Cowes is historically the centre of yacht racing on the British south coast positioned just a couple of miles off the mainland on the Isle Of Wight. Booking accommodation on such a small island during peak season can be tricky. We’ve looked up some of the best places to stay both on the island and on the mainland within a relatively easy ferry ride. We’ve provided options for crew houses and hotels to suite those who are looking to base a crew there during the regatta week or for people who want to take in the the historic ambience of the place.

We’ve also listed offers in Premium, mid and budget ranges.

Cowes hotels and holiday houses

Premium accommodation – Cowes

Insignia, 32 Cross Street – Holiday home

This holiday home can accommodate 6 people and is slap bang in the heart of town. Great views across the River Medina, but no view of the standard race start line. You’ll be in the heart of everything here, but if you like a quiet life, you might want to stay further out of town. During Cowes Week this area can be quite noisy, but it is a few seconds walk from the Red Jet ferry so if you need to hop across to Southampton for anything it’s easy.

Distance to Cowes: you’re in it! Red Jet 2 minute walk

View at Booking.com

Solent View Apartment

This modern apartment overlooking the the solent accommodates 4 people. Its prime location is ideal for watching yacht racing or the daily buzz on the water from the comfort a large balcony. The bedrooms are a little on the small side. Parking on site is free.

Distance to Cowes centre: 5-10 minute walk. 10 minutes walk from Red Jet ferry terminal. 25 minutes walk from East Cowes Red Funnel terminal or 10 minute drive. 

View on Booking.com

Mid Range accommodation –  Cowes

Villa Rothsay Hotel

Central Cowes location, great views, free shuttle service, attractive comfortable rooms – some with a balcony. Parking a bit limited.

Distance to Cowes centre: 10 minutes walking distance, 15 minutes walking from Red Jet ferry terminal

View at Hotels.com

35 Cross St – Boat House –  Holiday Home

To accommodate 4 people the Boat House is situated in the heart of town just minutes walk from the Red Jet ferry terminal, or 15 minutes walk from East Cowes Red Funnel ferry terminal.

It has a small outdoors court yard though it is in such a central location you’ll find it can get noisy peak season and during regatta week, but at other times it is quiet and a peaceful area to stay.

Distance to Cowes: you’re in it! Red Jet 2 minute walk

View at Hotels.com

The Woodvale

A bit of a trek out of Cowes but what a view and vista over the whole of the Solent from this prime spot on the IOW.  Parking may be tricky during peak season as it is road-side parking. Staff are friendly and accommodating to guests.

Distance to Cowes centre: 1.8 miles, 35 minutes walk, 7 minute drive

View at Hotels.com

BEST WESTERN New Holmwood Hotel

Great Cowes location with lovley sea views. Great service from friendly staff. Very good restaurant too. Some rooms a little on the small side.

Distance to Cowes Centre: 15 minute walk

View at Booking.com

Budget accommodation – Cowes

Onefifty

Charming highly rated B&B offering comfortable and attractive bedrooms, sea views, a raved about breakfast and a friendly host. Conveniently located too in central Cowes although it’s a bit of a steep walk back.

Distance to Cowes Centre: 

View on Booking.com

The Wight Mouse Inn

A charming inn with wonderful sea views, great food, comfortable bedrooms and easy access to spectacular coastal walks. It’s a few miles from Cowes, but within easy reach if you have a car.

Distance to Cowes Centre: 15 miles / 30 minute drive

View at Hotels.com

The Chequers Inn

A lovely and highly popular countryside inn with great food, large comfortable rooms and a friendly atmosphere. Super location for exploring the Isle of Wight but a short drive from Cowes so you do need a car.

Distance to Cowes Centre: 9 miles / 20 minute drive

View at Hotels.com

Premium South Coast Hotels within a ferry ride/short drive of Cowes

The Montagu Arms

Charming, historic country house dating back to 1742 located in the pretty village of Beaulieu. Excellent dining, lovley rooms and pretty gardens. Across the water from Cowes but a short drive from the Lymington Ferry.

Distance to Cowes Centre: take the Lymington Ferry then 20 minute drive from Yarmouth to Cowes.

View at Hotels.com

Careys Manor Hotel and Spa

A perfect hotel for those who love spas as much as sailing. This historic gem is located in the pretty village of Brockenhurst, and boasts excellent Thai dining and a world class spa. It’s a 10 minute drive to Lymington to catch the Isle of Wight Ferry.

Distance to Cowes Centre: take the Lymington Ferry then 20 minute drive from Yarmouth to Cowes.

View at hotels.com

Rhinefield House Hotel

A beautiful gothic manor house in the heart of the New Forest with beautiful views and charming rooms. There’s also a small but super spa, and a very good restaurant. It’s a 15 minute drive to Lymington where you can catch the ferry across to the Isle of Wight.

Distance to Cowes Centre: take the Lymington Ferry then 20 minute drive from Yarmouth to Cowes.

View at hotels.com

For more options go to Skyscanner to compare prices and availability in Cowes

The post Looking for hotels near Cowes? A guide to local accommodation appeared first on Yachting World.

Owner Sam Laidlaw has enjoyed considerable success in the very competitive Quarter Tonner class. He gathered an impressive collection of trophies in the eight years he raced his Aguila, including the Quarter Ton Cup twice and the class at Cowes Week on four successive occasions.

When he was looking for his next boat he chose another Quarter Tonner, naturally. But the revived class doesn’t allow newly built boats, and there is now a finite collection of potentially competitive boats since the class’s rebirth in 2005 has seen a committed collection of owners restore many of the best vintage designs.

BLT was the Jacques Fauroux-designed Bullit, winner of the 1980 Quarter Ton Cup in New Zealand. In all just seven Bullits were built, three of which won consecutive Quarter Ton Cups in 1978, 1980 and 1981, and they have become increasingly sought-after.

Going well upwind. Note the pushpit and stanchions in black powder-coated stainless steel. Photo: James Tomlinson

BLT had been living out her retirement in the Pacific before she was rediscovered by Rob Gray, who has sailed with Sam Laidlaw for a couple of decades, including as joint owners of the classic Sparkman & Stephens One Tonner Clarinet.

Having recently sold Clarinet, the pair decided to take on the project together, and shipped BLT back to the UK. She was transported over to the Isle of the Wight under cover of night to be rebuilt in Cowes, and, amazingly the project stayed under the radar until shortly before she was launched for the 2019 Quarter Ton Cup.

There were already four Bullit designs in the Solent fleet, including Julian Metherell’s Bullit and Louise Morton’s Bullet, the latter winner of the 1979 Quarter Ton Cup in San Remo. Another Bullit design, Protis, winner of the 1981 championship, also won the 2019 Cup, in Ian Southworth’s hands.

