Week 25 — Round The Island — Journal

The Saturday just gone, the 27th of June, was the yearly Round The Island Race organised by the Island Sailing Club around the Isle of Wight. It is one of the biggest sailing spectacles in the world, with over 1,500 individual boats competing, each with an average of eight crew aboard.

I was fortunate enough to be racing in the event aboard Panther 43X, a brand new Grand Soleil 43. But a good friend of mine, Malcolm Bates, was at St Catherine's Point taking photos of the fleet as it passed by, and has kindly put together a guest post of his favourite shots from the day.

Panther 43X sailing with Eleonora 5 in the background — Panther 43X with Eleonora 5 in the background — an incredible shot, I think you'd agree.

Line of yachts stretching into the distance — Yachts for hours.

Yachts passing close to St Catherine's Point — Passing close — St Cat's is a fantastic viewpoint for this race.

Classic yacht Mariquita under sail — Mariquita underway.

Yacht named Starry Night sailing past — Starry Night, majestically passing.

Fleet of yachts seen from a high vantage point at St Catherine's Point — Collapsing — this vantage point makes it seem as though you're flying in a helicopter above the fleet.

Thank you very much to Malcolm for letting me display these fantastic shots — if you would like any of these photos, let me know and I'll put you in touch with him. More can be found on my Flickr, Round The Island 2015.

These were shot on a Canon 7D Mark II using a Canon 100–400mm f/4.5–5.6 IS II USM. Hoping to plan more trips with Malcolm after the busy summer period has passed.

📷 All photographs in this post by Malcolm Bates, shot from St Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight.