BKA & BUSA teams Rock Up and Race in RS21s for the Round the Island Race
Two teams from the British Keelboat Academy and another from the British Universities Sailing Association (BUSA) were able to #RockUpAndRace RS21s to join the 1200+ boats competing in 90th anniversary Round the Island Race.
The teams BKA Dark Blue, BKA Red and BUSA Light Blue were competing as part of the Sportsboat fleet and for most of them it was their first ever Round the Island Race. With conditions ranging from zero wind to 20+ knots and a huge fleet it proved a memorable day for all three teams.
Aboard BKA Red were Cameron Tookey Gardner, Immy Ramsadle, Ben Constable and Matt Tozer, who was the only member of the team to have competed in the race before. Cameron said: “We finished in 8 hours 58 minutes corrected time. We had a great race down to The Needles and across to St Catherine’s point but a spilled kite into the water saw us need to sail a recovery leg to close back the gap after having to run far offshore to compensate for the failed kite hoist at first. We finished behind BUSA Light Blue by about 40 seconds and 9th in class.”
The BUSA Light Blue team comprised Octavia Owen, Scarlett Anderson, Kate MacAdorey and Hebe Hemming finished 8th in class and it was a first RTI for all except Hebe, who said: “We loved being part of such a huge prestigious event and especially with it being an anniversary year. Competing alongside over 1,000 other boats is something most of us have never done before. As we passed The Needles and looked forward and then back it was really quite the spectacle!”
Katy Hanton, of BKA Dark Blue along with team members Milly Jinks, Will Adler and Piers Shoesmith, said: “It was an incredible first Round the Island experience for all of us in which we dealt with everything from no wind, where we bobbed on the tide, to 20+ knots as we pushed towards the finish line.
“We were all in awe of being on the start line with nearly 1,200 boats, it’s definitely an experience not to be missed – especially as we were one of the smallest keelboats at the event!
“It was a great learning experience for us as we had to put a lot of time into planning our route and discussing our experiences to ensure we were in sync on the day as we had never sailed together before. As much as it was a race we all wanted to ensure we took in the sights on our way round and really enjoyed the incredible experience we had been offered through the British Keelboat Academy.
“Overall we were all really happy with our race results, coming 7th in the Sportsboat Class and we were 373rd to cross the finish line. Both results we were thrilled with given that we had no time training together as a team and two of our crew had never sailed the RS21 before. All of us finished the race ready and raring to go again next year and also massively keen to get in the RS21s again soon!”