Article continues below…

Belinda: This refurbished 1980s quarter tonner is a real labour of love

Spending around 1,800 hours and the price of a new boat on revamping a 30-year-old 26ft keelboat might seem extraordinary,…

25ft quarter ton yachts have been having something of a revival racing in the Solent

They’re old, small and decidedly quirky, but quarter tonners are providing some of the hottest handicap racing in the Solent…

Given the potential for confusion with boats called Bullet and Bullit already based in Cowes, the name of the new boat was truncated to BLT. She’s the second or third iteration of the original design, but uniquely has a 2ft extension on the transom. This was added to improve performance in the heavy winds predicted for the New Zealand championship back in 1980.

It’s impossible to get near the top of this fleet unless a boat has been fully updated, so a full refit/rebuild was necessary. Gavin Tappenden at Composite Craft did all the boatbuilding, while Brett Aarons was responsible for deck layout and systems, paintwork, cosmetics, rig and some of the design work. “Basically I’d come up with a concept and then Gavin would draw it and build it,” Aarons says.

Structural changes

The hull was sheathed inside and out with extra layers of epoxy and glass to create a more solid base. However, everything needed to be removed from inside the boat. “There was lots of rotting plywood in there, with some of it not properly attached, so it all came out,” says Aarons. Some of the frames were also replaced and struts added to cater for the slightly different shroud base.

Control line runs below decks are kept as straight as possible, using string and pulley systems. Photo: Rupert Holmes

A big change was running new foam sandwich bunk fronts all the way aft to add a lot of extra longitudinal stiffness. Aarons says this is something learnt from sailing Aguila – the bunk fronts had to be extended in a similar way to prevent the top guard wire going slack when the backstay was heaved on tight. When that happens there’s also risk of little cracks opening up at each end of the keel.

BLT’s original cambered deck and large coachroof needed replacing. The new coachroof is little more than a vestigial blister, which gives a larger cockpit and lots of room for moving around the side decks and foredeck, despite the diminutive size of a Quarter Tonner.

“The new deck was a bit like a trampoline,” says Aarons, “so we put some extra beams in to stiffen it. I wanted an unbreakable structure, whereas Gavin wanted it as light as possible. “He’s right in that it’s better to build it light and then see what you need to reinforce.” In total Aarons reckons close to 10,000 hours was spent on the refit over 13 months.

The revived Quarter Ton Cup (raced under IRC), has been running for 13 years. Photo: Paul Wyeth / Cowes Week

Deck and rig

Since Laidlaw would be racing BLT with the same team as he sailed Aguila, that boat’s deck layout was replicated as far as possible. The thinking was this allowed the crew to focus on boat speed, without worrying about different procedures for manoeuvres.

Beyond that, BLT’s layout prioritises simplicity and minimising friction. Lines are run below deck wherever it makes sense to do so, including to purchase systems, which makes the deck layout look neater. The downside is a lot of string and pulley systems in the already cramped space below decks.

“A lot of boats have lines led all round the boat to a good place [for trimming],” says Aarons, “But I made an effort to lead things direct so there’s no friction. If you wanted to make the interior look really good you could have lines hidden under the bunks, but that would add friction and the reality is no one is going to spend time down there.”

While a lot of boats have controls that are crossed over for operation from the windward rail, BLT has a generally much simpler arrangement, with outhaul, jib sheet barber haulers, pole up/down and the jib tack cunningham all taken to single cleats in the aft face of the coachroof.

The pole up/down and jib in-hauler controls adjust both sides simultaneously, so after a tack you will be sailing with exactly the same settings as before. This looks like a very neat system, but it’s no surprise Aarons says it was time-consuming to set up.

Keel and rudder

All the competitive Quarter Tonners have replacement keels and rudders, with the former noticeably heavier than the original keels.

BLT has a new rudder built by Composite Craft, and the Mark Mills-designed keel that was created for the Quarter Ton class revival and became a default choice among many owners refitting boats.

Some of the newly revived Quarter Tonners have since opted instead for a later keel design, but Aarons felt it wasn’t going to be right for the beamier BLT. “These boats are so wide I didn’t feel we needed that much righting moment,” he explains.

“Even then, at the Quarter Ton Cup we felt very upright and struggled to heel the boat, so we cut some lead off the bottom of the keel. That was much better.”

In her first season BLT was third at the Quarter Ton Cup, when she was fresh out of the sheds at Medina Yard. She followed that with an overall class win with a day to spare in a very windy Cowes Week. With Laidlaw’s team now having had a season in the boat, and with a few teething problems being fixed this winter, the prospects for BLT for the 2020 season look very strong.

Specification

LOA: 8.48m (27ft 10in)
LWL: 5.98m (19ft 7in)
Beam: 2.83m (9ft 4in)
Draught: 1.6m (5ft 3in)
Displacement: 1,404kg (3,090lb)
Built: 1979/80
Design: Jacques Fauroux

First published in the April 2020 edition of Yachting World.

The post BLT: The inside story of the Quarter Ton Cup winner’s 10,000-hour refit appeared first on Yachting World.

The JPK 10.80 really caught the attention of the offshore racing fraternity when Géry Trentesaux’s Courrier du Leon won last year’s Rolex Fastnet Race and the entire RORC series overall. Although configured for offshore racing with a small crew, Trentesaux’s boat also turned heads on the inshore scene, particularly in the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Bicentenary Regatta.

“We were competing against Géry in the previous Yes! and were surprised at how well it went, even in light airs,” says Yes! boat captain and crew boss James ‘Heinzy’ Hynes. “But what really turned us on about the boat was a tight reach one day when it sailed through our lee. Their mainsheet trimmer was smoking a pipe, yet they gained half a mile on us, even though their rating was 25 points lower.”

After three years with the previous Yes!, a much updated 1996 Corby 36 which had won Black Group at Cowes Week the previous three years in a row, it was time for a change. “John Corby did incredibly well bringing the boat up to modern standards and we campaigned it very successfully,” says her owner and skipper, Adam Gosling. “But you’ve got to re-challenge yourself.”

Adam Gosling has won his class at Cowes Week for 7 of the past 8 years. The JPK 10.80 is his 13th Yes!

“We wanted to see if the 10.80 could be adapted for inshore racing with a crew of nine,” Hynes continues. “So, four of us, including Sid [David Howlett, Ben Ainslie’s coach in the Finn class, with whom Gosling won the 1996 Etchells worlds] went to the JPK factory in Brittany.”

In particular they wanted to retain the same deck layout as the previous Yes!. That way the team could focus immediately on making the new boat sail fast, rather than relearning manoeuvres.

