainly by amateurs, is one of them. Even if it is ostensibly a fiercely contested race, it’s underlying atmosphere is a friendly affair and this year, for one couple especially, it will hopefully live up to it’s affable reputation as Bob Beggs and Carole Newman have selected the race as their honeymoon.

The couple, who run the Performance Yachting School in Plymouth, have planned a registry office wedding the morning before the start and will hold their reception at the Royal Western Yacht Club to coincide with the skippers dinner that evening, 11 June 2006.

After that they are off on what could be described as, for those who don’t mind the chosen mode of transport, a three nations cruise. The race has four compulsory 48 hour stop-overs in Kinsale, Barra, Lerwick and Lowestoft and the happy couple, unlike the other competitors, don’t intend saying on board, Carole is booking hotels in every port.

Bob and Carole are no strangers to romance at sea. They first meet in the run up to the 1996 Tranatlantic Race when Carole, who at the time was working in the nautical bookshop below the Royal Western Yacht Club and Bob, always on the hunt for tales of single handed exploits, was a regular visitor.

Carole remembers: “Bob was always in and out of the shop, but we only really got talking when he questioned why there were so few books around on the topic he was interested in.” The cause, Carole herself had been snapping them all up for the simple reason, she herself was also entering the Transat that year.

Bob has completed three Transatlantic races and several Round Britain and Irelands, not to mention that he was the winning skipper in the Clipper Round the World Race of 2001. Carole said: “There’s one thing I can be certain of sailing with Bob, he will get us round fast and safely. And our new boat, which we bought for the business last year, Chetar a Reflex 38, is a lovely yacht capable of 20 knots and perfect for the race.”

The race is often described as a more varied test of pure seamanship than its transatlantic counterparts and a unique 2000 mile challenge to the short-handed sailor. For Carole the unique challenge will be coming to terms with her going away outfit but, one thing is puzzling, what will be tied behind the yacht as the happy couple leave for their honeymoon with a difference? That will be a varied test for the other competitors. While the race committee may have to ponder, where exactly does ‘Just Married’ fall into the IRC handicap.

For those interested in entering, there’s still plenty of time, late entries and qualifying cruises are to be in by 1 May 2006. For those wishing to enter full details can be found on the Royal Western's web site