Thanks to Suzanne and Alan for this round-up from the Charles Stanley Cowes Clasic Week. Ed
Charles Stanley is one of the leading stockbroking and investment management companies in the UK, having been founded in 1792 in Sheffield. It has a branch in Newport.
Launched in 2007
David J. Elliott, the founder of Cowes Classics Week told us that the inaugural regatta in 2007 was to have been a one off event. It was to celebrate the centenary of the International Rule. However the regatta was so successful that David decided to continue as the Event Coordinator. His own boat ‘Monsoon’ is 90 years old this year.
Following races on Monday which were sailed as a pre-curser for the main event the main regatta got underway on Tuesday for the 160 boats.
After racing, on Tuesday evening trophies for various classes were presented at a reception hosted by Haines Boatyard of Itchenor, Sussex, which specialises in repairs and rebuilding of classic boats. Chris Hodge MD of Haines and his wife Louise were on hand to present the prizes.
Long-distance racer
Winning one prize for the Flying Fifteen Class was the contestant who had travelled the furthest to Cowes namely John Hassen from Perth, Western Australia.
John, who was born in Perth was competing in his boat ‘Glass Half Full’ and had made his first visit to Cowes in 2011 but not as a competitor. He revealed that he has another boat back home and keeps ‘Glass Half Full’ for the UK and European sailing events. When his usual crew had to suddenly return to Australia because of family illness, John needed someone with Solent experience to help out.
From one Island to another
Up stepped Island born ‘Captain’ David Moody and now they were a winning team. David now lives on Hayling Island, but had moved from the Isle of Wight when a boy to Leicester where his father was a teacher. David mentioned his Grandfather the late Arthur Moody to us and he was intrigued to know that we had known Arthur well.
Arthur was well-known in Island farming circles and having retired from farming at Alvington Manor Farm became a local councillor and Arthur Moody Drive, Carisbrooke is named after him.
24 classes of boat raced
In all, 24 classes of boat raced in this regatta and each boat is grouped with those of a similar type under the banners of Dayboats & Gaffers, Metre Boats and Classic Cruisers.
All the classes hold regattas within the main Charles Stanley Classics Week and friendly rivalry between boats is strong. It takes a 65 strong race management team to run the regatta.
Several of the boats and crews had stayed on in Cowes after the Panerai Event, their love of sailing these classics is so great.
Teddybear mascot a success
Sailing in both events was Christopher Courage’s ‘Helen’ which has a teddybear as a mascot. We were told that the bear enjoys sailing, had often fallen in the water and enjoys the social side of events to the full.
Whether the bear brings luck or not ‘Helen’ which is in the 8mR class is open to discussion, but at the final overall prizegiving for the week’s sailing ‘Helen’ won her class.
Challenging waters for Northern Traveller
For the crew of ‘Northern Traveller’, Cowes provided a different aspect for them. As members of the Burton Sailing Club in Derbyshire they are landlocked. Accordingly they have to race on a lake and the open waters off Cowes provided a challenge.
A guest appearance was made on Thursday by the Seaview Mermaid class which sailed from the Seaview Yacht Club to join in the regatta.
The final prizegiving
At the final prizegiving, held at the Royal London YC club house, final placings for the week were calculated class by class. Positions in all races were added up with one discard allowed.
Richard and Kit Hargreaves won the Twister Class with ‘Sea Urchin’. They also won the Charles Stanley 1792 Cup for the best performance on Charles Stanley Day.
In the Solent Sunbeam category Jo and Cathy Burnie’s ‘Fleury’ took the honours in a closely fought division and Kim Slater’s ‘Madelaine’ was overall champion of the XODs ahead of Alaistair Ashford’s ‘Foxglove’. Alaistair was racing in Cowes taking a break from running Harmony Yacht Charters in Antigua, but admitted that he never had the opportunity to race in Antigua Week. ‘Foxglove’ is kept at Itchenor and during this regatta Richard Neall and Robert Drake were crew. Alaistair would be back in Cowes for Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week and was sorry that he just missed the prize for the competitor who had travelled the furthest.
As well as winning the award for ‘furthest travelled entrant’ John Hassen (pictured with David Moody) took the ‘new helm’ (debutant) trophy and was runner up in the Flying Fifteen’s to ‘Flying Fish’ sailed by Bobby Salmond.
For a full list of class winners see www.cowesclassicsweek.com
