RTI - Worth having a look from on the water?

[Tzu]

I see its the Round The Island race next week (Isle of Wight for non-southerners) and I usually eschew the busier days and parts of the Solent. Just how hectic is it for a mildly interested spectator in a slow yacht with enough sense to keep out of the way?
Is it worth the bother?

 

[lw395]

The pre-start phase is very hectic.
It's a spectacle even view from Portsmouth.
I can't really think of a good place to view from where you'd be sure of never being in the way, as there are so many boats they can't all take anything like the optimum racing line so to speak.
I think if I wanted to watch the action for the day, I'd take my bike to the IoW, watch a few early starts, nip down to the headland near Hurst, then the Needles? Then maybe somewhere down the back.
TBH the way to see it is by taking part.
It's normally not too hard to get a ride if you ask around?

 

[SimonFa]

Others might know better, but if its a westerly you could drop the hook at Hurst Castle (down towards Keyhaven). I did that once for a few hours waiting for the tide to turn and it seemed OK. From there you can watch the chaos as they all beat and jostle to get down the Needles channel. You can then nip in to Lymington.

The first time I did the race the skipper was mad and held port tack whilst being screamed at, we lost the horseshoe buoy off the transom when the other boat's bow knocked it off, that's how hairy it can get.

 

[capnsensible]

Do they still have the mooring buoys off Yarmouth?

Quite some time ago I had returned on a loooong crossing from Cherbourg with a somewhat hungover crew. We stopped on one of them for a few hours zzz and then discovered ourselves a bit of a centre of attention as a Whitbread fleet with their attendant armada came whizzing past.

We got ever such a good view......

 

[flaming]

If I was afloat And wanted to watch the race I’d take a buoy off Yarmouth Friday night and have breakfast as the fleet came past. Then when the tide turned I’d head to Osbourne Bay and anchor for lunch and watch the fleet on its approach to the finish.

 

[Tzu]

Might sound a silly question to regular Solentites (?) but I'm relatively new there.. the chances of an empty Yarmouth buoy on Friday night before RTI are good?

 

[flaming]

Wouldn’t expect Yarmouth to be any busier than normal.

 

[lw395]

Might sound a silly question to regular Solentites (?) but I'm relatively new there.. the chances of an empty Yarmouth buoy on Friday night before RTI are good?

You might get some boats coming up from Poole for the race overnight there?

 

[Stemar]

A few years ago they got fed up with racers parking on Ryde Sands, so they put a mark off Seaview. I've anchored a hundred yards inside that mark to watch the world go by a couple of times. This year, it's a whole exclusion zone, and if my outboard is fixed in time, I'll probably tuck into it.

 

[scotty123]

Others might know better, but if its a westerly you could drop the hook at Hurst Castle (down towards Keyhaven). I did that once for a few hours waiting for the tide to turn and it seemed OK. From there you can watch the chaos as they all beat and jostle to get down the Needles channel. You can then nip in to Lymington.

The first time I did the race the skipper was mad and held port tack whilst being screamed at, we lost the horseshoe buoy off the transom when the other boat's bow knocked it off, that's how hairy it can get.

RTI boats often have to tack right in by the mouth of the Keyhaven River, anchored boats become a PIA, so pls find somewhere else.

 

[lw395]

RTI boats often have to tack right in by the mouth of the Keyhaven River, anchored boats become a PIA, so pls find somewhere else.

They don't have to do any such thing.
They/We have to respect there are one or two others in the Solent and be aware there may be boats anchored.

That does not mean it's a good idea to be in the way. It's quite hard to see a little anchor ball when you're in a pack of boats.

 

[flaming]

RTI boats often have to tack right in by the mouth of the Keyhaven River, anchored boats become a PIA, so pls find somewhere else.

Nonsense. If you're anywhere near Keyhaven you're well out of the main tide, so you've messed that up. Especially in an Easterly.....

Quite apart from the fact that outside Keyhaven is a well recognised Solent Anchorage. As such any RTI competitor complaining about boats anchored there has simply lost the plot. What next, complaining about the boats anchored in Osbourne bay?

 

[Blue Sunray]

RTI boats often have to tack right in by the mouth of the Keyhaven River, anchored boats become a PIA, so pls find somewhere else.

Cool story, have to ever actually taken part?