TONY Langley’s TP52 Manroland Sheetfed has won the prestigious Gold Roman Bowl in this year’s JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.
Competing in IRC 0, Manroland Sheetfed (aka Weapon of Choice) was the second monohull to complete the course, finishing in four hours, 42 mins and 12 secs to win on corrected time by just three minutes.
Langley’s crew held off a strong challenge by last year’s Gold Roman Bowl winner, Sundowner.Jo Hutchinson’s Contessa 26, won IRC Division 3D by completing the 50-mile course in eight hours, 31mins and 17secs, awarding them the Silver Roman Bowl for second overall in IRC.
Ed Donald’s Madelaine, a Nordic Folkboat, finished just two and a half minutes behind Sundowner on the water, to take third overall on corrected time.
Line honours went to the Multi 50 Actual which narrowly missed out on the outright record set by Francis Joyon in 2001 by just one minute, 28 secs.
Skipper Yves Le Blevec, a Jules Verne record and Mini Transat winner, said they weren’t aware of how close to the record time they were as they neared the finish: "We didn’t check that before, and when we saw the time we realised it was very close. But it was a very nice race, and on the south of the Island there was big waves and windy, very nice conditions."
They were followed home by last year’s line honours winner Prince de Bretagne, while first monohull home was the current course record holder ICAP Leopard, who rounded the Island in three hrs, 59mins and 04secs.