9th October: Round the Island …quickly!

I was on watch at NCI Stone Point in Lepe Country Park during the afternoon on Saturday 9th October so I arrived there an hour or so early to watch the start of the Round the Island Power Boat Race. It was a sunny but misty day and with the starting line extending south from East Lepe buoy I knew that from Lepe we would be looking into the sun and visibility would be poor.

The wind was light and with calm conditions it was also going to be a short event. The winning boat finished in 37 minutes 31 seconds at an average speed of 82.7 knots! A second race, for Thundercats took a little longer, just under 1 hour 22 minutes.

Below are some photos of the start of the first race taken with a telephoto lens and enhanced in Photoshop. With spectator craft lining the start area and the poor visibility, in realty it was difficult to make out the action; much better photos and videos plus full results are available on the UKOPRA facebook page.