It was nip and tuck for the double-handed racers in the Shetland Round Britain and Ireland Race on Monday, with the first horde of finishers returning to Plymouth after 2,000 miles and four stopovers, including one in Kinsale. For an hour and a half on Monday afternoon, the finishing horn at the Royal Western Yacht Club line seem to keep sounding. Averaging a finish every nine minutes, after nearly 2000 miles of racing, fellow competitors lined the railings of the Cattewater and the balconies of the Royal Western Yacht Club, to cheer and clap each arrival. The support for each other showed the camaraderie that is built up in the stopovers of the Shetland Round Britain and Ireland Race.
The first boats, the top finishers in the nine-boat Class 40 division made it home on June 25, with the top five finishers all crossing the line in a 38-minute period after a match race to the finish in Plymouth.
On Monday, firts home was Yogo Racing Izara skippered by Oli Young and Sam Goodchild led Thunder II (John Fowler & Warwick Samuel) and then Taika (Kim Vasey & Chris Tibbs) over the line in a period of just over six minutes. This put Taika at the top of the IRC leaderboard.
This was only to last a few minutes as The Shed skippered by Phil Stubs and Pip Hare, crossed the line just over four minutes later, to snatch not only the Class Three win out of the hands of Chris Tibbs and Kim Vasey, but the overall lead in IRC. Rafiki skippered by Ebe Docter and Rein Amels followed shortly afterwards.
There was nearly a half hour break before three more yachts were to cross the line within a minute and a half of each other. Fastrak VII (Nigel Colley & David Bowdler) was fifty three seconds ahead of Allez Van Hee (Tony Van Hee & Bob Beggs), who were forty four seconds ahead of Greyhound (Gerard Schalkwijk & Laura Engel).
Another break followed before Jangada Too (Richard Palmer & Trevor Drew) crossed the line just under half an hour later. Twenty minutes later JBellino (Rob Craigie & Charles Allen) crossed the line to the largest cheer of the afternoon, showing the huge affection and respect that Rob and Charles are held in.
And that isn’t it for the day. With Comedy of Errors closing on the Western Entrance of Plymouth Sound there will be more finishers today, bringing to close a day that will have seen nearly twenty percent of the entire race finish within 90 minutes of each other and nearly a third of the fleet finish in one day.
Not only is the 2010 edition of the Round Britain and Ireland and race living up to its reputation for the friendship and fun, but it looks like 2010 will also be remembered for the incredibly close racing.
