The 23rd edition of the Round the Island Race started promptly at 7a.m.on Saturday Sept 27th with one start for the 46 teams entered.The fleet headed due east with a nice double trap northeasterly that carried them to the first turning mark leading to the Destin channel. The outgoing tide was a blessing as the fleet skirted Crab Island and headed under the Destin bridge for the open Gulf of Mexico. First at this point was Eric Roberts on the RC 30 followed closely by Brian Lambert on a Supercat 22. The great breeze allowed the fleet to get out the Destin Pass and into the Gulf in a very short time. Chutes, hooters and screachers were the order of the day as the fleet entered the Gulf of Mexico and turned west for the 50 mile run to Pensacola. The weather pattern held out for the typical September conditions as the wind followed the sun thruout the morning. The first veer was to the east followed by a slight change to the southeast. The great part was that the velocity never died as the wind shifted. The Gulf had nice 2 foot rollers moving to the west so the downwind run was a great time to practice up on your surfing skills. The fleet was on course to set records as there was very little change in the wind strength thruout the morning. The RC 30 and the Supercat 22 were first and second entering the Pensacola Pass around 12 noon with the RC 27 and another Supercat 22 arriving around 1:00. The rest of the fleet stretched out for a fairly long line but all boats were accounted for by mid-afternoon inside the Pensacola Pass. This was a remarkable achievement for all that entered and enjoyed the favorable conditions. As the fleet rounded inside Pensacola Pass the wind also started its shift to the south-southwest as the sun moved across the horizon. This turned the great ride back to Fort Walton Beach into a double trapped tight reach which eventually ended up being a broad reach with all chutes flying ! Eric Roberts along with his dad Bill and their crew Steve Dowell were on target to set a new course record by pushing the RC 30 for all its worth. They were flying a full main, blade jib and roller furling screacher on the tight reach when conditions rquired them to start getting out on the wire. Before long they were triple trapped on the RC 30 and recording speeds of 25 knots having to ese the travellor out to keep the boat flat . Pushing her to her limits in order to set that course record....and the carbon mast broke under compression failure! So with the monster RC 30 dismasted that left Brian Lambert on the Supercat 22 in first followed by the RC 27 and four more Supercat 22's. The rest of the fleet was enjoying great speed battles during the reach back to Fort Walton. As the sun started getting lower so did the wind and it backed more to the west so it then became a port tack run all the way home. Brian Lambert and Larry Franzen on a Supercat 22 were first to finish at 4:40 p.m. ! Not too bad for a 100+ mile race . The remainder of the fleet followed closely thruout the evening and enjoyed great hamburgers and cold beer on the beach as they derigged. Stories were swapped and gut checks challenged as each racer found out what worked and what didnt work. The racing appeared to be tight thru out the fleet with four F trimarans finishing within a 3 minute time span after racing over 100 miles for 14 hours !
The awards ceremony Sunday morning awarded the ENDURANCE AWARD to Bill Stovall and his crew Steve Exley on a Hobie 18 Magnum. They discovered a frayed shroud parting so they went to the beach and secured it with both of the traps on that side of the boat and continued on to finish at 5:40 Sunday morning! Sabre Sails' very own David Laudarini was on hand for the raffle and two lucky sailors walked off with a new main and jib for the beach cat winner and a new headsail for the triamaran fleet winner. Many thanks to the team at Sabre Sails for their great help and sponsorship. For the rest of the results see
http://www.kelleysmarket.com/rti2003/race-results.htmMark your calenders now as the 2004 Round the Island Race will be on Saturday September 18,2004 .
