The Island Sailing Club, organisers of the famous Round the Island Race, has announced that entries for this year’s 80th Anniversary Race will open on Friday January 21st. The Race, sponsored by JP Morgan Asset Management, is taking place on Saturday 25th June – and competitors can expect an early alarm call, with the first start at 0600.

Coinciding with entries opening for this iconic yacht race, the fourth largest participation sporting event in the UK that regularly attracts 1700+ boats and 16,000 sailors, the ISC will also publish the downloadable Notice of Race on its re-designed Anniversary Race website at http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk.

The Club Secretary, Lea Bennett, said: “We’re really excited to be celebrating this major milestone in the Race history. It gives us the perfect opportunity to pull out all the stops and make 2011 a truly memorable year for everyone involved. It would be great if the special memories from the past eight decades, that we’ll be promoting through the website and elsewhere, also help to encourage some new young blood to sign up to the Race. We have always enjoyed a fantastic mix of ages and abilities taking part and want to maintain that important all-embracing spirit of the Race going forward.”