2015 AAM Cowes Week - Champagne sailing conditions on final day

by Rupert Holmes on 16 Aug 2015 The final day of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week saw a return to champagne sailing conditions, with bright sun and a light north westerly breeze that swung into a south westerly sea breeze during the afternoon.

White Group

The overall results in the majority of the White Group dayboat classes were determined today: At the start of the day the rankings in the Sonar class could hardly have been closer, with the top four boats only two points apart. Alistair Barter’s Bertie and John Robertson, Hannah Stodel, Steve Thomas and Simon Rosier’s Chimera Team GBR led the fleet away from the start. By the finish Chimera Team GBR held a 90 second lead over Craig Wood’s Dolphin, with Andy Cassell’s Jenny third and Bertie back in fourth. Chimera Team GBR therefore retained her overall lead to win the class, while Dolphin and Bertie tied on 14 points, with the count back going in the former’s favour.

The Seaview Mermaid is another class that was wide open at the start of the day, with the top four boats separated by only four points, and also had by far the closest finish of the day. Today Kate Broxham’s Amethyst was best placed at the start, but immediately returned to restart, even though no recall signal had been made. This handed the advantage to the top two boats on points, Ben Few Brown’s Adastra and Charles Glanville’s Zara, with the latter building a useful early advantage.

Observers at the finish were hard pushed to predict who would cross the line first – the leading six boats were only 22 seconds apart. A win for Adastra cemented her position as class leader, while a sixth place for Zara saw her cling onto second overall, one point ahead of Anthony Eaton’s Miranda.

Today’s race also determined the J/70 overall results, with Jack Davies’ team of young sailors on Jugador and J Calascione’s Harlequin both starting the day tied on 15 points at the top of the leaderboard. Harlequin won today’s race and therefore the series, while a third for Jugador was enough to secure her position in second place overall, seven and a half points ahead of David McLeman’s Offbeat.

In the SB20 class Dave Atkinson’s Baloo was assured overall victory by the tightest of margins with a day to spare. A second place in today’s race for Edward Handasyde Dick’s eDigitalResearch secured his position in second overall, one and a half points ahead of today’s race winner, Charles Whelan and Richard McAdam’s Here Comes Bod.

In the Sportsboat class Stewart Hawthorn’s J/88 Ji Fi started the race with a 10-point advantage on Howard and Tom Steavenson’s little VX One Abracadabra. At the start today much of the fleet crowded towards the outer end of the Royal Yacht Squadron line, but it was Abracadabra and George Jorgensen’s Hunter 707 Artificer that initially enjoyed the best speed over the ground, close to the shore in the west-going tidal eddy. However, this move didn’t pay in the longer term and they finished well down the fleet. This left Hawthorn victorious overall, while a second place today lifted Rob and Lucinda Mclean’s modified Cork 1720 Spider Pig to second overall and winner of the Sportsboat Division two for smaller boats. Abracadabra held onto third in the overall Sportsboat class by one point.

Giles Peckham’s Daring Dauntless was already assured of a class win, as well as the overall lead across the White Group classes. Jeremy Preston’s Defender was also secure in second place overall, but competition for third was still open, with John Corby’s Doublet enjoying a seven-point margin over Andrew Norton’s Decoy. Today, was not a good one on the water for Corby, who finished 13th, however, it was even less good for Norton, who crossed the line more than three minutes later in 18th place.

While Shaun and Emily Frolich’s Etchells Exabyte V had already secured a victory in the Etchells class, a five-way fight for second overall played out on the water today. Today’s race was won by Andrew Cooper’s Ice, with young sailor Matt Reid’s Mano second and Robert Elliot’s Time and Tide third. One of the biggest battles on the water today was between Nick Stagg’s China White, who finished seventh, and Mark Downer’s Moonlight in sixth place. This left the two boats tied on 24 points, with the count back resolved in Downer’s favour thanks to his win in yesterday’s race.

“Having won with a race to spare, we had no pressure out there today,” says Frohlich. “We had a cracking start but it didn’t end too well – we lost out when we went too far inshore towards Newtown Creek hoping to pick up the predicted sea breeze. It didn’t appear and those further out benefited from the gradient breeze. We had a good sail though and we are delighted with our overall performance. Our crew, which includes David Bedford and Duncan Truswell, has sailed together for a long time now so we work well as a team. We won the nationals earlier this year and our time spent at Cowes Week this year is really good training for next year’s Etchells world championship in Cowes.”

