TOP Isle of Wight sailor Jeremy Waitt has won again in his class on home turf in race five — the Island leg — of the Solo Offshore Racing Club season.

Waitt and his fellow racers experienced up to 25 knots of wind, which made the single-handed Round the Island race another tough one — but he did more than enough to make it back-to back victories in the annual event.

Around 40 boats took part and, despite a few retirements with gear failure, all rounded the Island safely.

Waitt, of Cowes, won the very competitive Class 1 fleet category in the JPK 10.10 Jangada in 6h 41.11mins, with a healthy five-minute margin on corrected time over Bellino, sailed by inshore season leader Rob Craigie.

Jangada is owned by Islander Richard Palmer, who loaned him use of the boat for the race, with the boat maintained to a very high race standard by Brett Aarons of BA Yacht Services, Cowes.

Jeremy, delighted with his victory, said: “It’s fantastic to retain the class win for a second year running. It’s one of my favourite races in the season and winning it again makes you feel it wasn’t all luck first time around.

“I made mistakes, namely putting a smaller spinnaker up at The Needles, which meant a change of kite just off Freshwater Bay — a very tricky manoeuvre when single-handed.

“As is often the case with round the Island races, the tide and wind conditions favour smaller Class 2 boats, with all three podium places for IRC overall taken by a significant margin, but it is a pleasure to sail single-handed around such a historic course.

“With this win, we now have to focus on our season challenge — to win the RORC IRC Overall Championship. With three races left, we are top of the leaderboard, but with a small margin, so it could be a nail-biting finish.

“Success would make Team Jangada the first double-handed boat to win the RORC Offshore series trophy, so there’s a lot at stake. It’s been a huge effort from an Island-based sailing team to get this close to a win, so it’s safe to say our game faces are on.”