Yes! is the first JPK 10.80 to be configured solely for inshore racing. No single change is large – all mouldings, the keel and the rudders are identical – but the aggregate gain for Gosling’s team on an inshore course is significant.

“We look for lots of small gains that will add up, not a single big gain that might be a risk,” says Hynes. In addition, he says Gosling maintains an intensity and awareness level that’s well above what an average sailor would consider to be 100 per cent. Jean Pierre Kelbert, founder of JPK Composites, has raced on board and described it as the best sailed boat he has been on.

Main changes

The two biggest changes are winches to control the mainsheet, replicating the system on the previous Yes!, and a keel-stepped mast. This sits on a jack that enables rig tension to be quickly changed simply by placing shims of different thicknesses under the heel of the spar.

With the arguable exception of the mast jack, Yes! is a tweaked production boat, as distinct from a grand prix vessel. However, they also opted for high-end electronics, with a B&G H5000 system fitted by Diverse Yacht Services. This has sensors for heel, fore-and-aft trim and forestay load, with the output logged alongside other performance data. This information has helped identify optimum heel angles across a range of conditions, which has been an important part of getting the new boat up to speed quickly.

Important tweaks

Other changes are predominately tweaks to enable the boat to be sailed more efficiently. For instance, spinnakers are always hatch-hoisted from the forepeak, even on the first downwind leg. A central leecloth in the bunk enables two kites to be stowed there, so both a symmetric and an asymmetric are always ready for action.

The transverse jib sheet track is mounted above the deck, allowing the line that controls the fore-and-aft position of the clew to pass in a straight line underneath it. An extra block doubles the purchase compared to the standard system. There’s no specific line to control the traveller car – releasing the inhauler will allow the car to drop to an outboard sheeting position.

The standard 10.80 deck layout has floating blocks attached to a deck ring, with lines turning through deck organisers as they are led aft. This was changed so that clutches are aligned with their respective lines, rather than the boat’s fore-and-aft line, which obviates the need for the organisers, thus saving weight and reducing friction.

Everything on the boat is calibrated. Every halyard, sheet, tweaker and inhauler is marked with whipping. Even the track for the inboard end of the pole is clearly labelled so it can be raised to exactly the right point in minimal time.

The approach to setting up has clearly paid off. This year – the boat’s first season – Gosling again won Class 5, Black Group overall, and the trophy for the entire regatta at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. Similarly, he took 1st overall in his class at the IRC Nationals and was 16th monohull to finish the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, beating many much higher rated boats and winning Class 1 both on the water and on corrected time by an impressive margin.

“It doesn’t talk to you as much on the helm as a single-rudder boat, but the plus point is that, on a reach, it’s a joy” Adam Gosling

JPK 10.80 Specifications

LOA: 10.80m (35ft 5in)

LWL: 9.40m (30ft 10in)

Beam: 3.65m (12ft 0in)

Draught: 2.20m (7ft 3in)

Displacement: 4,800kg (10,584lb)

Ballast: 1,900kg (4,190lb)

www.jpk.fr

Every crew member has a specific slot in which their kit is stowed and can be found immediately.

The keel-stepped mast has a jack underneath allowing shims to be inserted or removed to change rig tension.

The leecloth in the forepeak allows both a symmetric and an asymmetric spinnaker to be ready for action.

The transverse jib-sheet track enables the clew of the sail to be positioned in three dimensions with ease.

To reduce friction and weight, clutches are aligned with their respective ropes, not the line of the boat.

The revised mainsheet arrangement, with the sheet taken to a winch on each side of the cockpit.

Hynes believes few teams put enough effort into underwater preparation of their hulls. Yes! gleams top and bottom.

Calibration marks on the track for the inboard end of the spinnaker pole.

The post How JPK 10.80 <em>Yes!</em> was modified for inshore racing and won at Cowes Week appeared first on Yachting World.

In a sport in which determination is in decent supply, Paralympic sailor Hannah Stodel stands out. The 30-year-old sailor has spent the last 16 years striving for an Olympic medal over three Games. Yesterday she was given a top award at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, the Ladies Day Trophy, in recognition for her leading role in sailing.

The trophy recognises the growing importance of women in sailing. Some 40 per cent of competitors in Cowes Week are women, and this year 78 of the almost 800 helmsmen in the regatta were female.

Stodel, who campaigns a Sonar with crew John Robertson and Stephen Thomas, was born without a lower right arm. But she began her sailing career campaigning as a teenager in Mirror dinghies, competing on equal terms. Today, she not only races in Paralympic events, but coaches too, including the Blind Sailing GBR team and all-women racing team The Sirens, for whom she acts as tactician and bowman.

Taking the Ladies Day Trophy yesterday from previous winner Libby Greenhalgh, navigator on Volvo Ocean Race Team SCA, Stodel said: “To win is just amazing. It couldn’t have come at a better time in the run up to Rio. It is such a confidence booster, and it has certainly made my Cowes Week.”

Stodel and her team mates go into Rio with a score to settle. They are determined to gain a medal, having missed out in 2012. Then, the team’s performance in the final two races of the regatta lifted them from seventh to third overall, but they dropped down after a penalty received when their bosun – double Olympic 49er medallist Simon Hiscocks – failed to heed repeated warnings from the measurer to stop wiping down their keel after completing some repairs.

The discretionary four point penalty could not be reversed despite several attempts to reopen the protest and the heartbroken British crew tumbled from bronze medal position to fifth.

The Rio Paralympics will be their last chance, as sailing has been dropped from the Paralympic Games in 2020.

But Stodel has plans after Rio that will take her into a different area. Next, she says, she is going to concentrate on offshore sailing, probably single-handed. In the interview below, she explains more about this – and you can get a measure of what it is that makes her so remarkable.

At the ceremony for Ladies Day two other noted women sailors were recognised: Mary Rook, former 49erFX and Nacra national champion, coach with Oman Sail and alumnus of the Artemis Offshore Academy, with which she became the second British woman in the modern era of the race to compete in the Solitaire Bompard Le Figaro after 2009 Ladies Day trophy winner Sam Davies.

Also recognised was Julia Bailey, one of the world’s leading Dragon sailors over many years, a renowned amateur sailor and last year the first ever female winner of the Dragon Edinburgh Cup.

It was noted that she almost always sails four-up in the Dragon, with one of her crew a young sailor. Last year’s Cowes Week young skipper winner, Will Heritage, learned much of his skill from sailing in major championships, including the Edinburgh Cup, with Julia Bailey.

The post Paralympic sailor Hannah Stodel awarded top Cowes Week Trophy appeared first on Yachting World.

