Having slept reasonably well, the skipper had glanced at his watch only a couple of time in the night. At 0310, the first alarm went off. There was a slow and relunctant start, but eventually the crew stirred into life pottering up and down the pontoon to the loos, and dumping yet another trolley load of kit bags before untying the string at 0350. A quick pitstop in the Camber to pick up Matt, before heading out towards Cowes in the pre-dawn gloom.

Richard donned the apron and chefs hat to produce some of the finest bacon baguettes known to mankind. We were probably the envy of the fleet as the smell wafted behind us. We joined a stream of yachts heading up to Cowes as dawn broke.

Some of the crew managed to slip in a few more minutes shuteye.

Phil B drove to the pre-start waiting area. A bit of VHF trauma showed that our aging Garmin handheld VHF was losing its battle. Norman had brought his own handheld which allowed us to hear the VHF in the cockpit. New waterproof handheld required!

The fleet was gathering, with "normal" yacht sails dwarfed by the huge sails of the Grand Prix and Ocean racers. Alex Thomson's Open 60, Hugo Boss, Mike Slade's ICAP Leopard dominated, but there were plenty of others too.

There seemed to be a fewer boats this year, but maybe they were favouring the northern end of the mile long line. We were surprised by how much space we had at the southern end, near Cowes. With the wind in the North, most of the boats had gone north looking for the hope of cleaner wind and less interference from other starters.

The breeze was 12-14 knots, gusting through at 18 on occasion, exactly as the windfinder forecast had been prediciting for the last couple of days. It was clear that a number of crews were expecting lighter airs, which is also another reason for starting in the north, hoping for gusts of the shore.

As the starting sequence progressed, with relevant classes being started every 10 minutes, it was getting closer to our start time. We hoisted the main and loitered near the Prince Consort buoy. With about 12 minutes to go, we hosited the main and made a couple of runs from the Prince Consort bouy towards the line to get a feel for the timing.

We got caught out slightly by the start ahead and missed hitting all the clocks for our 10 minute gun. It took a couple of minutes to resync the watches. There was also some banter, but that was soon silenced as everyone became aware of the new mode in which we were operating.

Given the stength of the wind (i.e. enough), we positioned ourselves for both the shortest course and greatest favorable tide. With 1 minute to go, we were charging towards the line in good clear air. We popped out from the other boats, with a clear view of the shore .... where was the start line? Find those lights? Find the transit?

Ahead, Bugler, one of the Contessa 32's was running down the line. Too many marks, but right at the last few seconds we picked up on the marks, but which way around do we read the transit. Confused ....

We were closing fast on the line as the gun was counting down. Were we going to be early? Mmmmm, what to do?

Turn downwind and run with her but then get caught downwind of her at the start? Harden up and stop the boat, but then need to get the boat back up to speed? Assume that there was still a boat length or so and that it always takes longer to cover the ground, hitting the line at speed?

We chose the latter. The timers counted down ...... "bang" .... we were off. Another "Bang" ..... "There is an individual recall"

We looked up and down the line, it didn't look good. We were at the Cowes end of the line, and clearly the most advanced boat, but what about the other end?

Quickly, we had a bit of space, turn back, bearing away and running down the line and trying to stem the tide. It wasn't working well, have we gone back far enough? The rest of the fleet we baring down on us, so we turned back on track, crossing our fingers. By now, we clearly weren't the first boat, but were we on course side? We'd have to wait for confirmation on the VHF, but that wouldn't happen for over an hour while the other starts were taking place.

No matter, we now had to get on with the race. Rounding Egypt point, it was clear that there were many many more boats following the Northern line. We had good gaps to windward and clear air, so we tried to make the most of it. Counting the boats ahead, we were running in about 10th out of the 200 or so on our start. We were at the southern edge of the leading pack, obviuosly the tidal choice had been the right one. The boats in the far north were slightly lagging.

With 12-18 knots, NW, there was enough power for even the biggest boats in our class, so it was clearly a drag race. As a shorter boat, it was going to be difficult.

