Skippers are also coming from across the country. Alistair Maclean is from Yorkshire and will be racing his Swan 38 Billyon. Just further south, Paul Wells and his wife Nicky will be bringing their 1971 Contessa 26 Tessa to the Solent from Grimsby, especially for the race. Gary Walker is also from Lincolnshire where he is CEO of an NHS Trust. He also has a Contessa 26 and Mistrala will be one of the many family entries, with children Sam and Lara joining the crew. Dian Andrews will be coming from Northern Ireland to sail the Elan Amethyst.
From further afield, Samsung Pleomax is based in Holland, although she is better known in the UK as Silk Cut, the Bruce Farr Volvo 60 that participated in the 1998 Whitbread Round the World Race captained by Lawrie Smith. She was later used as a training boat for Team SEB in the Volvo Ocean Race. Present skipper Harm Princ from Amsterdam currently holds the North Sea Crossing record. Other European entries include Christophe Declerq's Contessa 32 Lecas and Winsome, Harry Heist's 1972 Sparkman and Stephens design which has often performed well in the UK in Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race. The Laser SB3 Odontoblast has a name deriving from her owner's profession. Dudley Stock is a dentist living and working in Germany who last competed in the race 30 years ago. His return this year will be with a novice family crew. The skipper currently travelling the furthest to participate is Jens Kuehne based in Annapolis, USA, with the RP48 Sjambok.
This year the tides dictate that the start sequence gets underway at the later than usual time of 7.30am. First away, with IRC0 and the Open 60s, is the Clipper class. These majestic Ed Dubois-designed 68 footers are preparing to circumnavigate the globe in the Clipper 2009/10 Round the World Race. The multihulls are next across the line, ten minutes later, including Dame Ellen MacArthur aboard the Extreme 40 catamaran BT. She was first home in 2007.
Many skippers and crews have signed up for charity fundraising, including former Gold Roman Bowl winner Edward Donald, returning to support Leukaemia Research on his Folkboat Madelaine. Charlie Walker and his crew on the Cobra 850 Loo-lah are all work colleagues from BMI Healthcare. At the time of entry they had spent only eight hours sailing together but they hope to get a top half finish whilst at the same time raising money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. John and Ted Trim's Albin Vega Blue Bar won her class in 2007 and will be supporting the RNLI this year. John is a horticultural lecturer who has appeared on television with Alan Titchmarsh, Chris Packham and James Martin, the celebrity chef. He is an expert on vegetables so perhaps there will be plenty of sustaining raw carrot on their boat. Help for Heroes is the choice of William Stacey who describes his crew on Enigma (Nicholson 30) as "four grey haired old blokes" whilst Ashley Davis on Angel Pumpkin, skippering for the first time in the race, supports Guide Dogs for the Blind. One of the unusual charities selected is Panjazz International, started in Portchester but with the aim of bringing children together across the world through the medium of music. As well as fundraising, skipper Alan Thornewill on Spirit of Daedalus sees the race as an opportunity to get his far-flung family together for a reunion.
The preferred race charities Breast Cancer Care, The Ellen MacArthur Trust, Macmillan and Prostate UK have all entered boats in the Round the Island Race Charity Challenge. Breast Cancer Care has announced Andy Massey as their first crewmember. In 2008 Andy and his wife Louise competed in the event supporting Breast Cancer Care, raising nearly £5,000. It was a courageous and poignant story as Louise finished the race despite having recently undergone rigorous chemotherapy and radiation treatment for cancer. Sadly Louise passed away last year but Andy is determined to compete again in her memory and raise funds for a charity close to his heart. Anyone interested in gaining a place aboard one of the Charity Challenge boats can email Dan Wilkinson at Into the Blue: dan.wilkinson@intotheblue.biz.
The Modern Gaffer section of diminutive classics includes the Norfolk Gypsy Kingfisher skippered by retired consultant surgeon Kenneth Moore, with his daughter, another consultant, as crew. In the same group is Miles Atherton's Memory 19 Tegan, completely restored in 2006. Snowgoose 2, a Cornish Shrimper, joins them. Stephen Akester will be racing his gaff yawl Alice III in the Original Gaffer class with a crew covering all generations of the four-family ownership. Polly Agatha is a replica of a 1904 Bristol Pilot cutter named Peggy. Skipper Kim Hartley owns a charter company specialising in classic boats including the 1906 gaff yawl Cygnet of London.
Amongst the 80+ trophies awarded for the event, there are several for one design classes old and new. These include the Contessa Challenge Trophy and the Halmatic Trophy (for Nicholson 32s). A clutch of these designs has already entered and the competition, as always, is likely to be keen. Not a strict one-design, but well represented, is the Beneteau First 40.7 which will be joining the IRC division. First Challenger, is the current National Champion owned by charter company Promocean. She will be campaigned in the race this year by Cesare Rotta and his crew from Milan and America.
Each year there are sailors who make themselves available for the race come what may. Paul Drew's crew on the Hurley 22 Alice B will include newly weds interrupting their honeymoon for the event. Perhaps the skipper will allow a little extra weight on board in the form champagne!