Starting at the wrong end of the Squadron line

Get it wrong and you will spend all day in last place with no hope of winning. The core issue is time. You have to make your decision, then motor before your preparatory signal (engine off at the gun) to the desired end. Remember, it can take five minutes to get from the middle of the line to one end.

Getting out early to the start is essential. And watch the starts before yours so you can gauge the decisions they have made.

Pre-start routine checklist:

• Identify both ends of the line.
• Motor or sail directly along the line to help the bowman and helmsman to draw a mental line on the water.
• After your normal pre-start procedures, wait around the middle of the line – this will allow you to switch ends if there is a major change to the conditions and won’t reveal your plans to your competitors.
• Don’t rely solely on the sound signals if starting from the outer end of the line – sound takes seven seconds to reach West Bramble from the RYS cannons.

(These four were compiled with the help of Cowes Combined Clubs and all relate to rules issues. Make sure you brush up on the rules, but take particular note of these.)

• Switch your VHF radio to the correct channel early to be sure of catching the time-check announcement.
• As soon as the course is announced, you will know if you are starting at the north or south end of the line. Use the engine if necessary to get to your chosen end.

There’s a greater area of tidal relief on the north shore, compared with the fast-running streams off Cowes. Extract from Winning Knowledge. (Please note that the names of racing marks frequently change.)

Sailing the wrong course

As the Cowes Week courses tend to be quite complicated it is vitally important to note the correct course. The courses get texted to a registered mobile phone so there are no excuses for mistakes –although they do happen!

Some crews swear by having a second pair of eyes check over the planned route to ensure the course is being followed to a ‘T’.  It’s also important to know the signals that indicate a shortened course for your class – it’s surprising the number of boats continue ‘racing’ after they have been finished at an earlier mark.

Running aground

Tidal curves are essential and can be found free on www.easytide.co.uk. These will help with calculating the rise over chart datum. Knowing when to push your luck is essential.

Isle of Wight shores are rocky so they’re not the place to be yachting with 0.5m under the keel, while the mainland is sand or shingle so has a flatter, more consistent profile. Falling tides are also a bad time to push your luck, as you could be there for hours.

See our 5 tips on going aground and how to get off again

Staying in the tide for 30 seconds too long

You really should be hard-nosed when cheating the tide. Sailing into the tide for even a few metres is bound to cost you dearly. It’s important to make the inshore route yours – it may be hard work, but those who grow tired of repeated tacking will make big losses. Rather than duck a competitor, putting you into tide, consider tacking, then calling for water.

Disobeying the sailing instructions

Cowes Week has quite a few navigation restrictions. Those most commonly broken include Black Group boats sailing south of Snowdon and the SM. Make sure you mark up a chart to place in the cockpit as a reminder. Also, after your start, don’t pass between Alpha or Beta and Royal Yachting Squadron (RYS) flagstaff unless it’s your last leg to finish.

Making a downtide leeward mark rounding

Very common and so expensive on elapsed time. A wide mark rounding loses a huge distance over the ground due to the tide. A boat that goes round behind you perfectly will be three lengths ahead and, just to make things worse, they now block you from tacking. Drop your kite early and focus on your rounding – wide in, tight out.

See our 5 tips on leeward mark rounding

Failing to give water at a mark

With numerous marks and multiple headlands, at some point everyone will have to face rule 18.2 when racing in the Solent. A common mistake comes with the difficulty in judging the overlap from two fleets approaching the same mark from different angles, or a large fleet stacking up trying to round a mark.

The standard rule of thumb is for Brown to head for the back of the third boat from the mark; in this way, she is on the right side of the rules. Brown almost has an overlap on Red, but she shouldn’t really push it because part of Rule 18(e) states: ‘If there is reasonable doubt that a boat obtained or broke an overlap in time, it shall be presumed that she did not.’

There is a very important difference, though, when it’s land or a large container ship that you are calling for water on. Rule 18.5 reads: ‘While boats are passing a continuing obstruction, Rules 18.2(b) and 18.2(c) do not apply. A boat clear astern that obtains an inside overlap is entitled to room to pass between the other boat and the obstruction only if, at the moment the overlap begins, there is room to do so. If there is not, she is not entitled to room and shall keep clear.’

Failing to avoid contact

Rule 14 ‘A boat shall avoid contact with another boat if reasonably possible.’ Yacht racing is not a contact sport. But, if you keep clear too early, your protest will not stick. Overall, it’s best to sail around the infringer and get on with your race. Avoid contact at all costs to stay out of the protest room, where your chances of success are only likely to be fifty-fifty.

See our 5 tips on taking a penalty

Not being aware of shipping

This tip is two-fold, there are the strategic reasons for keeping an eye on shipping, it gives you higher chance of rectifying your route without altering your time in a big way. The second reason should be obvious. Remember the incident with the tanker in 2011?

Not keeping clear when the windward boat

Rule 11 ‘When boats are on the same tack and overlapped, a windward boat shall keep clear of a leeward boat.’ If you are a small boat, don’t luff a larger faster boat. Encourage them to move through you as quickly as possible. It’s a battle you simply cannot win, from an elapsed time point of view. In fact, your best route is to sail deep and even ask them to sail high.

For an even greater understanding of this rule, you have to read Rule 16.1, which states: ‘When a right-of-way boat changes course, she shall give the other boat room to keep clear.’

You can’t simply turn your boat into another without giving them time to avoid you. However, the windward boat be aware: you must keep clear even if the leeward boat doesn’t have rights (you can argue that later). But rights or no, as windward boat you MUST make all efforts to keep clear.

Not giving way

Rule 10: It sounds quite simple – ‘port gives way to starboard’ – but, of course, each boat certainly has its own perspective on the situation, placing Rule 10 at No 1 as most common error at Cowes Week. Make sure you know the RULES!

Forgetting to declare

A busy day on the water, tiredness, hunger and the smell of beer all make it easy to forget to sign off. It’s not so difficult now that you can do it online or by text, but give yourself a reminder.

Failing to pace yourself

Following on from failure to declare, failing to pace yourself can have disastrous consequences in the final push. Keep the crew hydrated and ensure they have sufficient energy levels to keep up the momentum right through the finish line.

Giving up too early

The nature of Cowes Week racing means there’s always to potential to gain places, right up to the finish line – indeed many races are decided in the final mile. This means there’s no point in getting despondent and resigning yourself to a lacklustre result; if you keep pushing right to the end there may be several good opportunities to recover places. However, don’t be tempted to take a big risk for a marginal gain. If you wait for the right opportunity, the chances are you will get one.

This advice also applies when you’re at the head of the fleet – there are plenty of cases where the leading boat has become complacent, or her crew has become tired and therefore let other boats through just before the finish.

