This year Hanse UK entered a 342 in the prestigious Round the Island race. 1648 boats took part in the event this year and an amazing 1298 completed the course. Some of the winning crew from Cowes week returned along with a few new faces. Despite never sailing together before the crew gelled naturally and fell into position quickly.

Reveling in the light conditions the 342 shot through the pack under full spinnaker and soon established a commanding position towards the front of the fleet. Closer to the Needles the wind shifted and we ended beating the last couple of miles. Round the back of the island the wind went light again and the decision was taken to stay out of the tide near the island shore. There was a brief gust around St Catharine’s Point forcing us to put in an unexpected reef which we kept most of the way to Bembridge Ledge. Once we reached the ledge we were able to fly the spinnaker on a reach making ground on other boats. Back in the Solent it was a run all the way to the finish.

The final result was 3rd in division 18th in class and 82nd overall! This was an amazing result for an untested boat with an untested crew. Of most interest to Hanse owners might be that the 342 was a standard boat until the day before and returned to the same condition on the Monday afterwards.

Thanks to everyone that took part:

John Brierley
Dominic Horner
James Longden
Gavin Preston
David Defeu
Simon Beeby

Also thanks Richard Tyler for the generous offer of using his boat and Peter Thomas for giving us all the opportunity to take part.