Round the Island Race 2021

On the 3rd July 2021 I was able to join the SS Shieldhall on its day cruise to observe part of the 2021 Round the Island (Isle of Wight) Race. Organised by the Island Sailing Club, the 2021 race celebrated its 90th Anniversary. This year there were almost 1200 yachts taking part. The race started at 0630AM from Cowes, well before Shieldhall left her berth in Southampton's Western Docks at 10AM, so Shieldhall travelled across the Solent and down as far as Sandown Bay on the Southern side of the Island in-order to observe the latter stages of the race. For me it was a day full of pleasant surprises in terms of the numbers of yachts that participated, the cruise ships that were in Southampton and off Portsmouth and what appeared to be an unplanned exercise with a Coastguard helicopter that included a member of the helicopter's crew being lowered onto Shieldhall's Focsle deck.