Allen Endurance Series Round 3: Round Sheppey Race

60th Round Sheppey Race, part of the Allen Endurance Series © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Alan Gibson receives an Allen voucher for wining the 60th Round Sheppey Race, part of the Allen Endurance Series © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Aaron Evans in the 60th Round Sheppey Race, part of the Allen Endurance Series © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The Round Sheppey Race concluded the 2018 Allen Endurance Series. In its 60th year the Round Sheppey race, covering a 40-mile clockwise circumnavigation of the Isle Of Sheppey, claims to be the UK's longest annual dinghy, cat & board race. Including sea, river & estuary sailing with tidal conditions, the Round Sheppey Race provides many challenges, including the competitors having to cross under a low road bridge.

The 2018 Round Sheppey Race saw around 100 competitors, across a variety of craft, including cats, dinghies and sail boards, many travelling some distance to attend, including from Ireland and all corners of the UK.

First off at 10am in a lightish breeze were the sailboards and slow dinghies, including top junior sailor Aaron Evans, fresh back from competing at the Topper Worlds in China. Quickest out of the blocks was the sailboard of Andy Gibson, often seeing speeds well into double figures, recorded on the SailRacer GPS trackers as the fleet headed east.

The mid-speed dinghies formed the next start, with the bulk of the fleet starting in the third and last start, including the cats and fast dinghies.

The first leg of around 10 miles in the open waters of the Thames Estuary, gave some fast reaching. As the fleet headed into the confines of the Swale and a head wind, speeds started to drop. The famous (or infamous) part of the Round Sheppey Race is the section passing under the old low road bridge, which forces boats to capsize. First to this critical point was Andy Gibson (sailboard), after 1 hour and 50 minutes, over 25 minutes ahead of the next competitor. The next arrivals at the bridge was a much busier affair, with many turning up at similar times.

Starting the 60th Round Sheppey Race, part of the Allen Endurance Series - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Andy Gibson took overall line honours by some margin and the Sailboard division. The conditions suited the Darts with the class taking the top four places in the dinghy and cat division, Chris Goymer and Paul Wiseman from Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club winning on corrected time, from Debs Waters and Barry Peters from Worthing Sailing Club, with Mark Robson and Kerra Pearce, UKIDA completing the podium.

Combining the scores based on the SailRacer GPS data, Andy Gibson (sailboard) took the overall win to be awarded the Allen £100 voucher, with Chris Goymer and Paul Wiseman (Dart) second and Debs Waters and Barry Peters (Dart) third.

On the SailRacer Speed Wall, Andy Gibson (Sailboard) was fastest on corrected and actual speeds over a sustained period, recording 12.03 kts on the SailRacer GPS trackers. On adjusted speeds, the 29er of Simon Conway and Tom Mitchell was the fastest skiff, Mike Gough (Catapult) fastest cat, and Aaron Evans (Topper) the fastest dinghy.

Chris Goymer and Paul Wiseman in the 60th Round Sheppey Race, part of the Allen Endurance Series - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Allen Endurance Series

The 2018 series covered three of the UK's long distance races: Solent Forts, East Coast Piers and Round Sheppey. With racing covering over 120 miles, the Allen Endurance Series challenged sailors over some varied courses to find the UK's top long distance racers this summer. All races were tracked by SailRacer, allowing organisers and supporters to monitor boat positions, which has provided a wealth of analytical data such as top speeds and distance sailed. Allen provided over £1,000 of prizes across the Series and individual events.

Series winners will be announced next week: allen.SailRacer.org

Emma Stevenson and Tom Bowden in the 60th Round Sheppey Race, part of the Allen Endurance Series - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Overall Results: with further breakdown available