Round the Island Race is this weekend: How many boats will race? When does it start? Where can I watch?

The first start is scheduled for 8am and the starting sequence will be completed by 9:30 as the fleet heads west to the stunning Needles.

The race management team led by Dave Atkinson at the Island Sailing Club (ISC) said: “We are delighted to welcome such a wonderfully varied fleet this year, it really encapsulates our unique race ethos of a ‘Race for All’.

Here is the official spectator guide.

"We are keeping a regular check on the weather. At the moment it looks like ideal Round the Island race conditions on Saturday with a strong westerly breeze - so the fleet will be tacking upwind to The Needles and then it’s likely we will see a sea of spinnakers after St Catherine’s Point.

There will almost certainly be fierce competition for Line Honours this year amongst the IRC Division 0 Fleet, especially between ‘Notorious’ Mini Maxi Mills 72, a local Isle of Wight boat, and the two Volvo 70 boats, ‘HYPR’ and ‘Tschuss2’ - we can’t wait to see the action unfold.”

Competitors taking part and those watching from home can visit the Tracking Page of the event website and watch the race using the easy-to-use Race Viewer. As well as seeing the full race live and following the text commentary, specific boats can be highlighted and tracked as they progress around the 50 nautical mile course.

For visitors to Cowes over the race weekend or those watching the race from one of the vantage points around the Island, a Spectator Guide on the event website provides details of all the shoreside activities and a handy map, with a table of times at which the boats will pass different points during the race.