Round The Island Race 2015

horatio_nelson

horatio_nelson

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So... Who's taking part? I'm skippering on my own boat with a crew of friends with varying levels of ability / experience - all keen and capable though :)

It'll be my first race as skipper and first race on my own boat - really looking forward to it.

Any advice from the old hands of Scuttlebut? All RTIR chatter and waffle welcome here...

Will keep you posted re my adventures, plus I'll be tweeting random b0llox via @YachtEllida on the day and in the meantime :)
 
First time in 5 years we are not doing it. Not made it round in time yet. Last year we were at Sandown by 19:00 having drifted all the way round to there. We got back to Cowes at 01:00 after motoring the rest of the way against the tide. Still enjoyed it though. The start can be scary the first time, just through the sheer volume of boats flying in all directions especially with the normal SW'ly when everyone is tacking. We just gave way if there was any doubt. As confidence grows and boats thin out you start to race a bit. Make sure you have the crew looking out to cover any helm blind spots.
 
Third time in my own boat this year, but first without my way more experienced than me first mate. With two complete novices on board I have said that if the weather is too challenging we may stick to the outside to keep out of trouble rather than 'racing', not that we race seriously even when in the thick of it, but its nice to do a series of match races with similar boats as we typically drop back through the field. The start (and sometimes the finish) is the worst - our only priorities are to stay out of trouble, not to ding anyone and if at all possible not to impede those who look more 'racey'.
 
Did it last year. Had never been involved before so was a steep learning curve. It it wasn't too hard and it was a lot of fun. I'm hoping to do it again this year, but no firm decision yet.

The first timers guide is good. Also buy winning tides, cannot remember the author but will look next time at the boat.

I also have a waterproof half sided chart portfolio and I estimated progress hour by hour + and - an hour, and marked up the likely tides. That helped me work out what to expect in advance so I didn't need to leave the cockpit to calculate.
 
Just a personal opinion.
1) get around without incident
2) have as much fun as possible while doing it.
3) oh yeah it's a race. Forget that bit for a while. Match race a similar boat around the course is fun.
But you are not going to win the rose bowl. Just have a lot of safe fun.
 
I've entered this year......although I have a success rate of about 2/6 entries! (mainly because I have a fairly novice crew so require ideal weather conditions given how busy the race is!)

Main things from my perspective;

The start is (obviously) very busy and its pretty busy all the way down to the Needles. Try not to be on the western edge of fleet as it exits the Solent, else you may get swept into the inevitable foul tide (easier said than done when there are about 300 yachts all trying to round the Needles). From there it thins out, so this is where I would take a break from helming / break out the sarnies :-) The Leg down to ST Cats (unless its blowing hard) tends to be the least stressful / busy.

It bunches up again at St Cats before thinning out in Sandown bay and then gets busy from the forts to the finish. Actually that last leg can be busier and more frenetic than the start. I know its stating the bleeding obvious, but make sure you know which line you are finishing on (N or S). The other thing I always do is look back over past results, find boats that rate similar to me and mentally note the ones that finish in the top 10-15 of class. If I then see them on the water I can see what tactics they are employing and try to follow them if I can keep up :-)

Other than that its just an amazing race. So full of atmosphere and such a great day :-)
 
I'll be there, I'll be jetlagged to hell, but I'll be there in body, if not in spirit...

RTI tips can, I think, be split into two groups. Tips to make the day less stressful for the novice racer, and tips to help your result.

In the first camp, I'd put having at least one "training" session with as many of your crew as possible. Make sure that your mainsheet man/woman knows the difference between "ease" and "dump". If you're planning on flying a kite, make sure that someone who really knows how to do it is in charge. If that's you then give up the helm and sort that out. If you don't trust anyone else to either put the thing up AND GET IT DOWN, or steer in close proximity to other boats, don't put one up. Don't be that skipper stood behind the helm yelling "NO, THE OTHER BLUE ROPE!".
Make sure you've got enough food, bear in mind that it's an all day sail.
Then know your rules! You don't need to be an expert by any stretch, and the first timer's guide covers all you really need. But owning a copy of the rulebook is a very good idea, especially one that also explains the dry legaleese text. For a first time RTI you only really need 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. And 18 if you intend to mix it at Bembridge ledge. However only 18 is really substantially different from COLREGS, so nothing should come as a surprise. The only thing that marks the RTI out from other races is the shear number of boats, you cannot relax for long before you're sizing up another close cross.

In the second camp, by far and away the best tip I can give is go fast. Concentrate all of your energy in speed, especially on the first leg. Don't worry about the minutiae of tidal strategy unless you're absolutely sure your boat couldn't be going faster, you're in clear air and towards the front of your fleet. The truly shambolic sail trim we see when we go through the back half of the ISC fleet that start ahead of us is painful to see, and no surprise that we're overtaking supposedly faster boats that started 10 minutes ahead of us within 5 minutes of the start.
 
stick a line on your plotter across the start line.

have motor running until the last seconds for emergency use

if choppy off St Cat's, drop the kite earlier rather than too late if you'r inexperienced.