The post Common Cowes Week mistakes – and how to avoid them appeared first on Yachting World.

The investment management group’s support officially came to an end after the 2015 event, but with just three months to go until this year’s regatta, it was announced that they were stepping back in as title sponsor. The event is currently on the hunt for a new backer for 2017 onwards.

Regatta Director Phil Hagen, who took over the reins from Stuart Quarrie when he retired last autumn, said that whilst they had “had some positive conversations” in their search for a sponsor for 2016 onwards, organisers had not found a backer that gave them the longevity and brand fit they were hoping for.

“We have had some opportunities that came forward over recent months, but not really of the solid shape that we want to take the event forward where it needs to be. We really decided that it was important to focus on some of the prospects that we’ve got that are much more interesting, and it is taking longer to bring really good sponsors in than it used to.

“We are looking for somebody that’s going to look long term at the event. I think five years is a nice term to have for any sponsor because they build up the benefit of the brand awareness by keeping it going for that length of time.”

Aberdeen Asset Management originally signed up for a three year deal for the 2011-2013 regattas, which was then extended by a further two years to cover 2014 and 2015. Hagen sees this year’s further extension of support as a positive sign, commenting: “Aberdeen were under no obligation whatsoever to come back and support this year. And that’s quite powerful for any future sponsor.

“That shows you the relationship has been a very strong and positive relationship for both parties, particularly commercially for Aberdeen in what has been a terribly difficult time for them.” The week after the plans to back Cowes Week were revealed, the investment group announced a fall in pre-tax profits of 47%, from £185m to £99m in the first half of the financial year, which was put down to instability in emerging markets. Shares in the Plc fell by 7% in response to the results.

Before Aberdeen Asset Management signed up, the Cowes event was held for two years without a title sponsor, following the hugely successful Skandia partnership which ran for 14 years, an almost unprecedented length of time for a sports sponsorship.

Hagen refused to speculate on how long Cowes Week could continue without a title sponsor. While this year’s additional funding will make things more comfortable, he confirmed that 2016 event was never under threat. “Although it’s a supporting package from Aberdeen, and not to the extent that we’ve had in the past, it is going to enable us to provide competitors with the level of experience they expect from Cowes Week both on the water and on shoreside as well.”

This year marks 190 years since the first ever Cowes Week regatta, with racing taking place from 6-13 August across 40 different yacht and keelboat classes. Early bird entry runs until 31 May, enter online at aamcowesweek.co.uk

The iconic Royal Yacht Squadron start line at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week ©Rick Tomlinson

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The Medina Village site where the Cowes fire occurred comprises several industrial units off Bridge Road. The main unit affected, originally a machine shop, was used for boat storage by David Heritage Yacht Racing.

The fire, which the fire service confirmed was accidental, is believed to have broken out in a car workshop attached to the end of this building and spread rapidly through the large open building where the majority of boats lost were stored, before engulfing Moreton Marine and the two classic yacht restorations in that area.

Thick black smoke engulfs much of Cowes as firefighters try to stem the blaze at Moreton Marine and David Heritage Racing Yachts. Picture by Rick Tomlinson

“Our shed is totally gone,” Patrick Moreton of Moreton Marine confirmed. The loss of his seven-year restoration project that was nearing completion, the 58ft Mylne ketch Fedoa of Bute, is gut wrenching (seen ablaze in the opening picture). Six boatbuilders had been working on her full time. Also in his yard was the 1902 built 36ft cutter Witch, which was undergoing a longterm restoration by Martin Nott. A Dunkirk Little Ship was also destroyed in the fire.

“We lost 32 boats under our umbrella,” said Sarah Ross from David Heritage Racing Yachts. These include 17 Etchells (over half of the Cowes fleet), five Dragons, five X One-Designs, a Quarter Tonner and a vintage steam launch. “I think it is the worst single disaster to affect so many classic boats in one event,” said XOD class captain Mike Till.

“Everything in the storage unit was a total loss,” Ross confirmed. There was enough space between the storage unit and David Heritage’s workshop to create a firebreak, but the buildings affected by the Cowes fire are now a “demolition site”.

“It was a very sad day for Cowes and for yacht racing,” said Ross, “but it could have been worse – everyone got out safely.”

CONFIRMED LOSSES

Fedoa of Bute

One of the last pictures of Fedoa of Bute, showing her immaculate restoration before she was destroyed by the Cowes fire

A 58ft 6in Alfred Mylne ketch, built in 1927 by Bute Slip Co in Port Bannatyne. Heartbreakingly, she was in the final stages of a seven-year complete restoration by Patrick Moreton at his yard, Moreton Marine.

The extent of Fedoa’s restoration was incredible and nearing completion

“I bought the boat in 2009 and sold it as an ongoing project in 2013,” Moreton said. Full details of her rebuild can be found at fedoa blogspot

Witch
The 1902 Charles Sibbick 36ft cutter Witch was undergoing an extensive restoration by Martin Nott at Moreton Marine. Nott owned her for nine years. “I became a boatbuilder when I didn’t know how to fix her,” Nott said.

Witch pictured the day before the Cowes fire – “I had just been splining the topsides,” said Martin Nott

The restoration began in Emsworth before he moved her to Cowes in 2012 – and to within 100m of where she was built in 1902. Nott found scant documentation on her designer and builder Charles Sibbick, so compiled a list of designs on his website.

“We were probably six months away from having the deck and last few planks done. All it needed was spars, sails and an engine. That was the disappointing thing – we were so close. As I keep saying, I feel sorry for the boat, after 114 years.”

The extensive documentation of her rebuild is HERE

Kariat

Kariat pictured off Cowes by Beken in 2011

A 34.98ft (10.67m) compound steam engine launch built in 1897 by Liquid Fuel Engineering Company in Cowes. Kariat was brought back to Cowes in 2003 by current owner John Power and selected for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012.

Vere

Vere was built in 1905 as an admiral’s steam pinnace. The Association of Dunkirk Little Ships reports that in May 1940 Vere made several trips to Dunkirk and is ‘credited with the rescue of 346 British and Allied troops.’ Her present owner Ian Campbell ‘had spent £80,000 trying to bring the boat back to its former glory,’ the BBC reported.

She was one of the historic vessels featured in the ‘WW1: Britain’s Surviving Vessels’ ­– managed by National Historic Ships UK. More details HERE

Rapier K2389

The classic Pedersen & Thuesen Dragon Rapier in her final resting place before the Cowes fire

This 1956 Pedersen & Thuesen Dragon launched as Scimitar. Her current owner, seasoned Dragon sailor Martin Payne, told me how he had spent £40,000 on Rapier’s two year long refit so far.

