 The town of Cowes on the Isle of Wight is host to what is claimed to be the longest-running, regular regatta in the world, having been held in early August every year (except during the two World Wars) since the first race started in 1826.
Racing is centred on the Solent, the area of water that lies between mainland Britain and the Isle of Wight about 25 miles long and five miles wide. It is, in effect, a double-ended river, open to the sea at both ends of the island with peculiar tidal patterns to match, keeping tacticians particularly busy.
What’s happening this year?
Matt Sheahan takes a look at what’s in store this year – reprinted from Yachting World’s Skandia Cowes Week preview August 2007
From sportsboats to superyachts, the world’s most famous annual regatta is set to attract as broad a range of racing craft as ever in its 181-year history. For the second year running, the Laser SB3 class will be the biggest fleet at the event, with 100 boats anticipated, while the biggest boat will be Mike Slade’s new Leopard, a 30m canting keel master-blaster.
Boats such as this have led to the biggest changes at Skandia Cowes Week and stretched the event out to a total of nine days. The additional day comes at the beginning, on Friday 3 August, with three new events. But that extra day of racing is not for everyone – you need to be big or quick to take part. Or probably both.
At 1100 will be the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes Week regatta, an invitation-only, three-race event that pits the 29 class winners from last year’s Skandia Cowes Week against each other in Laser SB3s.
Big prizes
The racing is sure to be hard-fought. Aside from the prestige of such a title, the event’s prizes are a big attraction – a Volkswagen Touareg is the reward for 1st place, a Volkswagen EOS for 2nd and a Laser for 3rd.
Word has it that, although the event is not organised by the Cowes Combined Clubs (CCC), arrangements have been made for a number of its experienced jury members to hear any protests. A smart anticipatory move – with such a high level of sailors and prizes, the competition is sure to be fierce.
The second of three new events is the Big Boat Series, a three-day event organised by the CCC that kicks off with a Solent-based round-the-cans race for the IRC Class 0 boats that starts at 1200 on Friday 3 August.
The following two races are on Wednesday 8 August and Thursday 9 August.
Race director Stuart Quarrie explains: “As boats have become bigger and faster, the difference in speed between some of these high-performance machines doing, say, 20-30 knots and a small dayboat doing three, has become a greater cause for concern in the confined waters of the Solent.”
The second event takes place on the Wednesday of the Week – a race around the island – while the third is a short passage race on Thursday 9 August. The new IRC Class 0 will also cater for canting keel boats over 14m LOA (or boats with an IRC rating greater than 1.42), thus separating them from the fixed-keel fleet.
Wild cats
This year, wild cats will be in evidence once more, with a fleet of Extreme 40s doing battle for the UK edition of the iShares Cup on the preview day, then continuing during Saturday 4 August and Sunday 5 August. Again, the event is not a CCC-run series, but the boats will be racing round the cans in the Solent.
Another new event within the main event is the Artemis Challenge. Keeping the Class 0 big guns company during their race around the island will be a fleet of seven Open 60s, who will play host to some celebrity guests as crew. Artemis is putting up a prize pot of £10,000 for the winning boat to donate to a charity of its choice.
Class amalgamation
But the changes this year aren’t all about size, glamour and speed. One of the biggest has been the amalgamation of several classes in the important middle area of the 1,000-boat regatta. As new fleets were added to the list, concern was mounting that the task of managing even more classes in an already busy and demanding schedule would become too tricky. The CCC has decided to amalgamate the Sigma 33, Sigma 38 and ISCRS classes into the mainstream IRC fleet. It says this has allowed one more IRC class, which has tightened the rating bands, while simultaneously reducing the overall number of classes.
But it’s not all bad news if racing in one of these older classes was an event highlight or your season’s big regatta. Any entrants in these classes who have raced at Skandia Cowes Week for at least the last two years and who do not have an IRC certificate can apply in writing to CCC for a one-off free certificate for 2007.
Laser heads-up
There’s a 1005 early start for the huge class of Laser SB3s and you won’t find your course in the usual location for White Group starts.
Stuart Quarrie says: “Competitors need to be aware that the Laser SB3 fleet is the only White Group class that will have its course announced over the VHF and not using the normal course board. They also
need to be prepared for a course that starts downwind.”
Last year, the Laser SB3 class became the biggest fleet at Cowes, which introduced its own problems and controversy. Racing on one day was abandoned after several failed attempts to keep the super-competitive fleet behind the line until the gun was fired.
Downwind starts could help to avoid a repetition of such a drastic and unpopular measure.
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