Rigged with our reaching sheet to the block on the leeward rail and the crew out on the windward rail we set about improving our position. The previous night we had discussed hiking strategy, and the crew were very dynamically hiking outboard to resist the heeling efforts of the gusts. Sitting repeatadle inboard and then outboard to keep the boat on her feet, we worked our way up to 6th. Ahead were some clearly larger boats in our fleet, including Ocean Venture, a 60 twin masted schooner on the northern side of the track.

After 20 minutes, we started to catch the slower boats from the start that preceeded ours. It became important to plan the overtakes, to keep clear air and avoid luffing battles. We weren't racing these boats ..... our most important race was against those in our own start. Fortunately, the first boats we caught were significantly smaller and our speed differential was relatively high. Overtaking was easy.

We tried everything, we still had clear air to windward, were in good tide and after only 53 minutes sailed past Yarmouth on the Isl of Wight in the most favorable tide.

Shooting past the Sconce cardinal with the help of 4 knots of tide, we started our transition through the Hurst narrows in the best tide towards the north side of the channel, for the strong tide running along the shingles bank A call for the kite to be readied caught the crew out. Our hoist, captured on video took over 3 minutes ..... must be a record .. for the slowest hoist for a long time. We had become quite disorganised and in hindsight we hadn't put up the kite prior to racing (for good reason). There are lesson to be learnt, we should have been ready.

Having said that, we were still one of the earlier boats to fly a kite. A few of the smaller boats from early starts we already flying theirs.

With the kite up and the pole forward we set off down the Needles channel with good speed. Watching the GPS, we called for the pole to be pulled back to allow us to bare away to start to cross the channel towards the Needles lighthouse. We needed to run deep to vector across the tide.

The line looked good for going inside the wreck. To leeward was a smaller boat that we were overtaking. A quick chat between the skippers .... from OMK "Are you going inside?", from the other boat "Are you?", from Phil on OMK "Probably", from the other boat "We'll follow you". So that relieved us of the concern that she might luff us, which would have forced us to luff and go outside the wreck.

So approaching close to the light house, we were desparately looking for some sign of the submerged Goose Rock, just 10m or so off the lighthouse. There was a hint of a curling wave ..... that should be the rock. OK, now we had a point of reference, to leave it a boat length to port and we should clear inside the wreck. The crew were warned to hang on (in case we hit the wreck or rock) ...... hold your breathe ..... "ok we're clear". A new One More Knot record, only 1 hour 23 minutes from Cowes to rounding the Needles.

The previous night, we had discussed the possiblity of a wind shadow in Scratchell Bay, behind the needles. Looking at the yachts ahead (from earlier starters) we could see most yachts, having gone outside the wreck had gybed onto port and seemed to be well powered. We considered hanging onto starboard to keep rights until we were further out, but elected to gybe immediately onto port.

The race tracker shows that our bold move put us at the head of our start fleet, leading the class is where we wanted to be. Sadly, we had just heard our name on the VHF, confirming that we were OCS, On Course Side. That meant that we would cop a 5% time penalty, probably about 25 minutes on our expected pace.

Race analysis against Easy Tiger II's track suggests that we missed 0.5knots of tidal assistance through the Hurst narrows by being too close to Sconce, a shade further north possibly would have been better. However, on the drag along the shingles bank, One More Knot's line looked to be the faster, just south of Easy Tiger's track. Basically, deeper water is faster!

Still aware of the potential shadow, we headed south east, offshore to keep clear. The wind had become even more gusty, possibly the turbulance from the shore. Many of the boats were struggling to tame their spinakers in the gusts, us included. We mostly managed to keep the speed up, baring away in the gusts to stay in control. Concentration levels were high, trying to predict what might happen to others, whilst keeping our options open. Crew provided eyes astern, to keep us both clear air and space should we ourselves round up in a broach.

