VIP turn out

Royal Western YC launch their doublehanded 2010 Shetland Round Britain & Ireland Race

A high number of racing enthusiasts, competitors, and supporters arrived at the Royal Western Yacht Club in Plymouth yesterday afternoon, to celebrate the launch of the Shetland Round Britain & Ireland 2010 race.

Veteran sailor Mervyn Wheatley, who competed in the OSTAR 2009 earlier this year, was guest speaker at the event and beguiled the audience with his extraordinary tales of the race. As the 2010 race will be Mervyn’s sixth, there seemed no better candidate for this role!

Still four months from the entry deadline of 31 January 2010, 26 teams have already signed up for the two-handed race, including the winner of the OSTAR 2009, Jankees Lampe. Jankees broke the record for a 40ft vessel when he completed the trans-Atlantic race earlier this year in just 17 days, 17 hours and 40 minutes; making him the one to watch in next year’s Shetland Round Britain & Ireland. The race is limited to 50 boats so it is advised that those interested in taking part contact the RWYC soon to avoid disappointment.

The Shetland Round Britain & Ireland race has the support of many sailing greats; including Pete Goss MBE. Supporters and 2010 competitors who attended the launch event included Mary Falk, Jerry Freeman and David Southwood (previously Race Director of OSTAR 2009).

Shetland Islands Council announced its sponsorship of the race in June and took a leading role in organising the launch. Sandy Cluness, Convener of the SIC, spoke at the event detailing why the council undertook the race sponsorship and the welcome it will show the competitors when they reach Lerwick.

Lerwick, one of the largest marinas in Shetland, is one of the four compulsory stops during the race. This marina, and 34 others, makes Shetland the ideal sponsor of the race; especially when you also take into consideration its maritime links and history.

Douglas Irvine, business development manager for Shetland Islands Council, commented: “We are really pleased with the success of the race launch and the support we have received from all involved. This is a fantastic race and we are proud to be a part of it. We have a number of beautiful marinas across the Shetland Islands and Lerwick is one of our most popular. The crews are guaranteed a real Shetland welcome when they arrive!”

Peter Taylor, race director of Shetland Round Britain & Ireland 2010, added: “As well as those already signed up I am receiving interest from a number of other parties looking to take part in the race. We are getting a good mix of old and new competitors and it was great to see a number of these here at the launch. This race has a long history at RWYC and we are thrilled to have the support of Shetland Islands Council, allowing us to promote the race and what is stands for. It is a tough sail and the competitors will face some mighty conditions, it really is a great challenge.”

The race will depart from Plymouth on 6 June 2010 and see the competitors sail 2000 nautical miles around the UK coastline. The race has been hosted by the Royal Western Yacht Club every four years since 1966.

For further information about the Round Britain & Ireland 2010 click here

Preliminary entries

Boat name	Type	Skipper	Co-Skipper	Nat
Roaring Again	Open 40	Hans Plas	tba	NED
Roc	40ft sloop	Desmond Hampton	Adrian Biggs	GBR
-	50ft ketch	Bram Van de Loosdrecht	Hanny Van de Loosdrecht	NED
Rauma Repola	50ft trimaran	David Von Flittner	Nicholas Von Flittner	FIN
-	Archambault A35	Andrew Hewett	tba	GBR
Vandal	Koopmans VQ32	Leslie Irvine	Andrew Wood	GBR
-	Shuttleworth 40 tri	Chris West	tba	GBR
-	Koopmans VQ32	Richard Lett	tba	GBR
Ruffian	Sigma 36	Pete McIntyre	Emma Nutt	GBR
Wolfie’s Toy	Open 50	Bartel Van Holsbeek	Veronique D. V.	BEL
La Promesse	Open 40	Jankees Lampe	tba	NED
Summer Bird	Warrior 40	David Southwood	Sebastian Southwood	GBR
-	Open 50	John Pearson	tba	GBR
-	Beneteau Oceanis 523	James Woolnough	tba	GBR
Kindness	Oyster 47	Nicholas Booth	Jonathan Shingleton	GBR
-	J92	Stein Frode Bulling	tba	NOR
Quid Non	Swan 40	Nigel Philpott	Christian Jeffery	GBR
-		Pieter de Kort	Douwe Brik	NED
Shockwave	34ft tri	Mike Wigmore	tba	GBR
Roaring Forty	Class 40	Andrew Magrath	David Pugh	GBR
Paradox	Dazcat 10	Will Claxton	Matt Gill	GBR
Freebird	Corsair 31 tri	Mike Wigmore	Grant Kelly	GBR
Jangada Too	J109	Richard Palmer	Trevor Drew	GBR
Tamarind	Formosa 42	Mervyn Wheatley	tba	GBR
Beyond	Comfortina 38	Stuart McDonald	Angus Lawrence	GBR
Robosail	Open 40	Sander Bakker	Vester Knibbe	NED
Q 2	One off	Mary Falk	Jerry Freeman	GBR
Change of Course	C&C 115	Keith Gibbs	tba	GBR
Ding Dong	Stewart 37	Christopher Rustom	Stephen Homewood	GBR