ISC grants exclusive right to RSYC for J.P. MAM Round the Island Race

by Peta Stuart-Hunt on 18 Apr 2016 The Hamble-based Royal Southern Yacht Club has been granted the exclusive right by the Island Sailing Club (ISC) to be the mainland HUB Club for this year's Round the Island Race, the last under J.P. Morgan's 12-year title sponsorship.

The Royal Southern, who also acted as a South Coast HUB in 2015, will be showing the Race EventTV feed throughout the weekend (Friday first-Sunday 3rd July 2016) that includes Friday evening's live coverage of the Raymarine Weather Brief, live coverage of Saturday's starts, competitor notices/information and the ISC's full classified results service. The Club will also host Race-related social functions during the weekend.

The ISC will also provide the staffing and the infrastructure to allow competitors to come to the Royal Southern Yacht Club to declare and collect their Tankards. These facilities are not available anywhere else other than at the Island Sailing Club who run the Race from Cowes.

Safram the Lake-racing Super Cat heads for the Solent's open waters
Safram, a 35ft high tech full carbon Swiss-made catamaran, is designed for winning inshore races on lakes. For example, in 2015, she won on Lake Geneva (Switzerland), on the Lake Balaton (Hungary) and on Lake Garda (Italy).

In 2016 the Safram team is racing this 'super cat' for the very first time on open waters and has selected the J.P Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race to prove Safram's skills as a classy all-rounder. The skipper, Rodolphe Gautier, is a seasoned racer and also the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Bol d'Or Mirabaud.

Scaramouche is breaking new ground says Lawrie Smith
A unique inner-city multicultural project helping disadvantaged kids in London is represented in this year's J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race on a 1981 German Frers 45ft sail training boat named Scaramouche, a former Admiral's Cupper no less. She will have eight students on board.

In 2013, Greig City Academy (GCA) set up a school sailing club to allow inner-city London students access to the sport of sailing. To put things into perspective, 73.1% of students who attend GCA are deemed disadvantaged, and 62.4% of students have English as an additional language. Over the last three years nearly 1,000 students have taken to the water for the first time. Today the GCA Sailing has bases in King George V Reservoir in London with a fleet of six dinghies and Poole Harbour, Dorset with the McGregor 22 and Scaramouche.

In addition the former Whitbread racer and World Champion Lawrie Smith is now the main crew's advisor so he is upgrading Scaramouche and then taking students out sailing.

'If you are ever fortunate enough to have five minutes with the crew of Scaramouche, determination and crew work are two core traits that come across. Having been told that they could not enter a regatta because they were not a fee-paying school has not deterred them. They found a race they could enter, and they went and won it,' commented Lawrie Smith.

'Project Scaramouche breaks new ground and is creating a new model for youth sailing.'

More highlights from J.P. Morgan Asset Management's 12 years as Title Sponsor

2010
The 2010 Race had 1,754 entries and 1,607 boats finished the Race. This is the highest ever-recorded number of finishers in the history of the Race.

A two-part documentary, produced by Sunset+Vine|APP and commissioned by J.P. Morgan Asset Management in association with Channel 4, told the story of four very different personalities, each with special reasons to compete in the 2010 Race. The first programme focused on the day-to-day lives of each of the four sailors as they prepared for the Race. The second part featured Race day with on-board cameras showing the highs and the lows of the 1,700 strong fleet.

2011 celebrated the 80th Anniversary of the Race
To celebrate the 80th anniversary, J.P. Morgan Asset Management organised a special exhibition, a portable photographic exhibition to showcase some superb race imagery from some of the world's leading yachting photographers, dating right back to the first race in 1931.

BBC Countryfile also featured the 80th Anniversary Race during its 2012 series.

Standard entries to compete in the 2016 Round the Island Race close at midnight on Saturday 18th June.