After a gentle start, conditions in the Round the Island Race freshened as the fleet rounded the Needles and headed for St Catherine's, the most southerly point on the Isle of Wight.
Three hours into the race the breeze had built to a 17/20 knot easterly, with fast reaching conditions to the south-west of the Island . "Eure et Loir-Idec" the current multihull record holder rounded Bembridge at 1005. At the same time "Leopard of London", current monohull record holder, reached St Catherine's.
At the other end of the fleet, the last of the unrated boats were approaching Hurst Narrows. Sir Robin Knox-Johnston was sailing off Totland Bay, with some 300 boats behind him. Former winner Edward Donald in the folkboat "Madelaine" was also making good progress. By this time the early favourable tide had turned slack but Chief Race Officer Dave Atkinson felt that very few would be caught by the tidal gate: "It's good there's been an improvement in the forecast 8/10 knots.
We'll have very few if any competitors struggling against an adverse tide before they reach The Needles."
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