We persevered for about 1/4hr, before a nice drop to allow us to harden up slightly to high of the rhumb line to close on the shore just south of Atherfield ledges. Having dropped the kite, after 10 minutes, Phil noticed that we were sailing 120TWA in 21 knots, surely this must be ideal for the asymmetric. We hoisted it, speed improved by about 0.5knots, but we were sailing south of the rhumb line again, which meant we would be able to get inshore to capitalise on the tidal differential.

Our initial difficulties flying the asymmetric allowed Alahabra B, a J/100 (later to finish 2nd in class to overtake). So after just another 10 minutes we dropped it and continued to head inshore to our waypoint just south of Atherfield ledges. For another 20 minutes (from 0810) we sailed under white sails, trying to resist and bare away in the strong gusts, the GPS tracker shows a wobbly course! After which the wind eased, was the due to the wind gradient or were we in the lee of the island?

Just in case the wind was failing we decided to avoid going further inshore. Baring away, we hoisted big blue, now in 12-18 knots of breeze.

Zooming past Atherfield Ledges, well offshore. We saw Gael Force hard aground and well heeled, but the distance is too far on the video! Apparently the ledge as a hazard is real.

St Cats is getting closer and "Big Blue" works the magic.

Creaming along with a wake the Vendee boats would be proud of. In danger of burying the bow, so the crew are pulled aft to help.

A hint of too much, and a call for "ease". Glenn is called back into the cockpit in case we need stronger action.

At the backend of Freshwater bay, we had hoped to go right inshore into Chale bay to pick up the tidal eddy before rounding St Cats. However, the weather conditions suggested a different plan was more sensible. As we approached St Cats, the gust were doing their headland thing, becoming much much stronger. We avoided going inshore in case a broach sent us up the beach!

Instead, further out, a gust of 28 knots and a mild broach (by our standards) persuaded us to drop the kite and go back to white sails to avoid losing too much time. We had been having a ding-dong with Danny, a First 36.7 (fine stripey spinnaker), who was still holding onto their asymmetric. There still wasn't much in it, but we were now in more control and had already taken the hit of the drop.

Back to white sails we've lost a little speed traded for more control as the fleet converged towards St Cats.

Alchemist, a Dubois Half Tonner was going well, from a start 10 minutes in front of us. We had mistaken her for Chartreuse, another good looking half tonner in our class.

Level pegging, our white sails vs Alchemist's spinnaker.

The wake looks good as we hold off Alchemist.

Feeling much safer we were able to line up to round St Cats on the inside line. The GPS plotter was zoomed in and the depth monitored closely as we defended the inside track. How much wind would there be close in? We knew there would be a big tidal advantage.

Rounding St Cats, with a lot of yachts behind us .... a sight we like to see. But this is the RTI, so there were still a lot of yachts in front too.....

Another One More Knot record, passing due south of St Cats only 3hrs 15minutes after leaving Cowes, this could be a record run.

The lulls and gusts coming off the shore were savage. Once again, it was all about boat speed. The crew were dynamically hiking against the gust again. The crew monitored to other yachts around us. Good news regarding being inshore vs offshore, we were creaming past them.

We had been trying to get past this Sigma 33 for a while, eventually we found a line well to leeward.

It was quite tactical as boats were chaisng each other. The gust and lulls were affecting us differently and we pulled a out a gap again. But then they closed on us, and then we accelerated away, the cycle continued.

We dropped a crewman onto the jib sheet winch to grind and while another crewman tailed, cracking the jibs as the gust came hit, counted in by the crew on the rail, before immediately grinding the sheet back in. We then remembered to move the jib sheet outboard and soon extended the gap by 10 boat lengths in no time, amazing. When we wore out a grinder, we just swapped in another one ..... until he was broken too! It was hard work all around, no easy rides here.

Approaching Dunnose, we had clearly been doing quite well, when Pickle a Dufour 34 who had started 10 minutes behind us came up behind. She was going well and overtook simply. She turned all of our heads, clearly an impressive performance, she went on to be 4th overall from a start 10 minutes behind us. Photo's of her showed that despite her white sails, they were rather spicy and new!

