LaserPerformance (Europe) Ltd and Volkswagen have announced that 2008 will see the return of the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes at Skandia Cowes Week.
On Friday 1 August class winners from 2007 will race in identical Laser SB3s off Cowes in a one-day, three race regatta. Following on from the hard-fought inaugural event held last year, some 32 leading national and international helms will have the opportunity to pitch their skills against each other, and compete for the Volkswagen Touareg.
With winning helms from classes as diverse as the historic XOD day boats and the high tech IRC Class Zero maxis this event draws together the very best sailors from Skandia Cowes Week.
The winning helms will be drawn at random through an independent draw to ascertain which SB3 owner they will be paired with. The class winners must helm their boat with the SB3 owner as principle crew member. (The SB3 class winner will not be permitted to sail his own boat but will also be allocated to an SB3 through the independent draw to prevent any unfair advantage.)
The Skandia Cowes Week 2007 class winners invited to compete in this year's Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes competition are:
Class, Boat, Name Entrant 1720, La Licorne, Mark Greenway Daring, Dauntless, Giles Peckham Dragon, Princess Jalina, David Palmer Etchells White Group, Arbitrator, Graham Bailey Flying Fifteen, Men Behaving Badly, John Mander Hunter 707, The Ant Hill Mob, Russell Mead Laser SB3, Musto, Glenn Bourke Redwing, Toucan, Peter Romer-Lee RS Elite, Eclipse, Ian Andrew RSK6, Courageous, Richard Talbot Sports Boat Rating, Abstension II, Kevin Downer Seaview Mermaid, Sheen, N R Dobbs Solent Sunbeam, Daisy, Michael Moss Sonar, Bertie, Simon Barter Squib, Firecracker Too, Andrew Porteous Swallow, Skua, Harry Roome Victory, Zinnia, Jeremy Lear XOD, Swallow, Simon Russell Contessa 32, Drumbeat, Eldred Himsworth J109, Shiva, Matthew Boyle IRC 0, ICAP Leopard, Mike Slade IRC 1, Flash Glove, Colm Barrington IRC 2, WISC, Glynn Williams IRC 3, Holmatro, Sander Speet IRC 4 Black Group Amey, Love Shack, Tim Spalding IRC 5, Alvine Jacobite, Harry Evans IRC 6, Fatjax, Iain Kirkpatrick IRC 7, Earls Court Boatshow, Adam Gosling IRC 8, Mikado, Michael Briggs IRC 9, Madelaine, Edward Donald J-Sprit, Mojo, Jill Stevenson Multihulls, Buzz, Philip Cotton
Three races are scheduled with no discard ensuring that the teams are given the most rigorous test. For 2008 the course format is revised slightly to include a Skandia Cowes Week style 'round the cans' course in addition to the 'windward leeward' format, which was used exclusively at the inaugural event. The 'round the cans' format gives a greater test of navigational skills and was introduced in response to the competitor's request for a competition that offered the broadest possible test of skills.
The racing will be tight, as they will be battling it out for:
Skippers Owners 1st Volkswagen Touareg Family holiday to Mark Warner 2nd Laser XD SB3 Mainsail 3rd Laser BUG SB3 Jib
The independent draw to match class winners with SB3s will take place in May and further information about the location and timing of the draw will be published shortly.
LaserPerformance (Europe) Ltd and Volkswagen have announced that 2008 will see the return of the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes at Skandia Cowes Week.
