Gaz6002 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I did the Round the Island race on Saturday. It was my first time sailing, and what an absolute baptism of fire. My body is a total mess. I'm battered, bruised and burnt but it was a hell of a way to spend a Saturday. Several near-death experiences were had by everyone on my boat - I wish I was joking about that but the conditions were fairly extreme. 1908 boats started and only 1302 finished, with several men overboard and several boats capsized. Here are some pics taken of us out there on the water. Thanks to Antony Jones/Mark Lloyd images for the shots. Our helmsman was Nick Dempsey - a world champion wind surfer Apparently this bird is famous? She was on one of our sister boats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marc_p Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Few guys I work with did it aswell, not jelous though TBH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 Few guys I work with did it aswell, not jelous though TBH Mate, it was ROUGH. One bloke on our boat spent four hours throwing up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
caseys Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I did it in 2009 on one of the round the world clippers for work (your boat has our sticker on it!) I was on the Liverpool in fact. First time on a sailing boat for me too. Got offered to do the NY>Jamaica (i think) leg but didn't want to stump up the money for that one! Glad in a way as that boat *sunk* when it run aground and the crew had to abandon and wait on an island! Did you get a good turn on the coffee grinder? Anyone get their hand caught winding at all? We sailed out of gunwharf, docked overnight the night before, got two hours sleep in cowes because of the band playing them up at 4am to get in position! Heck of an experience isn't it? kinda slow though I remember all the boats at the start line was awesome, as was getting around the back end of the island and round the rocks. We got within 1m of our depth rating at one point and the skipper told us to hold on as we may bottom out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaz6002 Posted June 27, 2011 Author Share Posted June 27, 2011 I did it in 2009 on one of the round the world clippers for work (your boat has our sticker on it!) I was on the Liverpool in fact. First time on a sailing boat for me too. Got offered to do the NY>Jamaica (i think) leg but didn't want to stump up the money for that one! Glad in a way as that boat *sunk* when it run aground and the crew had to abandon and wait on an island! Did you get a good turn on the coffee grinder? Anyone get their hand caught winding at all? We sailed out of gunwharf, docked overnight the night before, got two hours sleep in cowes because of the band playing them up at 4am to get in position! Heck of an experience isn't it? kinda slow though I remember all the boats at the start line was awesome, as was getting around the back end of the island and round the rocks. We got within 1m of our depth rating at one point and the skipper told us to hold on as we may bottom out. it is slow, but made up for that with some genuinely terrifying moments. We hit 17 knots at one point, which apparently is pretty rapid for a J109. We completed the race in 7:15, but it felt a lot longer at some points. The washing machine around the Needles kept us awake - huge and unpredicable seas. It was pretty bad weather this year, which is why there were so many casualties and drop-outs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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