Cowes Week 2011 - XOD class to be immortalised in watercolour painting

by Peta Stuart-Hunt on 4 Jul 2011 Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM) Cowes Week is one of the UK’s longest running and most successful sporting events. It now stages up to 40 daily races for around 1,000 boats and is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world. The event will run from 6th to 13th August 2011.

The sight of the record-breaking number of yachts in the XOD class on the AAM Cowes Week start line this August is set to be immortalised in a watercolour painting by renowned Cowes artist Rowena Wright. The proceeds of the painting’s auction are to be split between two charities, one of which is the official AAM Cowes Week charity Toe in the Water, and Sailability.

The painting of the XODs, whose class is celebrating 100 years as a racing class this year, will visualise the fleet looking from the pin end of the start line towards the Royal Yacht Squadron. The original will be 1m x 0.7m in size and there will also be a very limited edition run of prints, valued at £100 each.

The auction will be held at the XOD Class Dinner on Thursday 11th August during Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. The two charities will then be invited to receive the donations at the Class AGM in November.

'We are very excited about this project,' comments XOD Class Information Officer Malcolm Taylor. 'Not only is a historic painting being produced by a top artist to mark our Centenary Year, but we are also able to make donations to two worthy causes both of which get people with disabilities onto the water.'

Toe in the Water is a tri-service initiative which aims to inspire service men and women who have sustained often traumatic injuries, including the loss of limbs, to move beyond their disability and to become re-inspired by life through competitive sailing. Sailability, which is the charity arm of the Royal Yachting Association, encourages and supports people with disabilities to take up the sport and facilitates sites to develop sailing opportunities.

The XOD class has broken all the records for Cowes Weeks past and the organisers of this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week have already received 140 entries, making it the biggest class ever - and a one-design class - to cross the Royal Yacht Squadron start line at the event.

Rowena Wright is a fine artist living in Cowes and is a member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists. She specialises in painting the best and most beautiful classic yachts and boats that visit the XOD Class Association Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week website