Just over a month ago, thousands of amateur and professional sailors attempted to take part in the annual Round the Island Race.
The weather conditions were pretty atrocious, so it was no surprise that of the 939 boats that had entered the race, around 500 actually set sail from Cowes, and only 154 completed the 50 nautical miles circumnavigation of the Island.
Point of view video
This year was the first Round the Island Race for a young sailor called Nestor, who at the age of 14 (he’s now 17) bought his own boat for £600, which he then restored, with the dream of sailing solo around the UK. He’s since sold that one and bought another that he is living in part-time.
Nestor has been making videos about his sailing life for some time, (including one about his boat washing ashore and getting caught under the Bembridge Lifeboat station bridge – we’ve added that one below) so it was only natural that on his first Round the Island Race, he’d been filming that too.
Hairy conditions
Joining the crew on board a Sigma 38, Nestor’s ‘point of view’ video gives you a great insight into what it is like racing in Storm Force 9. It’s certainly not for the faint-hearted.
The video starts with fairly calm weather, but soon after passing the start line in Cowes, it begins to get quite hairy. Thankfully everyone remained on board throughout the race, although we understand there was a fair amount of sea sickness.
Nestor ends his video by remarking that it was,
“Definitely the coolest experience of my life. Really, really awesome and to be honest I was quite disappointed to finish, I was enjoying myself, but that last leg was pretty brutal.”
Watch the video
To watch the videos, click on the play button and then click the bottom right hand full screen icon to see full size. Don’t forget to turn the sound up.
If you enjoyed his videos you can buy Nestor a coffee to show your appreciation.
