2010 HAMBLIN ROUND MANN RACE

The 2010 Hamblin sponsored Round Mann yacht race was sailed on Sunday 30th May.
Hosted by the Isle of Man YC, the race started at 7am from Port St Mary – a little early for some, following the pre-race Hamblin reception the night before. Fourteen yachts, half of them visitors from the England and Ulster, made the low-water start to race round the Island anti-clockwise. The fresh north-westerly breeze and sunny conditions made it a cracking day for a sail. With not much windward/leeward work to do, the yachts power-reached around most of the course, breaking every record in this event.

Since Frank Newton and Hamblin’s first Round Mann in 1999, the quickest yacht around the Island had been Andy Roy’s J.109 “Stanley’s Banjo”, clocking 11 hours 56 minutes in 2006. This year, Robin Wootton’s Reflex 38 “Cheetah Cub” flew round in 8 hours 47 minutes, knocking over 3 hours off the record. The combination of a good fresh breeze that lasted all day and from the north-west was most unusual and this record elapsed time is likely to stand for many years. A very pleasing bit of history in the IOMYC’s centenary year.

However, the overall results are based on handicaps and the top three on corrected time in each division were as follows:
Division 1 (IRC) - 1st “Eauvation” (First 31.7) Jason Corlett Douglas Bay YC, 2nd “Cheetah Cub” (Reflex 38) IOMYC, 3rd “Charlie Don’t Surf” (Everitt 31) Phil Quinn Strangford Lough YC.
Division 2 (PY) – 1st “Rebel” (MGRS-34) Nigel Rollason Royal Western YC, 2nd “Shellan” (Dehler 36CWS) Richard Baker IOMYC, 3rd “Carmen” (Bolero) Chris Duffy Blackpool & Fleetwood YC.

Jason won Division 1 last year but had to work very hard to beat Robin Wootton by only 3 minutes this time. The Division 2 winner, Nigel Rollason from Devon is a former TT and sidecar racer who commented that it was the first time he’d won round here “off-road”. The last yacht to finish was John Dowling’s little Westerly Cirrus, taking just 13 hours 50 minutes – a fantastic effort in such a boat.

The Friday feeder race over to PSM from Fleetwood was won by “Mystic Sun” (Oceanis 440) Steve Williams of the Fleetwood Harbour YC.

All competitors and the IOMYC gratefully thank Frank Newton for his continued support of this annual event.

Mick Kneale
Commodore