Pegasus Sailing Team win Sportsboat class at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week

Pegasus Sailing Team win the Sportsboat class at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

Congratulations to Malcolm Wootton and his crew on Pegasus Sailing Team who posted bullets for virtually every race, winning on corrected time by some considerable margin.

This newly formed sailing team has evolved quickly and is sailing the boat consistently well, going into day seven of this eight day regatta, with the overall win already sewn up and it was with finesse that they won yet another race on corrected time.

The nineteen year-old Farr30, has been adapted to fit into the HP30 and Sportsboat Class categories, having a new centre-line bowsprit fitted and reshaping the sails for maximum IRC benefit. From a winning perspective, the results are plain to see and will no doubt drive interest in further modified boats joining the fleet.

Most exciting of all, for both the HP30 Class and the Farr280s, the performance of these boats at Cowes Week has resulted in two new Farr280 sales for UK syndicates, buying boats for delivery early next year. This means that after Key West Race Week there will be at least seven Farr280s based in the Solent as the UK fleet is to be joined by two American teams, planning to race out of Cowes in 2017.

With these boats racing in both HP30 and Farr280 specific events, high performance racing in the 30' category is set to become increasingly popular, particularly as later in the year, the Italian, Swiss and German Farr280s will also come and join the fun, racing together in the Round the Island Race and Cowes Week where the class will have its own start.

With Cowes Week now over, attention turns to the Royal Southern event in September, the culmination of the HP30 Class Points Series. With Farr280 FOMO leading the points series on five points, followed by Farr30 Pegasus on ten, it will be tough for anything but a Farr Design to be beaten in this year's competition.