Round the Island Race

The Round the Island Race (RTI) is the highlight of our year at LV Yachting. Attracting over 1000 yachts, and 10,000 sailors, it is one of the largest sailing events in the world. In fact, it is the fourth largest sporting event in the UK beaten only by the London Marathon and the Great North and South Runs!

The course is a 50nm anticlockwise circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight starting on the Royal Squadron Line just off Cowes. A very early start on the Saturday morning is frequently a feature. As dawn breaks you may be rounding the needles, looking aft the fiery horizon will be speckled with the silhouettes of over a thousand yachts behind you, including your competition. This truly is one of the most epic spectacles to be found in yacht racing.

With the prevailing south westerlies, there is a fast tacking battle out the Solent, followed by the starboard rounding of the Needles and a reach down to St Catherine’s Point. To stay offshore in fresh breeze or sneak inshore to take advantage of the earlier turn of favourable tides is a key tactical decision. At the south of the island a gybe shoots the fleet north east with the wind almost dead aft and then 1500 boats or so soon funnel closely around the Bembridge Ledge Westerly Cardinal where the final beat begins. Playing the shallows and weaker tides is the key to the final leg back to Cowes. A rounded day in many senses tends to finish mid to late afternoon, leaving plenty of daylight for the festivities in Cowes which run well into the night.

This one-day yacht race is the perfect racing fix for sailors of any experience level. It’s rare to find a sporting occasion that encourages enthusiastic amateurs to compete against the elite pros and Olympians of a sport, all on an equal footing and around the same racecourse. This race does just that and celebrates the varied collection of sailors that compete, all of whom love to have a cracking day out on the water. We recommend it as an opportunity to get a group of friends together and have a lively long weekend on and off the water.