Giovanni Belgrano, on board his classic 1939 Laurent Giles designed sloopWhooper, has earned the coveted Gold Roman Bowl trophy in this year’s Round the Island race. Beating 2002/2003 winnerRosina of Beaulieuby three minutes on corrected time,Whoopermade good use of her fast reaching abilities to take the top prize in the 1,682 boat race.

Competition in IRC Class 1 was fierce, a battle between four Farr 52s putting Kit Hobday and Tim Lewis’Bear of Britainat the top of the group, closely followed by Nick Hewson inTeam Tonic. Line honours for the monohulls were taken by Alex Thomson in Open 60Needasponsor.co.uk, racing on an ISC Group A handicap.

Among the multihulls, 2001 race record-holder Francis Joyon took first place inIdec, with line honours going to Bruno Peyron’s maxicatOrange II, who completed the course just nine minutes short of the race record.

This year’s Round the Island was an unusually fast race, with all but 16 boats completing the course in less than 10 hours. A steady southeasterly breeze helped to level the fleets’ performance, resulting in some fierce competition at the finish.

The final results for YM’s team of correspondents are as follows:

Murphy & NyeSportsboat Rule14/53Azzurra of BristolIRC Class 138/52Xara of HambleISC Class B5/64Blue MaxIRC Class 641/43VarenClassic Racing Yachts7/14SummertimeISC Class G13/61Sea OrchidISC Class G35/61SuhailiISC Class M23/29

On board mini-TransatOcean Legacy(pictured), Paul Adamson was delighted with the race and the performance of his new rig, which he was testing preparatory to undertaking a 1000M solo Atlantic crossing later this year. The Christian Stimson designed 21ft race boat performed beautifully, not slamming once during the beat down to St. Catherine’s Point, and achieving 12.5kts on a close reach approaching Ventnor. Paul and his three crew hoisted the spinnaker at Bembridge Ledge and made a steady 6.5kts to the finish line, completing the race in 8 hours and 5 minutes. Paul still needs to do a solo Atlantic crossing and 1000M in class events before undertaking the mini-Transat in October 2005.

For more information on the boats mentioned in this article, click here 

To view YM’s photo gallery for the race, click here