Adam Gosling, husband of Olympic Gold medallist Sarah Webb, will race his well-known Corby 30 Yes! with a team of friends ‘representing all levels of sailing!’ on board, including Stig (Chris Grainger, not THE Stig).

A more recent design from the drawing board of the successful Cowes-based yacht designer John Corby is No Retreat! a Corby 33. She’ll be under the guiding hands of another husband and wife team, David and Jackie Riley aiming to consolidate on some great results in 2009 and also, so far, in 2010.

David Orton and his wife Chris from Nottingham, are racing St David’s Light, an Illingworth & Primrose Classic Racing Yacht built by Souters of Cowes in 1963. The yacht’s name is that of a lighthouse on Bermuda where she was built for the Trimmingham family, as a one-off ocean racer. She carries a Bermudan sail number, KB15. Illingworth & Primrose are perhaps best known for their design of Gypsy Moth IV for Francis Chichester.

Another husband and wife team comprising Steve and the ‘long suffering’ wife (his description, not mine!) Sally Orland will be racing their Sigma 38 Galliver II in IRC Group 2. Steve, a sailing instructor, has spent the last six months renovating Galliver II and is looking forward to his first full season with her.

Ursula Bagnall and Richard Hollis own the X 95 Crakatax, another familiar boat in the Solent to have chalked up some very creditable results over the past few years.

A Toledo 30 Djinn Seng, a regular Club ½ tonner race boat at Saltash in Cornwall, is owned and skippered by Jeremy Stevenson. The foredeck crew met and married last year and all in all there have been two engagements, two weddings, one baby and one on the way - clearly a very busy and committed crew both on and off the water!