Biggest Ever Cape 31 Fleet Prepared for Cowes Week 2022
by Tor Tomlinson 29 Jul 2022 07:33 PDT
Cowes Week 2021 day 3 © Ingrid Abery /
www.ingridabery.com
After a busy few weeks and three more owners taking delivery of brand new Cape 31's 18 boats are entered to be on the Royal Yacht Squadron start line on Saturday. This will be the biggest fleet the class has seen anywhere in the world since the first boat was built in Cape Town in 2017.
Cowes Week will be Round Four of the 31 Race Circuit which is currently being led by Mike Bartholomew's Tokoloshe, in second place is Tony Dickin's Jubilee and third lies last years champions, Russell Peters' Squirt.
The class is the biggest high performance one design class that Cowes Week has seen since Mumm 30 days. Dave Swete one of the guy behind the growth said, "It's a fantastic bow up design boat that punches well above it's weight upwind. The size and budget of the boat is appealing too. We have a fantastic class structure set up in the UK/Ireland and are devleoping this around the world. Quite simply, the boat is right and it's a heap of fun."
Joining the fleet this week are Tilly Harrison with Jolt 4, branded up to match her father's TP52. Sandy Askew from Salt Lake City has added UK based Cape 31 Flying Jenny to her programme which already consists of an Melges 24, VX One and IC37 over in the states.
It will be the first event for David Cummins and his team on Flurg after moving on from his Ker 39. It will be Charlie Whelan's first Cape Event on his new Bodfather he's spent the last few years racing his SB20 so should be in good stead. Darren Wright is bringing his boat Adrenaline down from Ireland following Cork Week.
Last year's Cowes Week saw 5 different race winners for 7 days of racing. We're excited to see what this year brings. As well as the racing highlights for the week include the KMO/AIX Rosé sponsored Party at the Island Sailing Club and daily race winner's Champagne sponsored by Peter's & May.
www.cape31uk.com