In 2006 we entered Mostly Harmless in the RORC Round Britain and Ireland Race, racing non-stop around Great Britain, Ireland, and all the outlying islands and rocks with the exception of St Kilda. Other than the first night and a few hours not long after the Shetland Islands when we were able to fly the spinnaker, we were hard on the wind. On the leg north up the Irish and Scottish coasts, this meant that it was pretty cold, even in August. To arrive at every corner and discover that the wind was about veer so it would again be on the nose, was “character-building”. As navigator Bob Clitherow recounted later to Yachting Monthly’s Dick Durham “We all had to dig very deep on that race“.
Bob maintained a blog which can be read at the following link, and Chris Beeson captured the spirit of event in his Round Britain and Ireland Blues which appears at the end of Bob’s article: RBIR Blog including Round Britain and Ireland Blues
Sarah Fawcus and Dave Bright captured some of the highs and lows on camera. My sister took some lovely photos of the finish after thirteen days on a grey drizzly morning in Cowes.
Heading west – Cowes to Bishop Rock
Heading north – Bishop Rock to Muckle Flugga
Heading south – Muckle Flugga – North Foreland
Final leg and finish – North Foreland – Cowes