Cowes Week 2025 Overall - Fabulous, flying finish
by Gael Pawson 8 Aug 14:41 PDT
2-8 August 2025
With the spectacle of many of the fleets finishing in the sunshine, downwind under spinnaker, this year's Cowes Week concluded in style.
The week saw a complete range of conditions, which were perfect for testing all the boats. Everything from big gusts and lumpy seas to flat, light airs and even a day off due to Storm Floris, which many welcomed after long, windy races on Sunday.
The final day dawned bright, with flat seas and light winds, but the wind soon filled in and all classes got away on time. Leading the finishers was the white and red spinnaker of Ali and Jochem Visser's H Boat Weerga, taking her second win of the week. Right behind was another H Boat, Craig and Emma Dymock's Wight Wedding, and third to finish Jonathan Wallis's Final Warning. Wight Wedding's second was enough to seal victory in IRC7 with Final Warning second.
Loud cheers were heard from the J/109 Joule, over from the Netherlands. They couldn't have been happier to finish on a high with a gun on the Squadron line, just ahead of their great rivals Jukebox.
Top boats emerging over the week were those who could keep their consistency in everything from the lightest airs, to big shifts and gusty strong breezes, with the added spice of the usual Solent tidal complexities. It was about good boat-handling, but also shift spotting and tactical planning together with sharp eyes to spot the marks as the course team juggled the challenges of the weather and varied fleets.
Overall winners
It was the XOD Astralita, with five firsts and a second place, which took the overall Cowes week title. The team, of John Tremlett helming with Fraser Graham and Tim Copsey, won last year's XOD title, and this year they had the added satisfaction of winning not just White Group, but the whole event.
Just one boat posted a clean sheet this week, Sam Laidlaw's Quarter Tonner BLT in IRC6, which took the overall Black Group title in the process. Brett Aarons describes BLT's race: 'We started in a north-westerly that was fading, went to the west, had quite a light wind changeable run down to Beaulieu, then a classic Squadron finish line. It's been a good week - the results don't show how competitive the class has been.'
Sam says: 'The race management has been really good with great courses. It was the right call not to race on Monday and they've managed to get some great courses in, in very variable conditions.' He puts their performance down to crew work: 'I think it's time together, time on the water and having the boat set up. A number of us have been together for more than ten years, and it shows.'
Brett adds: 'It's a trust, we trust that something is going to happen and everyone is going to play their role when they need to. Cowes Week is obviously very busy with lots of boats, lots of marks, lots of navigation and everyone needs to be involved to make it work overall very smooth sailing.'
'We had a great moment on Wednesday,' recalls Sam. 'We were short tacking inside the ledge and there must have been 200 White Group boats there and we were nipping in and out of them. We gained some time on that, it was just a wonderful Cowes Week moment.'
Big boats and dominant performances
Some of the entries in IRC Zero, only joined in the second half of the week. But the two regulars, the TP52 Braveheart and the Ker 46 Van Uden - Rost 3 changed position all week, with Braveheart finally taking the win. In the Cape 31s, while Flying Jenny won the class's mini-series and Wednesday's Britannia Cup, Bullit put on a late charge to take the overall title for the week, by winning the final race by just one second.
Meanwhile, two Cape 31s opted to race in IRC1. It was one of these, Russell Peters and Dave Bartholomew's Tokoloshe 4 which completely dominated, posting an almost perfect scoreline only marred by Tuesday's second. Rather appropriately, Tuesday was won by Linda Goddard's Swan 53 Bedouin, which mean she also won the Ariel Trophy for the best female helm on Women's Day. Overall, Alex and Andy Moore's Beneteau First 40 Tilt finished second with Bertie Bicket's Cape 31 Fargo, with Olympic Kiting gold medallist Ellie Aldridge aboard, third.
In the Sonar class, Richard Bailey sailing with David Heritage, Emma York and Joe Bailey in Bertie won every race until the final day when they were pushed into third place. They still won the class by a comfortable margin ahead of the Andrew Cassell Foundation's ACF Dolphin and Cowes Match Racing Blue.
Jo Richards' Tigger dominated the Sportsboat class, winning every race apart from Tuesday, when they finished third. In second place was 20-year-old Henry Heathcote sailing the J/80 Derision. Graham Bailey's Dragon Bluebottle took the week ahead of Fit Chick and Bertie. The Seaview Mermaid Sheen also led all week, counting four firsts for an emphatic overall win. In the Redwings, Paraquet also led all week and took the class win by a comfortable margin.
The Swallow class had a great week of racing under their own Committee Vessel starts, based in Osborne Bay. Although a range of boats took race wins, these were spread amongst the fleet, which meant James Hartley's Osprey kept on top of the leader board all week. Svala was second and Skua third.
The tightest competition
Meanwhile in some classes, the battle was much closer. In the Daring class, the battle for top spot went right to the wire. Earlier in the week it had looked like Dauntless was going to dominate as she posted two straight wins, however by Thursday Doublet had matched her score and these two went into the final day equal on points.
Giles Peckham was sailing Dauntless with his wife Jane, son Joshua and Tom Dickson: 'We knew it was who beat who. We ended up together on the startline, but we got the edge there and managed to get a little bit of a margin. Then we managed to get into third place at the windward mark, rolled the two boats that went round first, got inshore first and extended the lead just to the point where we could keep our air clear and the boats behind got smothered by the pack, which gave us just the most wonderful feeling.
