The 2015 Round the Island Race is offering more opportunities for first time racers to get afloat and experience the excitment of the world’s largest yacht race.

Anyone looking for crew or interested in competing on someone else’s boat in this year’s Race should go to the official race website. It has a very useful Crew Search Forum. The Start times and Fleet flags information extracted from the Notice of Race can also be found on the website which is packed with helpful guidance and practical advice to help all racegoers, whether on the water or onshore. The website is regularly updated and details about the Race Village entertainment will be added in June, so make sure you keep in touch.

For those not getting afloat but keen to enjoy the atmosphere and follow the race, the two Race HUB Clubs, The Royal Southern and the Royal Lymington Yacht Clubs, will open their doors to friends, family and supporters. They be fully race themed over the race weekend and will beam all the latest information and footage of the event into the club houses. This will include live streaming of the Raymarine Weather Briefing at 1800 on Friday 26 June, live streamed coverage of the Race and tracking, plus a full declaration and results service and Race Tankard collection on Race day, Saturday 27, all fully resourced by the ISC Race Management Team.

Speaking on behalf of the Royal Southern, Rear Commodore Sailing Graham Nixon said:

RTI Race day is always lively at the Club, but this will allow us to welcome even more competitors who berth in the Hamble and want to share in the atmosphere which the Race generates.  It should be a great party.

The Royal Lymington Yacht Club’s Rear Commodore Sailing Stuart Duffin also commented:

We are taking this exciting opportunity, working with the Island Sailing Club, to make innovative improvements to the Round the Island Race experience for our Members, their crews, visiting crews and guests here in Lymington.  To have real time information from Cowes and the Race course readily displayed here, as well as results and some of the prizes, should improve the experience for all, and enable crews to share the Race experience with each other and their friends while taking advantage of the Club facilities before, during and after the Race.  As a result, we hope that more visiting yachts will use the excellent facilities here in Lymington as their base for the RTI weekend.