What will you be doing this Saturday at 5am? I would imagine most of you will be tucked up in bed fast asleep, however for the crew of some 1754 yachts they will be getting ready to start the 2010 Round the Island Race.
The race run by the Island Sailing Club is now in it's 79th year and is the fourth largest participation sporting event in the UK (Behind the London Marathon and Great North and South runs if you were wondering). The race follows a 50 nautical mile course Westbound around the Isle of Wight that pits professional round the world record breaking sailors and there flying machines against families in their weekend cruising yachts. While the pro's generally thrash round in a few hours (the course record is held by Francis Joyon in 3hrs 08 mins 29 seconds) the family cruisers battle round almost all day hanging on to the prospect of claiming a major scalp on handicap or winning their fleet.
If you can get down to the Solent on Saturday it's well worth a trip as this truly is quite a spectacular event to watch (however it's worth checking the times as the fleet will disappear round the back of the island for a few hours)alternatively why not try out the new feature for this year on the Round the Island website where you can track the fleet round the course.
Good luck to all that are taking part and lets hope the weather is good.
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