“Every single deck beam had been removed, cleaned, re-glued and epoxied before replacing. She would have been worth £100,000.” The keel was re-done, the floors all taken out, bulkheads replaced and all deck beams removed. She was fully sheathed and just needed the deck replacing and fitting out.

“They’re unique,” said Payne. “Rapier won Cowes in 1957 the year after she was built. I was just looking forward to racing her on the circuit.”

X One-Designs

X52 Anitra, one of five classic XODs lost in the Cowes fire, in a classic Cowes Week scene – by Hamo Thornycroft

X52 Anitra

Built in 1935 by Woodnutts Boatyard on the Isle of Wight – the original MD of which was the XOD designer Alfred Westmacott. Twice winner of Cowes Week Captain’s Cup, Anitra was latterly owned by Paul Kelsey, vice captain of the Cowes fleet.

“The feeling of the owners is that we are mere custodians of these beautiful old boats, in order to pass them on to future owners,” said Kelsey. “To lose so many is tragic.”

X75 Delight

Build in 1938 by Woodnutts and regarded as an example of this yard’s work at its best. “She was a beautiful boat, completely restored and immaculate,” said owner and XOD class captain Mike Tell. “It’s a terrible loss for me and the fleet.”

X81 Sapphire

Built in 1946 by Woodnuts and owned by ex Yachting Monthly member Jeremy Field.

X99 Xin Bai

Built in the early 1950s at Hamper, she belonged to Andrew Cooper since 2009, who’s mother Mary had also previously owned her. Xin Bai means China White – the name of Cooper’s Etchells also lost in the fire.

X108 Leading Wind

Built in 1955, she had an excellent racing record, including back-to-back Cowes Week victories in 1959 and 1960. Last owned by Hamble fleet member Hamish Calder.

Also lost in the Cowes fire 2016

Quarter-Tonner Espada

This iconic Quarter-Tonner, designed by Bruce Farr and built by Geoff Hunt in 1980, may be considered a classic. Class founder Peter ‘Morty’ Morton bought her in 2005, and under he and his wife Louise, Espada had many victories including three Quarter Ton Cups. The class association reports that she was sold to Julian Metherall in February 2015.

17 Etchells

The Cowes Week Etchells fleet led by Exabyte V – by Rick Tomlinson

Seventeen boats were lost, three of which were inactive (Fetching, Wild Thing and Pale Tide). Four boats were less than two years old (Time&Tide, Swedish Blue, Exabyte, and Betsy). The remaining 10 were Escape, China White, Elvis, Matatu Dubh, Ray of Light, Esprit, Efreya, Tango, Matatu and High Tide.

“All the active boat owners have replaced their boats,” said Cowes Etchells Fleet Captain David Franks. “The insurance companies have been paying promptly on a total loss basis.”

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Many of us dream of one day swapping the discomforts of a performance boat for the more sedate experience of racing an exquisite and well-sorted classic boat. This was just the position Stephen Card, a former Melges 24 and Mumm 30 owner, was in when he happened to be in Dundee and saw Misty on the quay where she had languished for the previous decade.

“Initially I noticed she had beautiful underwater lines,” says Card. “I didn’t know who her owner was, so I put a business card with a note on her rudder and got a call back three months later.” In the meantime, Card had been researching Misty’s history, discovering David Cheverton designed her in 1962 and that she was built in Cowes by Clare Lallow for Franklin Ratsey Woodroffe of renowned local sailmaker Ratsey and Lapthorn.

However, of more interest to Card was her racing pedigree, which turned out to be very interesting. Misty had been designed as an updated – and hopefully faster – version of one of Cheverton’s most successful designs, Danegeld. Launched in 1958, this was a boat that achieved 21 podium results, including 15 wins, in just 22 races during her first full season.

At 37ft, with a 25ft static waterline length, Misty was slightly larger in terms of LOA and therefore also heavier than Danegeld. Nevertheless, Cheverton firmly believed Misty would be faster than the older boat under the RORC rating rule that was used for offshore racing at the time.

Perhaps surprisingly, Misty was not extensively campaigned in her youth – she was used more frequently as a demonstrator for her owner’s business. However, she certainly showed good promise in the races she did enter, with results including 16th and 25th in the 1963 and 1965 Fastnet Races, along with a string of 2nd, 3rd and 4th places in her class in the Round the Island Race from 1962-66.

Although there were no sisterships to Misty, Cheverton also designed another yacht with very similar lines, but this was a significantly larger 55-footer called Chevalier, which is possibly the last yacht he designed before focusing his attention on workboats.

Remodelling Misty’s rig

Misty’s original mast – one of the earliest aluminium spars and fabricated from rolled metal – had been condemned. This offered an opportunity to investigate the possibility of optimising the new rig for IRC racing. Card has been careful to retain, and even enhance, the boat’s classic lines as much as possible, but he felt that the fact that she originally had an aluminium mast give more scope to update the rig, while remaining faithful to her original appearance.

“Had the original been a wooden spar, we might have looked for a different solution,” says Card, “but given that it was an alloy mast, there was no need to preserve a more traditional style with a wooden mast.”

The mainsheet traveller runs across the transom and the 2:1 purchase sheet is taken to winches

Having discovered the racing side of Misty’s heritage, Card turned to Allen Clarke of the famed Owen Clarke design partnership, to optimise Misty’s rig for IRC racing. ”Although their work is mainly in contemporary grand-prix yachts, I knew Allen also has an enthusiasm for classic boats,” Card explains.

It soon became clear that the rig, as originally drawn, was much too short by today’s standards, especially for the boat’s eight-tonne displacement, so before any conclusions could be drawn, more data about the boat’s hull shape, stability and weight distribution was needed.

Card had been lucky to get hold of David Cheverton’s original plans, thanks to a former employee who rescued them from a skip when the company moved out of the yacht market. Unfortunately, these didn’t provide enough detail and there was no guarantee the builders had made an exact representation of the plans at full size.

Exact hull shape

However, one of Card’s businesses is in precision laser scanning of large objects. Marcus Evans, a former boat-builder, took the equipment to Scotland, where he scanned Misty’s hull and deck. From that data he was able to create a CAD surface model accurate to within two millimetres.

This enabled the exact hull shape, ballast weight and location and so on to be input into Owen Clarke’s velocity prediction software. Card says this was an important part of the story. Evans adds: “Both sides were very symmetrical.”

The only planking that needed to be replaced was near the chainplates, which had been leaking

Historical weather data for various target events and venues was analysed to establish performance predictions. Initially Owen Clarke developed both masthead and fractional rigs, submitting trial IRC certificates for both. After cross-referencing the corrected time and predicted performance for a range of conditions, the designers ended up developing a fractional rig that optimised both the IRC rating and the predicted performance around the racecourse.

