The Island Sailing Club, Cowes, England, put on a spectacular 90th anniversary party for the 2021 Round the Island Race. The huge fleet of over 1200 boats showed how much people love taking part in this event. This year’s race around the Isle of Wight is believed to have been the biggest mass participation event in the UK since the first lockdown last year. On the water there was everything from flat calm to 25 knot gusts, fog and sun, and as with every Round the Island Race, nothing compares to the sight of the fleet stretched out around the stunning Isle of Wight coast.
Local Cowes boat Eeyore, an Alacrity 18 Bilge Keel, secured back-to-back overall victories and retained the prestigious Gold Roman Bowl which she has held since the 2019 race. Meanwhile, the Alan Buchanan designed Cherete won the Silver Gilt Roman Bowl, awarded to the first boat overall in the ISCRS divisions.
Peter Cunningham’s multihull MOD70 PowerPlay was the first to finish the race with a time of 4hrs 11mins 01secs. A light start to the race prevented any chance of beating the race record, which was set by PowerPlay, as Concise 10, in 2017 (2hrs 22mins and 23 secs). PowerPlay finished this year’s race ahead of the ULTIM Actual and the 32m trimaran IDEC. Tala, owned by David Collins, was the first monohull to finish the race, with a time of 6hrs 11mins 36secs.
The race is set to return on Saturday 25th of June 2022.
See full results: http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk/web/code/php/main_c.php?section=results
