You don\u2019t have to be big and fast to win the Round the Island Race, just sail well and be tactically aware. Mark Chisnell takes a look at how best to set yourself up for victoryThe exact nature of the error that led someone to share the wisdom of the \u20185Ps\u2019 with me has grown hazy with time, but I\u2019ve never forgotten the advice: \u2018Proper Preparation Prevents Poor Performance\u2019 (other versions are available). It\u2019s the perfect adage for the Round the Island Race. Run by the Island Sailing Club in late June every year, this famous 64-mile lap of the Isle of Wight off the south of England is an excellent test of the navigator and tactician (this year\u2019s event takes place on 1 July).
\nThe distance is long for an inshore race, but you\u2019ll be racing in close contact with hundreds of other boats for much of it. The tides are strong, the coastline rocky and the British summer weather is\u2026 well, the British weather. No one gets to sail a Round the Island Race perfectly according to plan \u2013 the unpredictable is always going to happen. So be ready for it.
\nEveryone approaches their preparation differently but mine has always focused on an equipment list. It\u2019s a long day, with an early start, so you need to know everything is aboard the boat well ahead of start time. This is my list in chronological order of what a navigator should be doing in the countdown to the start.
\nT minus months
\nNow\u2019s the time to check your navigation equipment, most of which should always be on the boat:<\/p>\n
Binoculars: My favourites have an internal compass so I can get a bearing on distant objects without juggling binoculars and a hand-bearing compass.
\nHand-bearing compass: A fundamental tool for the navigator, a hand-bearing compass has so many uses from checking waypoint approaches in a cross-current, to measuring performance against the opposition.
\nProtest and penalty flags, protest and declaration forms and a rule book: No one wants to spend the evening of the race in the protest room, but at least having the right flags, a rule book, and the paperwork already on board will reduce the stress as much as possible.
\nVHF radio: A handheld or built-in VHF must be on board. The race rules require one with Ch16, Ch22, Ch65, Ch69 and Ch72. Ch22 is usually the primary Race Committee communication channel.
\nWetnotes and several pencils: It may seem old fashioned in this age of smartphones and tablets, but the fastest way to take a note of a number or detail you need to remember is still paper and pencil. The race can be wet, so a waterproof notebook or wetnotes are ideal.
\nPolar table or target speeds: Any boat with a paddlewheel, or some form of accurate speed-through-water sensor and an anemometer should be developing a polar table. Your boat\u2019s designer can often provide a good starting point if you don\u2019t already have one. Display the numbers where the driver and trimmers can see them, on a display, printed and laminated, or both.
\nNext leg calculator: A quick way of calculating the true wind angle for the next leg is essential if the boat\u2019s going to have the right sail up. When there is no tidal flow this is easy \u2013 it\u2019s the difference between the heading for the next leg and the wind direction. This is the Round the Island Race though, so there will be lots of tide. There are plenty of apps out there if vector maths isn\u2019t your thing \u2013 Nick White\u2019s Expedition is the gold standard these days.<\/p>\n
detailed tidal data is essential for plotting your path in and out of the Solent.
\nT minus weeks
\nSailing instructions and Notice of Race: The Notice of Race (NoR) has already been published and is available at roundtheisland.org.uk but the Sailing Instructions (SIs) won\u2019t be available until Wednesday 21 June. Both are essential reading not just for Round the Island Race navigators, but for any helmsman, skipper, tactician, or boat captain doing the race.
\nDownload the PDFs onto a smartphone or print them out and either laminate them or put them in a waterproof folder. The Declaration and Tracking instructions are also worth taking with you.
\nRules compliance: The NoR and the SIs set many different requirements, and the night before the race is not the time to be trying to fulfil them. Most boats must comply with modified versions of the World Sailing Offshore Special Regulations for Category 4, so check well in advance the boat has everything required of it.
\nThe NoR also requires the boat to carry a race mobile with the number logged with the race office \u2013 and either that phone or another must be running the race tracker app. The NoR requires that at a minimum you fly the Fleet Flag (provided by the organisers) and the Class ID flag (provided by you). Most chandlers in Cowes and nearby will have sold out of the flags for the bigger classes by the afternoon of Friday, 30 June (I know this from experience!).