The top of the leaderboard of the Dragon class was wide open at the start of the day, with Graham and Julia Bailey’s Aimee just two points ahead of Eric Williams’ Ecstatic. Williams started inshore, making good progress, while the Baileys made an unusually slow start further offshore. Ecstatic led by a comfortable margin at the finish of today’s race, while Aimee finished second, at the head of a tightly-packed bunch of five boats that crossed the line in less than 30 seconds. With a discard coming into play at the end of today’s race, Williams was able to discard his eighth place on Sunday’s race to finish the series three points ahead of Aimee. Gavia Wilkinson-Cox’s Jerboa took third overall.

The inshore tidal advantage decreased during the morning, as the main west-going stream became established and by the time of the Swallow start the fleet was gathered towards the outer end of the line. Charles Fisher and Richard Thompson’s Migrant lead into the start, with Clive Bush’s Spectre, Lisa McDanell, Toby Hodge and Andy Kennett’s Swift, and Sir Malcolm Green’s Archon also well placed.

Green, who started the race with a slim two-point overall advantage on young sailor Hugo Sloper’s Marengo, had a commanding lead at the finish of today’s race, giving him the overall class win as well. Sloper took second in class, which also earned him and his young crew the Aberdeen Asset Management Under 25 Trophy.

Fourteen year old Will Heritage, sailing with his father David, took victory in the Flying 15 class, counting a string of second places and one first in a performance that also earned him the Young Skipper trophy. Rupert and John Mander’s Men Behaving Badly and Nick Clarke’s Black both finished on 18 points, with the Manders taking second overall on count back.

In the Squib class Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Ramsey’s Lady Penelope has been almost untouchable for the past couple of years. However, for the first part of this week another East Coast visitor, Nigel and Jack Grogan’s Helmut Shoing ll, made their mark by winning the first two races and finishing third in the next one. However, the Grogans started prematurely on Friday and were therefore forced to count an 18th place they picked up on Wednesday.

As ever, it was consistency that paid, and Lady Penelope finished as class leaders with a day to spare. “We are delighted to have won our class for the fifth year in a row, particularly as we did it with a race to spare,” says Hutchings. “As we have learnt in the past, doing well at Cowes Week is all about consistency. It was by no means easy though given the strength of competition within the fleet, as well as some new faces including the Rileys on Brimstone, and the Grogans. The conditions were also tricky this year, probably more tricky than I’ve ever known but that is all part of the challenge, and the reason we enjoy competing at Cowes Week so much.”

In the Redwing class a second place today for Ed Peel’s Quail saw him retain the class lead, five points ahead of Bruce Huber’s Redstart. A third in today’s race helped to lift Hugo Cuddigan and Edward Butler’s Capella ll up to third overall, just one point behind Huber.

While John Tremlett’s Lass enjoyed a comfortable lead at the start of the day in the XOD class, 14 points clear of Rory, Amanda and Stuart Paton’s XL, it was not sufficient to be assured of an overall win and there were a further three boats in strong contention for second place.

The fleet split immediately after the start into two groups of boats, one making an early tack to the north, the other staying close to the Island shore. Those who tacked early lost out, although so did some of the boats that stayed to the south – a number over stood the windward mark so much they finished the leg with spinnakers set. Justin Smart, Patrick Smart and Peter Lawrence’s Onyx led into the mark, followed by Lass and XL, with Hamish Calder’s Leading Wind fourth and Ian Burr’s Diana fifth.

By the finish Lass had built a clear lead on XL, finishing the series on only 12 points and giving John Tremlett, Jeremy Lear, Richard Bullock and Richard Jordon a third successive class win. XL’s second place today secured her crew second overall. Paul Woodman and Oliver James’ Ibex finished more than 12 minutes behind Lass in 11th place today, but it was enough to take third overall.

Black Group

The main Black Group overall prizes had been determined at the end of yesterday’s racing, allowing teams to prepare for the Rolex Fastnet Race that starts tomorrow. Today’s Black Group racing was therefore for daily trophies, with notable results including Claire Turner’s First 35 Party winning the race for IRC Class four, her first Cowes Week race win since buying the boat and starting yacht racing last year.

Overall winners

The overall regatta winners have also been announced – Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Ramsey’s Squib Lady Penelope in White Group and Adam Gosling’s Corby 36 Yes! in Black Group. Gosling also won the Aberdeen Asset Management Overall Trophy for the best performance at the regatta.