Cowes Week - MOD 70s and IMOCA 60s all set for Artemis Challenge

by Artemis Challenge on 16 Aug 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week is currently underway and tomorrow, August 16th, the MOD 70s and IMOCA 60s will be ready to race in the 50-mile sprint around the island. A host of special Olympic guests from Team GB including Silver medallists Nick Dempsey and Zara Phillips will also be joined by the British women’s Match Racing team of Lucy Macgregor, Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor, as well as television presenter Dan Snow, famous British skippers, Dee Caffari, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, Brian Thompson and Ian Walker.

'The MOD 70 and IMOCA 60 crews are excited about the great weather conditions forecasted for tomorrow with 20-25 knots from the South, at times up to 30 knots, which will enable them to reach top speeds and possibly set a new record for racing around the island,' said Artemis Challenge Race Director Gilles Chiorri. 'The teams will have a fast start to the race beating down the western Solent to the Needles, before heading around the south side of the island into a wet and wild battle with the MOD 70s reaching speeds of 25-30 knots.'

The cutting edge designed MOD 70s Oman Sail’s Musandam skippered by Sidney Gavignet, who also has record setting sailors Brian Thompson and Dee Caffari on his crew, will race against Foncia skippered by the legendary offshore sailor Michel Desjoyeaux who also Sir Robin Knox-Johnston on his crew, with IMOCA 60s Gamesa skippered by Mike Golding with Annie Lush and Kate Macgregor as crew members, Nick Dempsey and Lucy Macgregor sharing the helming duties on Artemis Ocean Racing II. View the teams here.

Zara Phillips will start the race at 10:00AM tomorrow from the Royal Yacht Squadron line in Cowes. Each MOD 70 and IMOCA 60 will be paired up to race as a team around the Isle of Wight.

The pairings will be drawn at random during the skippers briefing in the morning, and the £12,000 prize fund charity will be split across the winning team based on cumulative elapsed time and the fastest time for the MOD70 and IMOCA 60 division. View the team’s charities here.

The previous multihull record for sailing around the island is two hours, 33 minutes and 55 seconds held by Playstation with the fastest monohull time being three hours and 53 minutes and five seconds set by Artemis Challenge website