Magnus Wheatley - Skandia Cowes Week Final Report

by Magnus Wheatley on 6 Aug 2006 After a stunning week of Solent sailing, Skandia Cowes Week 2006 drew to a close with light and fickle northerly winds causing the abandonment for all but four classes as low cloud cover and a slow moving high denied the sea breeze a chance to fill.

Competitors awoke this morning after a fantastic fireworks display on Friday evening that shook the windows and delighted the thousands of spectators that lined every available vantage point along the Cowes frontage.

Unfortunately, on the water it was ‘one of those Solent days’ as Principal Race Officer Simon Hand of the Royal Southern Yacht Club was forced to first abandon the inshore White Group that saw only the Laser SB3’s get away before abandoning the offshore Black Group after Classes Zero to Two got away against the tide for shortened courses in the eastern and central Solent.

For the boats that did get away it was a frustrating day of sitting to leeward and trying to pick the patchy zephyrs of breeze that built and died from the mainland shoreline. Class Zero started cleanly off the offshore Black Group line with the Volvo 70 round the world race winner ABN Amro One streaking into the lead with her huge sail plan on a long fetch down to their first mark of East Bramble. The race officers wisely shortened the course after 15 miles and fired the winning gun for ABN Amro a little after 1.00pm.

The rest of the fleet trailed home in a large pack and once again it was Colm Barrington’s beautiful Ker 50 Magic Glove that took the win on corrected time with the late Kit Hobday’s Bear of Britain securing second place from Pieter Vroon’s Formidable 3. ABN Amro One, however, takes the coveted overall title for Class Zero after a week that has seen her score five race wins and collect the prestigious Queen’s Cup, Britannia Cup and the New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup along the way – a dominant performance from the most talked about ocean thoroughbred on the planet.

Class 1 IRC got away to a slow start and the frustrating conditions led to the stand out performer of the fleet, Fair Do’s VII of Professor John Shepherd, retiring mid race. A very tight tussle ensued however at the front of the fleet with Tony Mack’s McFly and HYS/Aqua Spec of Bicket and Griffith jousting for the lead with WISC (Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing) of Glynn Williams chasing hard in third spot on the water.

At the finish line set at the Bob Kemp marker buoy it was HYS Aqua Spec that ghosted across just 10 seconds ahead of McFly but on corrected time the day belonged to McFly who won by a little under five minutes. Glynn Williams scored second on corrected time with HYS/Aqua Spec making up the podium standings in third. Today’s race did little to the overall standings however, with Professor Shepherd the toast of the fleet on his immaculate Ker 46 Fair Do’s VII that has displayed beautiful crew work and dynamite boatspeed, absolutely revelling in the windier days earlier in the week.

Class 2 IRC saw the wind drop to just 2 knots as they got away to the east against the tide with a huge bunch-up at the outer committee vessel end of the line. After two hours of racing the fleet were shortened at Browndown with David Dwyer’s 2006 built Mills 39 Marinerscove.ie recording a 4 minutes 52 second corrected time victory over Robin Richardson on Software Mistress. Marinerscove.ie therefore wins the week by just three points over Stewart Hawthorn’s Jump with Harald Van Santen’s Grand Soleil 43 Roark in third place.

On the inshore White Group line it was desperately fickle with many of the Laser SB3’s drifting westwards on the ebbing tide unable to even get across the start line. With the race today not counting towards the overall series, a depleted fleet of fifteen SB3’s competed today and were unable to show the dynamic performance and marvellous surfing speeds that have made so many of the headlines at Skandia Cowes Week 2006. Making the best of the conditions today was Daniel Geoghegan sailing Another Naked Blonde who led off the start line and just managed to pick up a few zephyrs of the dying breeze and streaked into a massive lead on the fleet. The race officers ribbed out a committee vessel to the South Ryde Middle marker buoy and shortened the course with Another Naked Blonde recording a simply enormous winning delta just shy of 16 minutes – a lifetime in the SB3’s who are normally separated by mere seconds on the water.

So with a depleted number of starts today, the overall standings for both the Black and White Groups were unaffected. Graham Bailey scooped the White Group after an utterly dominant performance in his International Etchells Arbitrator and Professor John Shepherd shaded the Black Group on Fair Do’s VII by the slenderest of margins. Both winning skippers will receive an Admiral’s Cup Corum watch tonight at the prize giving on the Parade alongside James Clay from the 1720 Finn M’Coul who collects the Skandia Young Skippers Trophy.

With the results being calculated for all the classes by the excellent Next Generation results team, taking into consideration discards that varied depending on the number of races completed for each class, there were some notable winners and familiar names in the final standings.

Peter Baines headed the XOD fleet on Caprice after discard and lifts the Captain’s Cup whilst in the Victory fleet Jeremy Lear’s all conquering Zinnia once again won the week.

In the Black Group fleets, Mike Ewart-Smith’s J/109 Zelda won the week and very nearly the overall title whilst Harry Evans on Alvine Jacobite had a superb week in Class 4 IRC and topped the final standings. Harry Heijst’s beautiful Sparkman & Stephens designed Winsome took Class 5 IRC whilst in the Contessa 32’s it was class stalwart Ray Rouse who sailed a great regatta on Blanco who took the chocolates. Full results are available online at www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk

So the dust settles after what has been another terrific Skandia Cowes Week that has seen a record number of entries at 1,040 and some quite simply breathtaking sailing for all.

Cowes town played amiable host to 8,500 competitors and over 70,000 spectators at what has been a glorious festival of sailing.

The organisation has been widely praised for its professionalism and the race officers have provided first class course and race management. Special mention must go to two flag officers who are retiring after this regatta – Peter Ralls QC and John Grandy.

Peter retires as Chairman of the Cowes Combined Clubs after seven years in charge where he has overseen many changes to the regatta format that have made Skandia Cowes Week the premier regatta on the sailing circuit.

John Grandy meanwhile is retiring as the Principal Race Officer of the Royal Yacht Squadron where he has been instrumental in delivering some of the most professional race management in world yachting. We wish them both well for the future and thank them for their unstinting contribution to Skandia Cowes Week.

The regatta draws to a close this evening following the prize giving at 8.00pm on the Parade but for the keen sailors who have enjoyed a terrific eight days of racing it’s worth noting that next year’s regatta runs from the 4th-11th August 2007. After a week like this, it wouldn’t be any surprise to see the records beaten again as Skandia Cowes Week cements its place as the number one regatta in the world today.

See you next year!

Final overall leading results:

Black Group Overall
1, FAIR DO'S VII (Professor John Shepherd)
2, ZELDA (Mike Ewart-Smith and Ben Richards)
3, WINSOME (Harry J Heijst)
4, ABN AMRO ONE (Mike (Moose) Sanderson)
5, BLANCO (R Rouse, R Vanner and P Vanner)
6, ALVIN