Exceptional Round the Island Race
by Matt White 11 Jul 21:06 UTC
11 July 2026
This year's 'exceptional' Round the Island Race has been hailed as one of the best in years. Over 800 boats gathered at the Royal Yacht Squadron line this morning (Saturday) for the 95th edition of the iconic race.
Dave Atkinson, Race Director, said:
"It has been an amazing day and a terrific race. We've been wishing for good weather for years, and today has really delivered for us, as we've had fantastic sunshine and a good breeze.
"The sight of all the spinnakers up for the start was one to behold, and really showed the race in all its glory."
Pace, owned by Jonny Vincent, was the first boat to finish, in an elapsed time of 06:32:39.
Jonny said: "What a great day and a great race. It was hard work going down the mainland shore at the start, and there was a really funky bit around The Needles, which was a bit tricky.
"We stayed pretty close to the Island shore but so nice to head back into the sunshine."
The bulk of the fleet were continuing to cross the line after 6pm.
Prizegiving takes place at the Race Village tomorrow (Sunday), at 12pm.
The full race results will be officially published tomorrow.
Provisional results are available here.