\nCharts: This might be blindingly obvious, but that doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t check to make sure all the right charts are on board, be they paper or digital.
\nWaypoint: list Make sure you create a waypoint list well before the race day \u2013 it\u2019ll be hard to calculate the next leg information without the course, and calculating the next leg distance and bearing on the fly as you go around shifts your focus from strategy and tactics. Each waypoint should be a safe steering bearing from the previous waypoint. On the RTIR that\u2019s largely a list of the headlands, but make sure you have enough waypoints in the right places to make a tidy and safe rounding.
\nBe sure to have tidal information for the south side of the Isle of Wight
\nTide: and local information The Round the Island Race is one of the most tidally influenced races on the planet. Good tide charts are essential \u2013 and you\u2019ll need to know that Portsmouth High Water will be at 09:22 and 21:44 BST. There are lots of good resources: search \u2018Solent tidal streams\u2019 and make sure it also covers the south of the Island.
\nWinning Tides is the go-to book these days and includes detailed half-hourly tidal data for the central and western Solent, plus hourly for south of the Island. There\u2019s also a free spreadsheet download to calculate high water references for the book at winningtides.co.uk
\nAdmiralty Tidal Stream Atlas: Solent and Adjacent Waters \u2013 NP337 is the \u2018foundational text\u2019 you should have.
\nRoberts Round the Island Tidal Flow Chart is clean and simple.
\nSolent Tides by Peter Bruce is still in my nav bag, though since replaced by Solent and Island Tidal Streams. And I always have a flick through Peter Bruce\u2019s Wight Hazards and Solent Hazards the night before this race.
\nOnboard weather forecasts and data: The three I always have saved as a favourite on my phone when racing around the island are:<\/p>\n
Predictwind.com \u2013 specialist sailing forecast website, lots of forecast sources (even on the free service) and easy to use.
\nWindguru \u2013 lots of forecasts from different sources, great free service.
\nWindycator \u2013 excellent live reports from along the south coast.<\/p>\n
Calibration: No one should go racing with instruments that aren\u2019t calibrated properly \u2013 it would be better to take them off the boat altogether. At a minimum, that should include boat speed, compass, apparent wind angle and last, but definitely not least for this race, depth.
\nKnow your transit from the Royal Yacht Squadron start line; the bearing is around 169\u00b0. Photo: Paul Wyeth\/RTIR
\nT minus days
\nKeep checking the weather forecast: In the week running up to the Round the Island Race, follow a few of the weather forecasts to try and get a handle on their accuracy. It may be that one of the forecast sources can model the specific conditions better than the others, and this will be the one you want to use for race day.
\nCheck the electronics: If you have the chance, switch on all the boat instruments in the week before the race and check the data is appearing everywhere it should be.
\nT minus hours
\nFinal weather forecast: By now you should have a really good idea of the weather you\u2019re expecting on race day, so this final forecast check should be just that \u2013 there should be no surprises, just a solid understanding of all of the possible ways that the forecast can play out.
\nVHF radio: Make sure your handheld is charged the night before, then on board, set to the race channel, the volume is up, and you have locked the keypad on the morning of the race.
\nPing the start line: If you sail in the Solent regularly then this can be done in the days or weeks before the race. If not, then make sure you get out there early enough to check the line properly. The bearing is around 169\u00b0 from the transits on the Royal Yacht Squadron.
\nCheck your calibration: If you\u2019ve calibrated your instruments in advance, pre-start is the time to do a few practice tacks and gybes to check the true wind direction is accurate.
\nTide and wind: Track the wind shifts \u2013 in a small keelboat this might just be a matter of taking the course on each tack or checking the head-to-wind bearing. If you have calibrated instruments and a chartplotter or nav app, then make sure you are collecting the data and plotting a graph. Check the tide, look at what you can see on the buoys and assess if it agrees with the predictions on your tidal charts. If not, then try and figure out if it\u2019s running early or late, and by how much \u2013 then you can compensate.<\/p>\n
If you enjoyed this\u2026.<\/p>\n
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The post Round the Island Race 2023: How to prepare for victory appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You don\u2019t have to be big and fast to win the Round the Island Race, just sail well and be tactically aware. Mark Chisnell takes a look at how best to set yourself up for victoryThe exact nature of the … <\/p>\n