Round the Island Race - Dee Caffari

It was an interesting race for Aviva and her crew today. We started really well in threatening skies and blustery winds. With fifteen to twenty knots of wind from the southwest we tacked away from the island side towards the west. At times we had to duck under other boats and the gap between us made us draw breath but fortunately we were clear of everyone, I am relieved to say.

By the time we got to the Needles Fairway, we had the full force of the tide underneath us and we were meeting some steep waves as the wind was against us. Being drowned with every other wave, the foredeck team, with Craig bearing the brunt of the force of water across the deck, prepared the Genoa for the fetch across Freshwater Bay towards St Catherines Point.

This leg was fast and exciting as all the Open 60's were close together. Eventually we all set spinnakers and set off surfing the waves with the tide now against us. As we hoisted the Aviva spinnaker we noticed a hole at the top third of the sail. With the conditions as they were we knew this would be the very top limit for the spinnaker and as we discussed this the top parted from the bottom in spectacular fashion and landed in the sea. A big bear away and all hands on deck soon had the spinnaker retrieved and we set about hoisting our Code 3 sail. This was fast but we could not sail as deep as the others and soon lost ground to Artemis.

We changed sails again as we rounded Bembridge Ledge and headed through the forts. Now we were back tacking along the Eastern Solent and towards the finish line. After 55 miles of racing we finished across the line with Pindar just behind the other Open 60's. The sun came out we popped a bottle of champagne and reviewed what had been a great event to take part in.

- Dee