Round the Island Challenge

Follow my attempt to Waszp around the Isle of Wight and break the record for the fastest ever monohull to sail around the island. I am up against a fierce record set in 2017 by the Volvo Ocean Race yacht MAPFRE but I am confident that I can smash this record and raise some money for Olivia Inspires & Cancer Research UK in the process.

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Why?

To raise money for Olivia Inspires and Cancer Research UK whilst hopefully breaking a record and inspiring many.

When?

Between now and August 31st. For this challenge the weather is pretty critical and without the right conditions it will be almost impossible to complete. I am watching the weather forecasts constantly and will announce a solid date a few days beforehand.

What boat?

I’ll be doing the circumnavigation in the Waszp, a high performance sailing dinghy meant for the masses. It’s killer feature are the foils, which allow it to rise up out of the water and ‘fly’, minimising drag and allowing it to reach pretty high speeds.

What’s the competition like?

The current record was set by the Volvo Ocean 65 yacht, MAPFRE. This £4 million racing yacht has done two full laps around the planet, competing in two Volvo Ocean Races and sailed around the island in 2017 to claim a new round the island monohull record in just 3 hours, 13 minutes and 11 seconds, averaging a speed of 15.53 knots.

I’ll be trying to beat the record in my Waszp, a singlehanded foiling dinghy the size of a small car. With a top speed of 25 knots, I firmly believe I might be able to beat this record and hopefully take the title of fastest monohull circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight whilst raising money for Olivia Inspires and Cancer Research UK.

What are the challenges?

The seas around the Isle of Wight are known to be pretty rough at times. Coupled with the comparatively tiny size of my Waszp it is going to be a real challenge staying staying upright through the choppy waters, let alone trying to beat the record.

What speed do you need to average?

My target time is 3 hours on the dot, meaning I will need to average 16.7 knots to be able to confidently smash the record,

What route are you going to take?

I am going to take the traditional round the island route, going anti-clockwise. Starting from Cowes I head down to the Needles, before rounding them and heading down to St Catherine's Point. From there I head to the most easterly point of the island, Bembridge Point, before rounding that and heading back to Cowes. Total distance: 50.1 nautical miles (92.7 km).

What charities are you supporting?

I am hoping to use this challenge to raise money for Olivia Inspires and Cancer Research UK.

Olivia Inspires

Olivia was a really great friend of mine and helped me out from the beginning of my sailing journey, after coming to my home club of Swanage and encouraging me to head to national events. We were both in the same squad and went to a lot of the same events until I moved into the Radial rig.

She was tragically killed two years ago in an accident whilst on a night out at uni, with Olivia Inspires being set up to allow her spirit to live on by helping young people in the New Forest to realise their potential.

Olivia Inspires website

Cancer Research UK

Cancer Research UK is dedicated to saving lives through research. Their mission is to prevent, control and cure cancer through ground-breaking research and in the last 40 years their work has helped double survival rates. The only charity fighting over 200 types of cancer, they rely on every pound donated to help get them closer to beating cancer.

Cancer research uk website