Winds out of the southwest, veering west and a west-going tide at the Needles should tease the serious and less-serious players alike on today’s Round the Island Race.

The event, a 50-mile circumnavigation the Isle of Wight from Cowes to Cowes, has attracted a total of 1,641 yachts from Tracy Edward’s 110 ft maxi-catamaran Maiden II and Ellen MacArthur’s Vendee monohull Kingfisher through to a range of cruiser class competitors, many of which count this as the only race they undertake each year.

Yachting Monthly’s publisher, Jessica Daw, is on Navigator and General’s Jeanneau Sunfast 37 7843T and the we also have a spy on one of the BT Challenge Yachts.

For slower yachts it looks to be a fairly testing day with the potential for a foul tide over much of it. At the faster end the promise of a westerly wind later for the final leg along the Eastern Solent will not assist the likelyhood of any records getting broken.

The start was overcast with no more than 12-13 knots of southwesterly wind; we are now currently observing Maiden II approaching Hurst Castle where the cloud is breaking but the wind is similar.

More reports from the water today, as it happens.