Mariquita Book - mk2.5

ROUND THE ISLAND
27 JUNE 2015
I did my first Round the Island with Max Aitken on his
schooner Lumberjack when I was seven years old … so I’ve
been doing the race most of my life. John Caulcutt
The Round the Island Race holds a very special
place in the calendar of British yachtsman,
as Mariquita’s helmsman explains, “The only
time I’ve ever missed
one is when I’ve been
away at sea on one of
my cruising projects.
So to be doing such a
fabulous race, so close
to my heart in home
waters on Mariquita
was exciting to say
the least.” There
had been much
discussion the night before on the start line
scenarios as John recalled, “The difficulty we
had was the race always starts just as the last
of the flood tide is coming in, so we needed
to be inshore to pick up the first of the ebb
off Cowes Green. It was a pre-determined
decision. We looked at the tides and decided
there was only one place to start. But then
you’re mixing it with all the big boys, in
our case the TP52s.
We were lucky – we
found a lane. We
were on starboard,
had to call for water
and the race course
was full. The guys on
those modern yachts
are race hardened
professionals. So we
did mix it with the
big boys on the start line with all the risks
that went with that. Anyway we pulled it
off and probably picked up a half mile lead
on our opposition.” The race was on. How
would Mariquita fair against a fleet of over
1,600 yachts?
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