IT is one of the biggest sports events in the UK and takes a whole year to organise – but Round the Island Race organisers say this year’s race is on course to be one of the best yet.

More than 13,000 people will hit the water in about 1,500 boats on Saturday for the annual 55-mile sprint around the Isle of Wight.

The Solent gets so busy on race day it has to be closed to shipping traffic.

But the man in charge of seeing everyone around safely says everything is in place to ensure the event runs smoothly.

Safety officer Dave Atkinson, one of just seven members of the race’s organising committee, said: “Organising Round the Island Race takes a long time and a lot of patience.

“No sooner has one race ended than we’re back into planning for the following year.

“That sounds like a long time but actually the fundamentals have to be worked out quite a lot further in advance.

“Because the Solent has to be shut to ships, we have to work with the shipping companies and publish our race dates around five years ahead of each event.

“Our team might be small but each of us brings a certain expertise and between us we have more than 100 years of experience with Round the Island Race.

“We have a huge safety plan in place for race day with a team of support boats on the water, spotters on land and the coastguard with us in race control.

“You’d have thought with so many boats competing there would be loads of incidents but there are actually very few.

“We will all be there bright and breezy on Saturday morning with all fingers and toes crossed for a good race. “You can’t mitigate against everything but I think we have most things covered.

“Each year we try to make the race that little bit better, and this year is no different.”

Dave was the event’s principal race officer for 12 years, and this year will be the 28th he has been involved with the event.

“It gets under your skin,” he added.

“In sailing terms this race is one of the biggest in the world. You’ve got 1,500 boats with 13,000 people on them. “It's unique – it’s one race, but within it there are all the little battles that go on between fleets, classes, yacht clubs, friends and family. “There a myriad things going on to make it a fantastic event.”

The first start will take place at 5am on Saturday.