As it turns out, structural considerations became one of the main limiting factors on rig size. Unlike most traditionally built carvel wooden yachts, the gap between Misty’s planks had originally been splined and glued rather than caulked, in much the same way as the XOD fleet today.

While this produces a much stiffer structure, it was nevertheless determined that the key limitation on the size of the rig would be the stiffness of the structure, which put an effective limit on the size of the sail plan.

The result is a rig with a mast height 15.4m (50ft 6in) above the waterline. This is 2.4m (8ft) taller than the original and 1.3m taller than a revised rig that David Cheverton drew for the boat in 1964, which was never fitted. The new spar is also a more modern design than the original, significantly lighter and with two pairs of swept-back spreaders.

A change from wheel to tiller steering was more in keeping with the boat’s style

Misty’s IRC rating is just 0.874, little more than 20 points above that of Danegeld, despite her greater LOA and significantly bigger rig. Card believes she has the potential to be in the top four in her class in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race. Given a breezy day, with lots of close reaching legs, in which Misty’s long waterline length relative to her rating would be a big bonus, he could be right.

A full restoration

However, before Misty could sail there was also the matter of a full restoration. The work was done to a very high standard by Adam Way’s yard in Lochgilphead in Scotland.

Many important parts of the structure had suffered significant degradation, although elements of the boat were still in sound condition, including ribs, stringers, a few deck beams and most of the planking. Each of the three original chainplates on each side had been leaking, so the planking in that area was badly damaged and had to be replaced.

Similarly, the original teak deck could not be saved and was replaced with 13mm teak over ply. New deck beams were laminated from mahogany, although those for the side decks were retained. In addition, the transom had suffered over the decades from inadequate ventilation and as a result had extensive rot and needed to be replaced.

A new interior to a higher standard than the original

Perhaps surprisingly, Misty’s original interior was not of a particularly high quality. The rebuild therefore included a new interior, which broadly follows the simple and pragmatic traditional layout of the original, but is of higher quality and offers a significantly better level of comfort within the limited hull volume available.

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One name dominated ocean racing in the late 1970s and early 80s: Dutch round the world racer Cornelis van Riestchoten, who owned two yachts named Flyer. This great sailor died in December 2013, but a group of Dutch enthusiasts have restored the first of his yachts and rechristened her at his memorial service at the Royal Maas Yacht Club in Rotterdam in September before sailing her to Alicante to take pride of place in the spectator fleet of the Volvo Ocean Race.

Inspired by stories from the first Whitbread Round the World Race in 1973/4, Conny, as he was called, had retired from day-to-day business and, at the age of 45, was looking for new challenges. Fiercely competitive – he was a scratch amateur golfer and a crack shot – he decided to take on the world’s greatest yachting challenge. He entered the 1977/8 Whitbread despite not having sailed competitively since racing his yacht Maze in the 1957 Fastnet Race.

His first step in planning his Whitbread campaign was to call on Sparkman & Stephens to produce a successor to their Swan 65 Sayula II, winner of the first Whitbread Race.

Flyer was a great improvement on the earlier S&S-designed Swan 65. Some 2ft 9in longer on the waterline and 1 ton lighter, she carried more sail area, yet rated exactly the same canvas as King’s Legend, her sloop- rigged Swan 65 rival in the 1977/8 race.

Van Riestchoten picked an international team and set out on an intensive programme to test boat and crew during two Atlantic crossings and a Fastnet Race. No other competitor did anything like this amount of preparation and, in retrospect, it showed from the start.

Flyer won the first leg, not only on handicap, but overall. Great Britain II, the 77-footer in which Chay Blyth had won line honours in the previous Whitbread, was 3rd. Van Rietschoten’s crew went on to enjoy a tremendous match race against Skip Novak and his crew on King’s Legend on the next leg to Auckland, but then extended their lead on the third leg to Rio de Janiero,and had only to cover King’s Legend on the final stage back to Portsmouth to secure overall honours by a 59-hour margin.

Though prone to rolling downwind, like most IOR designs from this era, Flyer has great directional stability, as demonstrated when returning through the Solent to Portsmouth at the end of the 1977/8 race running before a Force 10 gale with all sail set. Her gunwales were awash, but she never came close to broaching. Photo: PPL

The yacht, renamed Flying Wilma, went on under Gerard Dykstra’s leadership, to win line and handicap honours in the Nedlloyd Spice Race from Jakarta to Rotterdam, and was then bought by Neil Bergt, the head of Alaska Airlines to race under the Alaska Eagle name in the 1981/2 Whitbread.

Bergt called on Dykstra for advice to improve the design, but instead of adding 2ft to the height of the mizzen mast, as he prescribed, went for a much more expensive option put forward by Bill Langhan, then head of S&S. This involved changing her rig from ketch to sloop, remodelling her stern and removing the doghouse.

Quite why cutting sail area and increasing both wetted area and rating did not ring alarm bells is unclear, but the modifications hammered her performance and she finished well down the order on the first leg. Bergt left the crew to their own devices for the rest of the race, then donated the boat to Orange Coast College, California, where she has been sailing 10,000 miles a year training students for the past 30 years.

Enter Diedreick Nolten, a successful Volvo truck dealer from the Netherlands, and Gerard Schoostra, who has been skippering Flyer’s old rival King’s Legend in the Caribbean. Nolten was just 11 when Van Rietschoten returned to a hero’s welcome at the Royal Maas Yacht Club in 1978, an event that remained etched on his memory. The pair got talking about where the Flyer yachts are now.

It didn’t take long to find Alaska Eagle. She had been listed in brokerage ads for the previous six months without a nibble. The pair flew over to San Francisco, gave the yacht the once over and decided to bring her back to the Netherlands to be restored for posterity by Royal Huisman Shipyard.

Restored to her ketch rig

Once back in the Netherlands, the yacht, still in Alaska Eagle guise, took pride of place at last year’s HISWA Boat Show where 1,000 visitors visited her each day. That cemented the project in sailors’ minds and support began to roll in. Work began in March 2014 to shot-blast the hull and deck, restore her doghouse and change her back to a ketch. That required two Sparcraft masts and a new North sail wardrobe. Winches were overhauled, and blocks and running rigging replaced. Everything came together in time for her relaunch on 21 August.

By comparison with today’s stripped out Volvo racers, Flyer is very comfortable, with enclosed cabins for the crew. Four crew hot-bunked from each cabin and there were exclusive cabins for skipper and navigator on opposite sides of a central walkway near the aft companionway. The large galley had a 400lt deep freeze with plenty of stowage to feed a crew of 12 for six weeks at a time, and there was an open plan saloon opposite.

