All hands on deck

THERE was plenty of local interest in the famous round-the-island yacht race around the Isle of Wight at the weekend.

The international event attracted more than 1,800 boats and the Henri Lloyd Cutting Edge yacht which finished third featured two crew members with local connections.

Phil Allingan, managing director of Royle Security, at the County End Business Centre, Springhead, was a crew member on the boat owned by former Oldhamer Robert Lutener, who now lives in Rishworth.

The pair have been friends for more than 10 years since Phil was sales director for Rob at Eurotel Ltd (a telecoms company Rob and his brother Keith founded in 1992).

Three years ago, Phil and two other directors bought Eurotel from the Lutener brothers and, when they sold the company last year, Phil bought Royle Security.

In the Isle of Wight race, the Henri Lloyd Cutting Edge boat was just beaten by the Hugo Boss yacht that Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton was on board, but which was disqualified after crashing into another boat.

They were competing in the top class for IRC 0 boats and Phil (39) from Grotton, admits it was quite an experience.

After enjoying motor-sailing/cruising, it was a different task altogether hanging over the edge while a pure TP52 racing boat sliced through the waves at high speed.

Rob has more experience, having sailed for about 10 years. When he sold Eurotel in 2005 he started racing more seriously and last year bought his latest boat in which he now competes all over Europe