Round The Island Race – 2023

Greig City Academy fielded two crews for the internationally famous Round the Island Race on 1st July. One of them struck gold… three times over… for the second year running!

In blustery conditions, our senior crew raced Cote, round in an impressive corrected time of 7 hrs 44 mins, taking the Quarter Tonner trophy, comfortably ahead of the rest of the fleet..

Skipper, Kai Hockley (17) also lifted the B&G Young Sailor trophy in the IRC category. And they took the IRC Sailing School boat trophy.

The race started with excellent conditions and a beat down to the Needles. The Cote crew’s preparations in the weeks before really paid off. They had been down in a RIB to check exactly where the wreck of the SS Varvassi was located, so they gained a huge amount of time sailing inside. As forecast the winds strengthened and the crew had to sail the whole south side of the Island with a building wind, against a building tide. Now under spinnaker Cote became increasingly difficult to control (she is prepped for light winds). By St Catherine’s lighthouse the team was still going well, but slightly concerned with numerous mayday and PanPan calls across the radio. After a broach they decided to play it safe and drop the kite. On the approach to Bembridge they re-hoisted and power reached to the final corner. Thereafter a beat back to Cowes, again against the tide saw huge gains.

Congratulations to the whole crew, Kai, Jaydon, Jessye, Corneille and Felipe. Once again, their hard work and training really paid off, with this exceptional performance against international competition.

On Scaramouche, Samiya helmed around the course. It wasn’t easy sailing, with a couple of reefs in to harness the conditions. The decision was made early on to sail under white sails only. It lead to a long day on Scaramouche but with a less experienced crew it was a great achievement to make it round.