It was all hands to the rudder for the annual Round the Island Race.

Organised by the Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club (SSC), Saturday's contest attracted 87 entrants for the 40-mile trip.

It’s the 56th time the race has been held, and as well as a flotilla of dingies, for the first time in its long history this year’s challenge included rowing and paddle boats.

As is traditional, the competition began and ended at SSC’s headquarters in Marine Parade, Sheerness.

Surrey-based sailor, Barry Peters, was first across the line, finishing in a little more than three hours.

He becomes the proud new owner of the Parker Cup.

SCC commodore and race coordinator,Tim Harris, and crew Claire Jeffrey took the runners-up spot, with Mike Lyons from Berkshire coming in third.

Tim said: “It was a really good day.

“We had excellent weather conditions although the tide was a tad lower than usual.

“It made it quite tricky navigating around the back of the Island where the water is very shallow.

“We had a few rudder hits and people going aground but everyone got back safely.”

Entrants travelled from all over the country for the race with Nottingham thought to have been the longest distance undertaken by a competitor this year.

Tim paid special tribute to paddle boater, Julia Haggis, who took to the water at 8am and didn’t make it back until 7pm, adding up to a gruelling 11 hours at sea.

For details on how to enter next year’s race, visit the club’s new website: www.iossc.co.uk.

. For more pictures, see Wednesday's Sheerness Times Guardian.