Looking forward down the main walkway through the yacht towards the main mast and the fo’c’s’le with crew cabins on either side. Four crew hotbunked from each cabin. Photo: PPL

Her spacious navigation station remains very much the same as it was originally with the exception of the addition of updated B&G equipment and a chartplotter. Photo: PPL

The forecabin and foc’s’le are devoted to sail stowage, but also have four cot berths for use when in port.

Flyer has a large engine room, part of which is devoted to dry oilskins and clothing during a voyage with heat from the engine backed up by a Webasto diesel heater. There is an enclosed heads next to the engine, but Flyer’s crew were ‘encouraged’ to perform their natural functions while standing or crouching on the triangular bumpkin mounted on the transom.

Mizzen rigs are now a thing of the past on racing yachts, but back in the days of racing under IOR, twin-masted boats gained a significant benefit from ‘untaxed’ sail area. This came into play whenever the wind was abaft the beam and a mizzen staysail or mizzen spinnaker could be set. The rig also gave assurance to van Rietschoten as if one mast broke, there was a second to sail home under and from which to build a jury rig.

In Alaska Eagle guise showing the forward cockpit and winch arrangement. At that time she was a sloop, and her performance suffered. Photo: PPL

The yacht today after her full restoration. Her layout is a reminder of just how small cockpits were in the early days of the Whitbread race. Photo: PPL

Her alloy dodger protecting the stern cockpit (lost during her Alaska Eagle conversion) afforded great protection in the Southern Ocean and was so popular that van Rietschoten was forced to issue an edict, “No dodger dwellers!” for those on watch.

Her central cockpit housing the main coffee grinders and where main mast control lines are led, had only a wave breaker around the forward end to give protection during the 1977/8 Whitbread race. Alaska Eagle fitted a fold-down canvas sprayhood for the 1981/2 race and this has been retained during the recent restoration.

At the beginning of September 2014 she was fittingly used to scatter Conny van Rietschoten’s ashes, as he had asked, over the North Sea waters he so loved.

The yacht is now managed by a charity called the Foundation for the Preservation of Flyer, formed by Nolten, Schoostra and others. It aims to inspire young people and provide opportunities for those with terminal cancer to go sailing, while also preserving the yacht for the next generation.

Specifications

LOA 19.86m/65ft 2in

LWL 15.16m/49ft 9in

Displacement 26.6 tons

Designed by Sparkman & Stephens

Built by Royal Huisman Shipyard

Results

1st 1977 Transatlantic Race

Handicap honours in the 1977/8 Whitbread Race

1st Nedlloyd Spice Race

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Falmouth is gearing up for the return of the Classics Regatta this summer, which will coincide with the ever-popular Sea Shanty Festival. Racing will take place between Friday 12^th and Sunday 14^th June 2015, and with such a mixed fleet descending onto the Carrick roads, is expected to be an exciting and competitive event.

Classic yachts from across the UK and the Mediterranean are expected to participate, with 100 year-old boats sailing alongside modern replicas. Last year saw an eclectic race fleet of Pilot Cutters, Luggers, Falmouth Working Boats, Bermudan’s and One Designs.

Some of the participants sailing past  Trefusis Point

The highlight of the regatta will be the Parade of Sail, taking place on the Saturday. An array of classic designs will sail out of the inner harbour, creating a maganificent and unusual sight. The parade can be seen to best advantage from Pendennis Point, Pendennis Castle, Trefusis Point, and St Mawes.

Last year, vessels from as far as France entered the event as the regatta introdued free berthing for visiting boats. This year, competitors can expect further developments with a dedicated mooring area for competitors. Thanks to the sponsorship of the NVA Group and the help of Falmouth Harbour Commissioners, the event will again offer free berthing at the outer sections of Falmouth Haven.

Classic boats sailing in Falmouth Harbour last June

Henry Roberts, chairman of the Falmouth Classics Association, said: “We expect the weekend to bring three enjoyable days of classic boat racing and rallying around the Fal Estuary.

“Falmouth provides many vantage points for spectators, offering spectacular views of the Regatta and Parade of Sail which takes place in the Carrick Roads and Falmouth Bay.”

Free berthing will be offered to vessels up to 50ft LOD and free moorings for larger vessels. The berths are limited, so availability will be based on a “first come – first served” basis. Preferably, berths are to be booked when registering for an event online. Competitors that are trailering down to Falmouth can enjoy the facilities of Falmouth Boatyard for launching and recovery.

Falmouth Working Boat ‘Florence’ (right)

Falmouth Classics 2015 
12-14 June
For more information and bookings of both onshore and sailing events visit http://falmouthclassics.org.uk/

Photos: All courtesy Serena Stewart

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A transatlantic race for classic yachts beginning today in Lanzarote, heading across to Martinique, is set to get off to a windy and bumpy start that will put boats and crews to the test. The Panerai Transat Classique features 11 entries, with such great classics as the Fife schooners Altair and Adventuress and the 1948 S&S-designed yawl Argyll.

Conditions are expected to be excellent with 15 to 20 knots of wind from the north-northeast. A cross sea in the north of the Canary Islands is something to avoid, conditions being calmer to the south. But the situation is expected to get more lively in the following forty-eight hours, with an established north-easterly blowing 20 to 25 knots and gusting up to 45 knots between the islands and wave heights will increase, perhaps exceeding 3.5 metres.

Options at the start of the race are to brave the heavy cross sea to the north of the archipelago, keep on the alert for violent gusts and big waves between the islands of Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Tenerife or head south into the lee of the Canaries. The latter option is probably the most prudent one but some of the skippers will be very tempted to take the shortest route.

Emmanuel Fontaine, skipper of Argyll, comments: “We’re all really motivated to run this race. The Panerai Transat Classique 2015 is a natural extension of what we do all year long in the Med, and it feels really good to get out on the ocean. After just a few days at sea you start to relax and have the most wonderful dreams.

“Alexis Bordessoule usually commands the boat but temporarily he’s in charge of safety and working the rig. I’m skippering her for the race and won’t be standing a watch so I can concentrate on tactics and navigating. Sabine is our owner and will be mothering us across the Atlantic, while Laurence, Paola, Rémy and Simon are our very special crew.

“For the day to day stuff, everyone has concocted at least three menus and will be taking turns to do the evening meal which we eat together. We’re still aiming for the top spot [they finished 2nd in real time and 3rd in corrected time aboard The Blue Peter in 2012] and we’ll be concentrating on getting the angles right. We’ve got a top-notch crew which can make this boat perform. There’s everything to play for between midnight and daybreak, we mustn’t give an inch.”

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