The other round the island race

Nigel Cherrie previews the form for this weekend's Round Ireland Yacht Race

Can Team Tonic add to her Cervantes Trophy and Morgan Cup victories?

Just after lunchtime on Saturday, when the winners of the Round the Island race will be propping up a bar in Cowes, 30 teams will be just starting their circumnavigation of a much bigger Ireland. At 700 miles, 14 times the distance of the Isle of Wight dash, the bi-annual Round Ireland is a much bigger challenge in every respect.

"It's one of the worlds best offshore races," says Irishman Jamie Boag, a two-time winner. "The way it differs from other races like the Fastnet is that although you are going from and finishing at the same point, you don't retrace your steps.

"There is constantly something to be up for and it's always different. From Wicklow [the start] to the Fastnet Rock is what you would be used to if you sailed around the Cornish coast. The Rock all the way up Western Ireland is wild, big swells and pretty rough. Across the top you have Solent-type tides and between the top and Wicklow it's tricky winds. There is almost a series of eight small races."

In 1996 Jamie - now husband to Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson - sailed on a J35, winning on handicap. Two years later he went back as crew on a chartered Volvo Ocean 60, the former Toshiba, and set a new monohull course record. The breeze died behind them and slowed up the pursing fleet, handing them the corrected time double.

Remarkably, Toshiba set a spinnaker off Wicklow and then picked up a shift off the south coast that allowed them to carry their kite in a dramatic sleigh ride up the west coast to complete the trip in an astonishing three days, seven hours and 23 minutes.

The Wicklow Yacht Club have been running the race since its inception in 1980 and are highly regarded, although by modern day standards it is akin to a club like Gurnard SC running the Fastnet. "It's a big undertaking for a small club, but we handle is fairly well," says Race Organiser Dennis Noonam.

The race takes in two of the most treacherous stretches of water around the British Isles, the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean - both of which have recently pummelled a number of famous racing yachts. Safety is paramount and not taken lightly by the organisers.

"We have eight check-in points right around the coast which the boats must check-in to, it's mandatory. Everytime they go past a Coastguard Station they must check-in and we have the air core and our own air-sea rescue," explains Noonam. The standards on the yachts are set to 'ISAF offshore special regulations for cat 2, with Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) prescriptions'. About as good as it gets basically.

The RORC lend their support in various ways and have sent their safety inspection team to run spot checks on the yachts before the start. They will be paying careful attention to this year's event as a similar race will form part of the new Admiral's Cup for 2003 and some of sailors in Wicklow are obviously using this as an opportunity to suss out the subtleties of the course.

The Farr 52 Team Tonic could be one such instance. Owner Nick Hewson opted out of the English Commodores' Cup trials and an almost certain place in one of the two teams, although they are keeping mum if their longer term plans are towards an Admiral's Cup slot.

"We had our entry in before that was announced," insists Tonic skipper Jeremy Robinson. Tonic has been the hottest yacht on the Solent this season and has won both the RORC Cervantes Trophy and Morgan Cup. Robinson, who also squeezed in a leg of the Volvo Ocean Race on News Corp, is hoping to continue that winning streak around Ireland.

"We stand a good chance of winning," he told madfor sailing. "It just depends on the weather. It's either going to be a big boat race or a small boat race. If it's going to be a big race we should be okay. If the weather is alright we should be able to do it in about four days but if it drops light and we have to drop kedge somewhere it could take a bit longer."

Team Tonic is not the biggest entrant, that accolade goes to the Swan 60 Fenix but Robinson was unconcerned by the rest of the field that includes Tracy Edwards' 1989 Whitbread entry, Maiden.

He is happy to sail his own race: "I tend to never really worry about it as you have just got to sort yourself out. You never see any of them anyway so we just have to race as fast as we can against the clock and hope that is good enough."

madfor sailing wish all the competitors the luck of the Irish.

The complete entry list

Division		Name	Owner	Club	Class
0	GBR 552R	Team Tonic	Nick Hewson	Royal Ocean Racing Club	Farr 52
0	996 OR	Fenix	Richard Balding	Royal Ocean Racing Club	Swan 60 R
1	IRL 7077	Lobster	Gary Horgan	Kinsale YC	Dubois 45
1	IRL 1838	Irisha	Adrian Lee	Royal St. George YC	Beneteau 477
1	IRL 5851	Cracklin Rosie	Roy Dickson	Howth YC	Corby 40
1	IRL 10477	Little Princess	Fiona Nesbitt	National YC	Beneteau 477
1	K 1418	Maiden	Terry Neilson	UK	One off
1	IRL 40	Azure	Bob & Bairbre Stewart	Dun Laoghaire	Dubois 40
2	IRL 1990	Imp	George Radley	Kinsale YC	One off
2	IRL 8331	Changeling	Kieran Jameson	Howth YC	Thomas 38
2	IRL 951	Aquelina	James Tyrrell	Arklow	X 412
2	GBR 782T	Lancastrian	Neil Eatough	Howth YC	Starlight 46
2	IRL 2131	Sapphire	Frank Clarke	Cobh SC	One Tonner
2	GBR 9834	Fusion	Michael O’Carroll	Royal Cork YC	Projection 35
2	IRL 4077	Tiger	Oliver Sheehy	Royal St. George YC	First 40.7
2	IRL 9400	Trinculo	Michael Fleming	Howth YC	Sigma 400
2	IRL 2382	Xerces	Mick Liddy	Air Corps SC	IMX 38
2	12732	Jabberwocky	Tim Costello	Dun Laoghaire Motor YC	Mumm 36
3	IRL 638	State of Chassis	Kevin Buckley	Dun Laoghaire	Sigma 38
3	IRL 733	Thalia	Sean Lemass.	National YC	Sigma 400
3	FRA 3246	Pichenette	Samuel Caillault	UNCL	Feeling 850
3	IRL 767	Endeavour	Conor Phelan	Royal Cork YC	Beneteau 31.71
3	IRL 3337	Something Fishy	Johnny Morgan		First 33.7
3	K 4500	Fandango	Terence Fair	Royal Ulster YC	Sigma 33
3	IRL 3861	Cavatina	Eric Lisson	Royal Cork YC	Granada 36
3	GBR 623R	Hipocampus	Michael Greville	Royal Ocean Racing Club	She 36
3	IRL 738	Errislannan	Paul Kirwan	Royal St. George YC	Sigma 38 OD
3	IR 9388	Joker	J. Maybury	Royal Irish YC	Sigma 38 OD
5	IRL 4711	White Rooster	Dermot Cronin	Malahide YC	Hustler 36