The 2003 Round The Island Race, which took place this weekend, was, as we have come to expect, a fantastic event. 506 boats entered this year's race, which has to make this the biggest sailing event in the country and give it some standing in international terms.

LDYC once again put on a great event despite the lack of a title sponsor this year. The Friday and Saturday night parties were festive affairs, as one would expect at any event at which so many yachties are gathered! As well as the sailing there were a good number of stalls out in front of the club selling things ranging from food to boat spares and even whole boats in one instance!

Saturday's sprint races in the morning were reasonably well attended although it does surprise me how many relatively serious sailors make the trip to the event yet choose to sit on the lawn with their boats rigged rather than sail these races. The main tune-up race in the afternoon was well attended as usual. A port bias in the line made for a very interesting to watch keeler start with a great deal of crashing and banging going on at the pin end. For the fourth Vaal Dam regatta in a row I saw the same high profile keeler getting involved in a start line collision, which was clearly their fault and leads me to wonder about the competence, or is it attitude of some crews!

The dinghy start was a little less chaotic while the race itself, around a trapezoid course, was interesting to say the least. Some radical windshifts and changes in wind strength, in particular a huge puff out of one side of the course that lasted only a minute or two, made for tactical racing. It was all quite fun and certainly a good opportunity to get used to sailing a small boat with some many bigger boats and so much bad air around.

Sunday morning dawned grey and overcast with a thunderstorm raging only a short distance from the dam. This seemed a little odd as thunderstorms often seem to be more evening than early morning things. I have a feeling though that the insides of many peoples heads felt just like that thunderstorm looked. This race seems to start terribly early, more so for those who really went big at the party the night before, and there were quite a few of those around!

The breeze looked promising, ten knots or so from somewhere between the dam wall and the island so early on it looked like it might have been a straight leg there and back. Shortly after the keeler start though it started to swing to the right making the leg to the island more of a true beat. It also died a little, make that a lot, so it was by no means a quick sail up to the island. In fact it was quite a tough beat with the left hand side of the course seeming to pay the most. In the last stretch those dinghies that were far enough to the left were able to fly their kites down to the island. Up the back stretch the breeze was fairly good and certainly at the time I went around we had some good breeze and a lively little beat at the top end of the island. At the top of the island it was spinnakers up for a tight reach home to the finish. Most didn't quite make it all the way back to the finish with their kites up but I think that those who hung on the longest may have done the best.

In such a diverse fleet it is hard to tell who will have done enough to win on handicap but as it turns out this year was definitely a cat race. So much so in fact that they got away with the top 14 positions overall. That's the way it goes I guess! The first three dinghies were 29ers in 15th,17th and 22nd places while the first keeler was Marc Hammik's new Simonis 35, Ciao Bella, with Harry Ellens on the helm, in 16th place.