Guinness. That's the problem really. Whenever Guinness comes into the equation we have trouble.

Gulf Kilo had just arrived in her new home on the Itchenor Reach and the Skipper and Crew were discussing future events. “What about Round the Island” comes from the Skipper, “I'm up for it!” comes the hearty chorus from the Crew. Next Beer. At this point a non sailing friend states that Andy (the Skipper) will never get around to it. Next Beer.

Later that night a well-oiled Skipper goes online, credit card in hand, and fills in the ISC application form and is relieved of 50 quid. Next morning he realises that he will also have to get the IRC Racing certificate, upgrade the safety gear, take 2 days off work and run himself ragged.

So to the race. On Friday the 25 th , Gulf Kilo returns from Chichester harbour to the Solent and overnights in Haslar Marina. Only John and Andy are on board, as Rob cannot make the Friday. 0430 Rob arrives after a frantic drive from Cardiff and by 0515 Gulf Kilo is ready to roll. After a slight worry about depths outside HMS Dolphin we scoot across to Cowes and by 0645 ready to get into position for the 0710 start.

“It's going to be a down wind start” says Rob, “what about the spinnaker”. That starts John's first sulk as a confirmed believer in spinnakers being the work of the devil. After a little thought, we decide that being light handed, and the wind from the South we might just manage a broad reach but very close for our spinnaker. John smiles again! As it turned out this was a fairly good move as most boats seemed to struggle, and with the GPS indicating 8.5 knots we were pretty close to hull speed anyway.

The fight to the Needles was amazing. The other 1600+ boats were irrelevant; we had 2 Sonatas and a Benteau something to fight. Coming up to the Needles the intention was take it wide, in the event we had to go through closer than we wanted so we stuck close behind a Hallburg on the basis he would hit the hard stuff first – definitely relived to see deep water again! Then the fun really started. The sea was lumpy; the wind all over from the number of boats and port tack was straight into the Bay. The wind also picked up and we knew that with three crew we were too light to hold full sail. That's when the reefing line went awol and the Skipper had an entertaining 10 minutes getting everything under control.

The beat to St Catherine's Point was fast, lumpy and great fun! Almost like taking a dinghy into Poole Harbour entrance on the flood just to get bounced around. As we passed St. Catherines we saw Forethought, probably one of the most famous GK 24's around after the Yachting Today article. Whilst not happy at seeing her cruise by, without full sail and missing the extra 2 crew we knew that a lost cause. Mike James, Forethoughts Skipper did have the presence of mind to take some pictures that are featured here.

The reach to Bembridge Ledge was superb and talk of spinnakers and letting out the reef started to be voiced. In the event we decided not as the boat was still reaching close on to hull speed and we didn't want to spoil a cracking day. Passing around the Bembridge Ledge Buoy we were nearly T boned by a small day sailer and only very quick action by John got us clear, narrowly missing the Fulmar which was also gybing. As far as we could tell the day sailer went for the gybe, changed his mind and tacked to wear around. This was just as 5 other boats also gybed….. Heart in mouth time!

Running to the Forts with the jib poled out the GK was going like a train. We watched several broaches with interest. John keenly pointing out why he was right. Marketing has a lot to answer for!! Despite the Skippers instruction to keep at least 400 yards between us and the Fort we ended up 50 away. Muttering under breath apart we were lucky. The tide swept us past and with a Southerly the shadow was minimal.

“Whats that pole” asks John, “what pole” replies the Skipper, “Oh that, dunno, but I guess we should leave it to port”. A few minutes later, Rob has the helm, “is the depth sounder working?”, “why?” asks a suspicious Skipper. “Well it only reads 1.2 metres and I thought we draw 1.8” replies Rob. That was the Ryde Sands spit marked by a large yellow can. Why didn't we go aground? Who knows, but obviously you can have the luck with you some days.

The final stretch down to the finish was fairly sedate. We finished our first Round the Island in a reasonable 8hrs 57min, 55 miles in a 24footer. With full crew and more preparation we should shave a good slice off that next year, where's the Guinness!