This in from Cowes Week, in their own words. Ed
Cowes is certainly the place to be this summer with Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week fitting between the Bicentenary celebrations of the event’s founding yacht club, the Royal Yacht Squadron, and the popular offshore Rolex Fastnet Race, which has undoubtedly had some bearing on the fact that 22% of the entries received so far are international.
Competitors that have already signed-up for the 2015 regatta and had entered prior to the end of 2014 once again had an added incentive of a fantastic prize draw with great prizes on offer including:
Top Prize:
- An entry fee rebate
- Free berthing (at either Cowes Yacht Haven, Shepards Wharf Marina, or East Cowes Marina)
- Use of a Volvo for a weekend
- A bottle of Mount Gay Extra Old Rum
- 25L Gill dry bags for all the crew
- Chatham Marine shoes for all the crew
- £150 bar tab on Cowes Parade
Runner’s up prizes:
- For the first runner-up:
- £100 bar tab on Cowes Yacht Haven
- A bottle of Mount Gay Rum
- A Liz Earle goody bag and voucher
- Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week jacket and rucksack
For the second runner-up:
- A bar tab of £75 at Shepards Wharf Marina
- A bottle of Mount Gay Rum
- A Liz Earle Goody Bag
- An Icom Handheld Radio (IC – M23)
The winners
The winners were announced at the London Boat Show at a drinks reception hosted by Cowes Week Limited and the event’s charter sailing partner, Sunsail, on Saturday 17 January.
Entrants eager to hear whether they were the lucky winners were in attendance, but it was the owner of the Sigma 33, Excelle, who ended up bagging the top prize this time around with their entry which was submitted at the eleventh hour on the 31 December.
Commenting on his prize draw win, John Fox, owner of Excelle, said:
“This will be our second time racing at Cowes Week having last been to the event in 2013 – the Sigma 33 is having its Class Championships at this year’s event and, whilst we probably would have entered anyway, having our Class Championships as a part of the event did swing it for us. We’re thrilled to have been the lucky prize draw winners – I actually entered on New Year’s Eve while at a party with the boat’s co-owner, Toby Claridge. We suddenly remembered about the deadline so I borrowed an iPad to make my entry – thank goodness I did!!! We’re really looking forward to this year’s event… even more so now!”
The runner’s up prizes were drawn respectively by Roger Evans with Florence Agnes 2 in the Sigma 38 class, and Jim Page with Seagull in the Victory Class.
The early bird entry fee applies until Tuesday 26 May 2015 at midnight, after which time the standard entry fee will apply. The 2015 regatta dates are 8-15 August.