If there's a log jam after No Man's Fort due to v. light SW wind, consider going along the beach in Stokes Bay.
Don't tell anyone else though, it could gain you hundreds of places!

S.
 
Scotty_Tradewind said:
stick a line on your plotter across the start line.

have motor running until the last seconds for emergency use

if choppy off St Cat's, drop the kite earlier rather than too late if you'r inexperienced.

If there's a log jam after No Man's Fort due to v. light SW wind, consider going along the beach in Stokes Bay.
Don't tell anyone else though, it could gain you hundreds of places!

S.
Click to expand...

Presumably you mean run the engine until just before the 10 minute gun?
 
Scotty_Tradewind said:
stick a line on your plotter across the start line.

have motor running until the last seconds for emergency use

if choppy off St Cat's, drop the kite earlier rather than too late if you'r inexperienced.

If there's a log jam after No Man's Fort due to v. light SW wind, consider going along the beach in Stokes Bay.
Don't tell anyone else though, it could gain you hundreds of places!

S.
Click to expand...

I agree fully with no 1, but having done the race 15+ times on boats all with an IRC rating of 1006+ I've never yet seen boats prosper by going across to the Stokes Bay side. When we get to this point, we are generally against the tide, so we stay fairly close in to the island. As the Fort is no longer a mark of the course this helps us to hug the bank. Does your tactic work with the slower boats who might be getting a bit of tidal push at this stage of the race?
 
GrahamD said:
I agree fully with no 1, but having done the race 15+ times on boats all with an IRC rating of 1006+ I've never yet seen boats prosper by going across to the Stokes Bay side. When we get to this point, we are generally against the tide, so we stay fairly close in to the island. As the Fort is no longer a mark of the course this helps us to hug the bank. Does your tactic work with the slower boats who might be getting a bit of tidal push at this stage of the race?
Click to expand...

been there, done it in my Twister, Betty Dee. Overtook the majority of the yachts in earlier divisions still 'racing' whilst they languished in Ryde.
Came reasonably high up in the handicap listing.

V. Light SW wind is the key and being in a late division.... takes courage though if conditions are that slow as we nearly found ourselves missing the eddy along the beach and could have been gently swept towards Portsmouth harbour.
( we stayed v. close to the beach with a metre and a half minimum below us up to Bramble where we cut across towards to the finish with just 2 more tacks)


S.
 
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savageseadog said:
You can leave the engine running all race as long as the propeller isn't being driven
Click to expand...

Well, my dim and distant memory still remembers the time we got all the way round only to find out when looking at the results that the ISC had disqualified us on the basis that a judge had reported our engine being on within the 10 min gun (Not that it was!). Very frustrating
 
Scotty_Tradewind said:
been there, done it in my Twister, Betty Dee. Overtook the majority of the yachts in earlier divisions still 'racing' whilst they languished in Ryde.
Came reasonably high up in the handicap listing.

V. Light SW wind is the key and being in a late division.... takes courage though if conditions are that slow as we nearly found ourselves missing the eddy along the beach and could have been gently swept towards Portsmouth harbour.
( we stayed v. close to the beach with a metre and a half minimum below us up to Bramble where we cut across towards to the finish with just 2 more tacks)


S.
Click to expand...
That's a really interesting move, and quite gutsy! It's easy for boats to lose the wind in little breeze if they get too close to the island, but I think that tide must be the important factor here
 
Scotty_Tradewind said:
have motor running until the last seconds for emergency use
Click to expand...

I really don't like this suggestion. It works on the assumption that your boat is magically more maneuverable in a start line context with the engine running than with the sails up. It isn't. If I'm coming together with you on the start line, the last thing I want to see is the helm going for the throttle and not spinning the wheel and easing the sheets.

Plus the engine noise might drown out any shouts from your own crew.
 
flaming said:
I really don't like this suggestion. It works on the assumption that your boat is magically more maneuverable in a start line context with the engine running than with the sails up. It isn't. If I'm coming together with you on the start line, the last thing I want to see is the helm going for the throttle and not spinning the wheel and easing the sheets.

Plus the engine noise might drown out any shouts from your own crew.
Click to expand...
I have resorted to engine within a couple of minutes of the start gun of a RTIR.
I avoided the otherwise inevitable collision with some halfwit in a cruising boat that was due to start about an hour later, but scared the hell out of the boat astern of me.

Top tip, buy a big boat so you start earlier, there's less muppets about.
That does work so well these days, the charter muppets are arming themselves with bigger boats.
Second top tip, have bowman and one other watching for muppets.
 
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