Flavia Bateson reports:  The final days approach for charity competitors to take advantage of the JPMAM Round the Island Race Early Bird Entry Fee, as it is only available until 29th March.

There have been many charity entries already and include:  Martin Stockbridge and two of the crew aboard the Sigma 33 Blazer work with the 2nd Warwick Explorer Sea Scout Unit.  They are raising funds for Prostate UK and Marie Curie in memory of an honorary Scouter who passed away in January.

Nigel Davies, from Wedmore (Somerset), on Duet is supporting the Alzheimer’s Society.

Many entries come from teams made up of friends, work colleagues and families. Rakaia’s skipper Roger Roach will be racing with two sons, a brother and brother-in-law.  Three generations of the Archer family will crew the Evolution 22 Rabbit, ranging from grandfather aged 81 down to grandson 17. 

The 2007 ARC starting in Las Palmas was the meeting point for Mike Rose and his crew on Sartao.  On that event the rudder almost fell off, so they’re hoping for a less eventful race this time. 

The team on the X-35 Cool Runnings are all work colleagues from the Schroders Group whilst James Cousins’ crew on Agape met at the local Baptist church in Woking.  They are mostly novices as far as racing is concerned. This will be their first race round the Island whereas Andrew Macleod (Grayce II) first entered in 1975 and David

Robinson is competing for the 19th time in the same boat, a Limbo 6.6 Dedicated Dancer.  The Westerly Longbow Poppy might draw a second glance.  She has been fitted with an experimental junk rig, designed and built by her owner Slieve McGalliard, with a view to improving windward performance. As R&D secretary of the Junk Rig Association, he will be making comparisons in the race with similar sized Bermudian rigged boats.

Chris Glossop has recently returned to the UK from Australia where he competed in many offshore events including the Hamilton Island Regatta.  Last year he was Offshore Champion on his 47 foot Farr, the smallest yacht to win line honours in 50 years. He’s hoping for a similar success in the Round the Island Race this year skippering the Beneteau Oceanis 46 Dora the Explorer.

Multihulls always cut a dash in the race. Ideal Stelrad is a modified Formula 28 catamaran - 28 feet long and 37 feet wide on massive carbon racks, with a huge sail area on a 500kg boat.  Her skipper is Dr Ross Hobson from Northumberland.

Klass Parrel will be bringing his Dragonfly 920 Makwaku over from Nunspeet, Holland.  He is a retired KLM captain who has been sailing since 1953 but converted to multihulls in 1995.  Martin Halverson was also involved in the airline industry as an Air Traffic Controller.  Despite being stationed in land-locked areas, he still managed to race dinghies, anything from Enterprises to Merlin Rockets. A final posting to Swanwick enabled him to purchase the Moody S31 Minette.

Isle of Wight Community News @Island Pulse.