The Britannia Cup, presented by the Royal Yacht Squadron, is arguably the most prestigious of all the trophies presented at Skandia Cowes Week. It is traditionally awarded to the winner of IRC Class 0 on the Wednesday of the regatta.
After World War II it was felt that the America's Cup could not be continued, so at the suggestion of Sir Peter Scott, King George VI proposed that another competition of international significance should be introduced for larger yachts.
In 1950 King George IV presented a trophy to the Yacht Racing Association (now the Royal Yachting Association), naming it the Britannia Cup. The trophy was first won in 1951 by Taiseer IV and Group Captain RSJ Barton who accepted the cup at The Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes.
Hannah Emanuel managed to catch a few words with Patches' skipper, Ian Walker and owner Eamon Conneely about today's victory. Ian explained what he thought it was that gave Patches the edge. "I think it is really down to concentration and focus of the crew. Yesterday we came from behind because we didn't give up. We knew the conditions were good for us, so we didn't have to push too hard at the start. We had a really good first leg which set us up for the rest of the race."
Eamon has only been sailing for four years, so winning the Britannia Cup for him was especially exciting. "The whole week has been very enjoyable for me so far. We have a really great boat and a really great team. The first run downwind was just beautiful and a downwind start is fantastic and unusual. To win the Britannia Cup is just fantastic, I didn't expect us to, we just came here to try our best."
With so much silverware in the bag already after winning the Queen's Cup on Saturday, the team just need to pick up the New York YC Challenge Cup tomorrow to complete the hat trick. "We're not allowed to take them home" grins Eamon, "so at least I won't have to polish them."
Hannah Emanuel/Yachting World, 3 August 2005
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