Rocking and Rolling Round the Island

For Jonah, Calypso, Hattie (Jonah's cousin) and me it was our first Round the Island race and according to the veterans it was the toughest one they can remember. Not sure if that was supposed to make me feel better as I spent most of the time round the back of the Island wishing I could die. Genuinely I think seasickness is up there with childbirth, and similar in that at the time you think "Please remind me never to do this again" but shortly afterwards you think "well, that wasn't so bad really". On the plus side, it was great to see Calypso really pushed and know just how much abuse she can put up with - I actually mean 'hear her pushed' as I was horizontal with my eyes closed at the time that Jeremy, Simon and Fiona were bracing themselves in the cockpit, Kit was battling with the spinnaker pole and being hoisted up the mast to retrieve halyards and the boat was rolling her way down past St Catherine's. Fortunately we had a very accommodating cameraman on board called Harry, who managed to film as well as help during the crisis points. We came a very respectable 23rd overall and 12th in the IRC class but the great excitement of the day was that Nick Rogers aka Uncle Stru won the race and the Gold Roman Bowl in his little Contessa 26 (built in 1968 by Jeremy). 3rd and 4th were big corporate boats, so it really was a triumph. At one point we nearly lost Jonah over the side during a particularly enthusiastic tacking manoeuvre but despite this, and feeling a bit queasy himself, he hasn't been put off and is really looking forward to more adventures in Calypso.

Round-the-Island - Calypso gets there first!

I should make clear this is not first to the finish but first to enter the 80th Round-the-Island Race - an epic yacht race of 1700 boats who make the annual dash, 60 miles around the Isle of Wight.
I've never taken part in the RTI race but other members of the Rogers family have won the most coveted RTI trophy, The Gold Roman Bowl, three times in the old family boat, Rosina, so the pressure is on! People assume that because your surname is Rogers that you are genetically modified for sailing. Of course, I'm not a real Rogers, I was born on a farm in a land locked part of the country and had no idea about boats until my late teens. It's true that since then I have got quite a few miles under my belt, but somehow, I still feel like a bit of a fraud.
Anyway, it should be an exciting day and hopefully if we do really badly it will be put down to the weight of the hybrid engine, or the extra batteries, and not the dilution of Rogers genes on board!