A learning opportunity?

Across Sandown bay, we sailed slightly high of the rhumbline, keeping in clear air. It appeared to be the best choice. Further offshore, we could see Ocean Venture, the twin masted Ocean 60 in class 6A ploughing on, taking advantage of her 60' length.

Our race was about keeping our boat speed up, attacking those just in front and defending from those behind. After a few short luffing battles, everyone pretty much every settled for a simple drag race to the Bembridge ledge mark.

As the boats converged, we could see that most boats were tacking immediately and going inshore to hide from the tide. We passed the buoy at 11.22am, just 6 hours 12 minutes after our start. This was fast!

After a quick tactical discussion, we decide to get out of phase with the majority of the fleet, so we sailed through on port before tacking. After our first tack, our tidal instruments were showing only 0.5 knots adverse, but as we went inshore it increased to 1 knot. A bit of a surprise. Needless to say, we tacked back out, happy to watch the other boats getting in each others in hopefully worse tide! We stayed a little further offshore than we have normally expected to for the short beat upto Ryde sands, but we were able to keep clear air all of the way. We found a couple of boats that were were cross tacking with, but compared to a 'normal' Round the Island Race, it was a piece of cake. After 11 tacks, the last being near "No Mans Land" fort, we were able to setof towards the Ryde Sand marker post.

We found ourself out with the less agile boats, such at Thalia, this beautiful Gaff riggered cutter.

At Ryde sands, we passed well outside the post for the first time in years. We assessed the wind and tide and stood off a little before tacking towards Cowes. Our line was nearly the 'inside' line, but we had good air and were benefitting from slightly shallower water near the fierce edge of Ryde Sand. As we progressed, a the wind eased and header forced us to drop closer to the sand and we went into a pointing mode to avoid either going aground or needing to tack. The boats closer in failed and needed to tack out, losing their earlier advantage. Our course wasn't looking good, the crew were warned to stay on the rail for as long but that we might need to crash tack. Fortuntely, the wind picked up again and rescued us.

The nerves eased as we cleared the windward tip and were able to crack the sheets for a bit of speed at Ryde Pier. For the leg upto Castle Point, we elected to sail to leeward of most of the fleet, over the shallower Mother Bank, trying to pick up a bit of tidal advantage over the next few miles.

In Osbourne Bay, we sailed inshore until we ran out of water before start a few short tacks. We ended up in a tacking duel against Dark Star, a Bavaria 45, on exaclty the same handicap as One More Knot. This was a race on the water for class positions. She couldn't point but her boat speed was tremendous. We crossed tacks several times, swapping positions through a sequence of 8 tacks. At Castle Point, One More Knot had come out on top a few boats in front. Dark Star attempted to overtake to windward, but as we defended, she was forced to point higher and slowed down until she gave in and fell back a few boat lengths.

Rounding Castle Point allowed the finish line had come into view. We needed to cross the southern line. There was some initial confusion as to where our line was becasue we couldn't see the 3 boats marking the lines due to the number of sails in front. After a bit of eyeballing by the crew, we were able to be confident about where we were aiming.

Dark Star, still behind was coming at us again, this time fast and slightly to leeward. There really wasn't much we could do other than hope that our sails were big enough to block her progress. Sadly no ...... she powered past to lead us across the finish line.

Once again, the crew went through the proceedural part, collecting information for our declaration. There we brief congratulations before the reminders that we needed to concentrate to clear the finish. We finshed before 2pm, lapping the island in just 7hrs 48mins and 44secs. Sadly, being "too fast" at the start by 4 seconds cost us 5%, nearly 25 minutes in penalty, our officially corrected time was 8hrs 13mins 39secs. I think we'll remember that!

Ironically, just after the finish is one of most hazardous areas, with unpredicatable boat behaviour, boats changing directions to their various destinations or stopping to drop sails. Once clear, we made our declaration and popped open the beer for the trip back to Gosport. It became a nice afternoon sail in the sun, admiring the rest of the fleet finshing behind us.