Winds of Good Fortune and Amazing Wins for Ancasta

This year’s JP Morgan Round the Island Race saw three of our team members with their respective crews, record some extremely impressive results!

Nick Griffith, Ancasta’s Managing Director, raced on the TP52 ‘Pace’ and the crew were awarded the Silver Roman Bowl and JPMAM Salver for Second Overall in IRC.  Nick told us that the conditions this year definitely suited the bigger boats and ‘Pace’ enjoyed a tussle on the South side of the Island with Five Degrees West, Sir Keith Mill’s TP52, which went on to claim first place.  It was indeed a day where the fabulous TP52’s proved the winning reputation for which the racers are renowned, and the results simply added to the ultimate highlight of Nick’s day which was …

“Arriving at the Pier View before 10am on Saturday morning”.

Meanwhile, staking his claim on the famous racing course, our Brokerage Director, Nick Ryley set sail in ‘Zarafa’ and proved exactly what it says about performance on  Ancasta’s sales particulars for this HOD (Humphries One Design) 35.  First in class, third in their division and 15th overall, the results certainly aren’t bad, but exceptional when you consider that Zarafa is 16 years old and the crew notched up an average age of nearly 50.   Aside from a retirement, in the last seven years, Zarafa’s ‘lowest’ place in a class has been 3rd!  Nick cited the highlights of the team’s challenge as gybing while in the gap between the wreck and the Needles Lighthouse, dealing with the traffic management on the only beat which was between Bembridge Ledge and the Ryde Sand post, and then getting through the main competition at Osborne to ensure a first place.

Sam Pearson our Race Boat Broker, spends most of his summer racing on Magnum, a Ker 40 and last weekend saw the team hosting a corporate charter, while managing to nail a very respectable  12th in their class and 31st place overall.  Sam said that usually the Round the Island Race presents with a South Westerly, so a North Westerly made a great change and everyone on board  enjoyed an exhilarating 20-25 knots around the Needles and some good match racing with their fellow Ker 40, ‘Baraka’.  Sam told us…

“It was when a gust of 25 knots came through and wiped out Baraka’s spinnaker, that we took it as a sign to ‘kick back’ and take it easy!’

This year’s event though, was probably summed up most succinctly by Nick Ryley who surely speaks for most of the entrants who took part when he says…

“The Round the Island Race is amazing. This year saw nearly 1,500 boats and approximately 15,000 people impeccably and safely managed around a very attractive rock.”  

He concluded that Zarafa would be back, but did add that with this sort of record, the boat would probably be sold by next year!

As an interesting footnote to the many successes and facts the race heralds on an annual basis, in a cheeky plug, we would like to establish that there were actually  1,459 boats, of which 168 were Beneteaus.  That’s 1 in every 8, or 11.5% !  So between Beneteau and ourselves, we really did maintain an extremely healthy presence for 2013.