'The rest of the day was just a wonderful. The spectacle must have been superb on the finish line, and being a part of that but being able to relax and enjoy it was just a bonus. It's Cowes Week... it's so much fun, everything is different every day... the variety in terms of wind direction wind speed, the tides are always changing every day, it's just a wonderful challenge.'
There was a similar battle in the Sunbeam class where Roger Wickens' Misty led for the first half of the week, but it was Oliver Gilchrist and Becky Wickens' Sky which took the class win.
In IRC2, the J/112e Leon, J/112e Jack Rabbit, and Cowes Week regular, Adam Gosling's JPK1080 Yes! had a brilliant tussle all week. Leon won the final race to take the class win, mainsail trimmer Steve Lovegrove says: 'Leon's owned by David Franks who put a good team together. We've had a mix of everything this week. It's been super, super close there's three boats really pushing each other at the front of the fleet. Really close racing you can't make any mistakes.'
Jack Rabbit is owned by Rutger Krijger and Caroline van Beelen from the Netherlands, Rutger said they came back to Cowes for the atmosphere and the competition: 'Leon is a similar boat to us, so it's a really close battle between the three of us almost like one-design racing.'
Ben Vines has been sailing on Yes! all week: 'We prefer the breezier conditions, but it's all really, really close. Jack Rabbit is new to our little battle and a welcome addition. The racing is amazing, you really are fighting for every second.'
Other classes with a close points margin include IRC4, where Jan Scholtes Warp 5, over from The Netherlands to compete for the first time at Cowes finished just ahead of Richard Newsom's Javelin, with Women's Day all-female crew winner, Libby Finch's Nightjar, third. Warp 5's win was enough to give them the Newcomer's Trophy.
In IRC5, which was predominantly Sigma 33s this year, with a couple of Mustang 30s and Peter and Alison Morton's Nautor Swan 36 Scherzo of Cowes. Going into the final day Scherzo of Cowes and the Mustang 30, Banter were equal on points, but Scherzo of Cowes finished first on the final day to top the class overall. Top Sigma 33 was Toby Gorman's Stan the Boat, which finished third. Also competing in the class was Arabesque, one of the Cowes Week charity Autism on the Water's entries for the week. In IRC3 Jamie McWilliam's BB10m Pelikanen won from Kevin Downer's Ziggy and Giovanni Belgrano's Whooper, with just a point separating them.
In the Etchells, things were super close with Andy Beadsworth's No Dramas taking the top spot from by just one point. It was all change for the second half of the week for the J/70s, with the departure of a couple of the top boats after the conclusion of their Grand Slam earlier in the week. Eventually Jack Davies Yeti Returns took the overall week win ahead of Izzy Hung and Rob Stein's XV Manta. It was a similar story in the SB20s, where Breaking Bod won the class's Mini Slam for the second half the week. In the Victory class Peregrin took the win ahead of Zilch with Ziva third.
The Flying 15s rather appropriately had 15 entries this year and included Scaramouche, sailed by Corneille LePrince and Young Sailor of the Year, Jessye Opoku-Ware. Rupert Mander's Men Behaving Badly won the class, with four firsts, Richard Jordan's Wonker just two points behind and Grahan and Libby Deegan's Akarana third.
All ages and abilities
The Contessa 32 is one class at Cowes that is full of a wide range of ages and experience. There are plenty of young crews and full families racing hard in a class that is very welcoming to all. Eldred and Mark Himsworth's Drumbeat looked like it was going to have its own way this week after posting straight wins for the first four races, but yesterday they showed they could still be beaten, in what Eldred described as a 'somewhat chaotic' race they finished second and although they admitted disappointment at that slip, it sealed the week's victory for them.
Having purchased the boat 1995, Eldred has brought the boat to every Cowes Week since apart from the year of Covid. What is the secret to success? 'Attending to all the small things, I think, making sure the boat is in great shape, it's going to keep going, things are hopefully not going to break. Then just trying to get everybody doing the best things and we have some good sailors on board who have had a lot of experience and we can make her go, which is not easy with a Contessa.' The first boat to take a race from them was Mary Rose Tudor, sailed by a young crew led by George Bell, who finished second in class, with the final day's win going to Solan Goose. Mary Rose Tudor's results were enough to win them both the Musto Young Skipper's Trophy and the Under 25 Trophy.
The Club Cruiser classes, split into two starts, saw some really competitive racing over the week. It was Michael and Susi Carrington's Susimi III in Club Cruiser C which took the overall title, ahead of Club Cruiser D winner Andy Maskell's High Spirit. In the Performance Cruisers, Performance Cruiser B winner Neil and Annabel Miller's Elidie took the overall win. Performance Cruiser A was won by Christ Masterson's Assarain III.
The event concluded with a grand prize-giving at the Royal Yacht Squadron for the RYS Trophies, followed by the full, public prize-giving on the stage at the Cowes Yacht Haven.
Next year
Cowes Week 2026 promises to be very special as the event celebrates its 200th anniversary. Expect a bumper entry list, amazing entertainment ashore and a host of special visitors. Royal yachts, fireworks, even the Red Arrows could be back to entertain the crowds.