March 19, 2024
Round the Island race 2016 (Photo by Barry James WIlson)
Round the Island race 2016 (Photo by Barry James WIlson)

 

Author: Peta Stuart-Hunt   Date: 15:45 Sunday 3 Jul 2016

In a fast-paced and action-packed day that started at a later than usual 0830 with the firing of the first gun by HRH Prince Michael of Kent GCVO, Sir Keith Mills’ FAST 40+ Invictus missed winning the coveted Gold Roman Bowl for the first IRC yacht on corrected time, having to settle for second place. His crew included Invictus Games competitor Zoe Williams, as well as Prince Harry, following a long-standing invitation to compete in the Race this year.

The main prize instead went to Bernard Langley’s TP52 Gladiator, which powered around the course to become the second monohull to finish, crossing the line less than four and a half hours after the start.

Gladiator - the victors! Winners of the prestigious Gold Roman Bowl. Image: Patrick Eden.
Gladiator – the victors! Winners of the prestigious Gold Roman Bowl. Image: Patrick Eden.

Record Smashers!

The biggest news, however, was reserved for Lloyd Thornburg’s giant MOD70 trimaran Phaedo^3, which tore round the course in two hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds. In doing so he smashed the record time Sir Ben Ainslie set in 2013 by a stunning 28 minutes.

Despite the unusually testing conditions, only a small percentage of the fleet retired from the race, with the overwhelming majority of competitors – some of whom saw gusts to almost 40 knots – successfully completing the course. By 2100 there were only a handful of the back markers left on the final few miles of the race course. The only prize that was still open before the finish deadline of 2230 was the Tenacity Trophy for last boat to cross the line within the time limit!

All that record-breaking excitement on the water ensured that today’s Prizegiving at the Island Sailing Club – the last to be held with a J.P. Morgan Asset Management backdrop – attracted a huge audience for the hour-long presentation of Gold and Silverware. In the welcome and introduction to the Prizegiving by Vice Commodore Peter Bingham and Race PRO Mike Peskett, generous tributes were paid to numerous ISC teams, many comprised of the 100 or so volunteers that work so hard for the sheer love of the Race, every year.

” It ‘s been more of a challenge this year than we have had in recent years. The heavy weather forced us into making some pretty major decisions in cancelling some classes but we feel that with safety always being paramount, we were entirely justified in doing what we did. There are a few sad faces but many more happy ones. We act as we do with the information that we have and at the end of the day I think it has been an incredibly successful weekend. “

 

Winners
Lloyd Thornburg (centre) and his co-helm Brian Thompson (left) are pictured with Rear Commodore Peter Bingham and their fantastic collection of trophies after their stunning & record-breaking Race on Phaedo^3. Image: Patrick Eden.

 

Supported by the ISC’s Flag Officers and today’s VIP guest, the record-breaking yachtsman Brian Thompson (and co-helm of Phaedo^3!), Sailing Secretary Chris Thomas got the Prizegiving off to a flying start and kept a rattling pace going throughout.

When asked for his take on this 80th Race in its 85th Anniversary year, ISC Sailing Flag and head of the ISC Race Management team, Dave Atkinson, said:

It‘s been more of a challenge this year than we have had in recent years. The heavy weather forced us into making some pretty major decisions in cancelling some classes but we feel that with safety always being paramount, we were entirely justified in doing what we did. There are a few sad faces but many more happy ones. We act as we do with the information that we have and at the end of the day I think it has been an incredibly successful weekend.

Major trophy winners included:

OBSERVER TROPHY & JPMAM TROPHY – First Monohull to finish
            GBR1R            LEOPARD            Mike Slade
GOLD ROMAN BOWL & JPMAM SALVER – First Overall IRC
            GBR11152      GLADIATOR        Bernard Langley
SILVER ROMAN BOWL & JPMAM SALVER – Second Overall IRC
            GBR1851X       INVICTUS           Sir Keith Mills
ROYAL THAMES CHALLENGE TROPHY & JPMAM SALVER – Third O/A IRC
            GBR1682R       TOKOLOSHE II    Michael Bartholomew
ROYAL LONDON CHALLENGE CUP & JPMAM SALVER  – Fourth O/A IRC
            GBR4863R        YES!                    Adam Gosling
JPMORGAN TROPHY – First Overall IRC Group 0
            GBR11152          GLADIATOR      Bernard Langley
OWEN PARKER MEMORIAL TROPHY – First Overall IRC Group 1
            GBR4863R            YES!                 Adam Gosling
RAYMARINE RIR YOUNG SAILOR TROPHY
            GBR3277L            WAVE WHISPERER            Richard Barnes
TENACITY TROPHY – Last boat to finish within the time limit

SEASCAPE (John Hulford-Funnell)

All the Results and Trophy Winners are online on the Race website: at rtir.me/results

 

Next year’s Race takes place on Saturday 1st July.

Photo Gallery by Barry James Wilson

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Round the Island race 2016 (Photo by Barry James WIlson)
Round the Island race 2016 (Photo by Barry James WIlson)

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