Many thanks to Rupert Holmes for his report from Cowes Week. Ed
Competitors enjoyed champagne sailing, bright sun and the tightest of racing on the sixth day of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week. The two giant MOD70 trimarans and six IMOCA 60s competing in the Artemis Challenge started their races at 1015 in very light and fickle winds, with Code 0 sails set to catch every zephyr of breeze. The wind swung into the west shortly before the 1015 start and strengthened to around 5 knots.
The predicted sea breeze started to fill in earlier than predicted, with the early leaders making swift progress off Wootton Creek in the eastern Solent, in the south-easterly early sea breeze just before 1100. The main south-westerly sea breeze filled in a little earlier than predicted, allowing the starting sequence to get underway just before midday in champagne sailing conditions, with plenty of sun and a 10 knot breeze that built to 15-18 knots by mid afternoon.
The biggest yachts in IRC Class 0 made an impressive sight as they started from the Bramble line at the beginning of their long first leg to Lymington Bank buoy, led by the towering 44m (145ft) high rig of Jochen Schumann’s 100ft Maxi Esimit Europa 2.
Five minutes later, the SB20 fleet, one of the smallest boats at Cowes, was starting closer inshore on the Royal Yacht Squadron line. The fleet got away cleanly, with Charles Russell’s edigitalresearch and Syd McLean’s Spongebob the leading boats at the inshore end of the line, while Jerry Hill’s sportsboatworld.com, who has dominated the fleet so far this year, further offshore towards outer end of the line. The distinctive black sails of Paralympic gold medallist Helena Lucas’ Volvo were at the front of a small pack of boats that started mid line, looked very well placed compared to the rest of the fleet after tacking onto port a couple of minutes after the start.
In the next White Group start the Etchells fleet was very evenly matched spread across the full length of the line and it was difficult to identify an advantage at either end of the line. However, the Darings favoured the outer end and although John Hackman’s Double Knot and Roger Marwood’s Audax initially did well having started outside of the pack, Giles Peckham’s Dauntless was ahead after two minutes having started at the outer end of the line. This set the pattern that tended to be favoured by all the later starters, as the favourable west-going tidal stream gathered pace offshore.
Picture perfect
The IRC Class 0 and 1 yachts made another fine sight as they returned under spinnaker into the eastern Solent, before a brief and energetic beat to the finish on the Bramble line. A win today for Niklas Zennstrom’s 72ft Mini Maxi Ran, two minutes ahead of Sir Keith Mills’ TP52 5 Degrees West, secured a win for Zennstrom in the Big Boat mini series, after the top three boats tied overall with four points each.
At the same time as the big boats were finishing, the Mermaid class was starting in the strong west-going tide. They were all clear at the gun led away by the overall leader after the first four races, Charles Glanville’s Amethyst, with John Edward’s Sheen on her windward quarter. However, Richard Prest’s Dragonfly had more acceleration and took an early second place as they cleared away to the west of the line.
The Victory class kept well clear of the line at the start, with Mark Dennington, Jo Dennington and Jim Downing’s Ziva well placed at the northern end of the line, although Russell Mead’s Shearwater initially had more speed a little closer to the shore. Geoff and Sarah Dixon’s Zelia was also among the boats that were looking well placed at this stage. Most tacked offshore into the stronger tide, as the MOD70 Oman Air powered through to the finish of the Artemis Challenge after her circumnavigation of the Isle of Wight.
Some 45 minutes after the start, the front of the fleet was still very tight, with very little separating the top six boats. The finish was equally tight, with Zelia crossing the line three seconds ahead of KF and SA Taylor’s Zest, and John Scammell’s Zinnia taking third place five seconds later. Overall, the first 10 boats in the fleet crossed the line in just two and a half minutes.
The tightest of racing
After the Victory start, it started to get very busy on the Royal Yacht Squadron platform. The XOD start coincided with the leading Darings as they were approaching the finish from the west, running as close to the shore at the Green as they dared to stay out of the adverse tide, which kept the two fleets separate, but gave race officials plenty to think about.
In a super-close finish, Lavinia Perry’s Daring Dreamer led the fleet across the line, nine seconds ahead of Dauntless. In all, the first nine boats crossed the line in just 62 seconds at the end of their race of more than two hours. This set the scene for the next few hours, with many finishers arriving at the line overlapped, with much shouting for water, although no other classes are subject to the mass protest that is currently hanging over the Daring results.
The Etchells fleet was the next White Group class to finish, again appearing to be very tightly bunched to observers on the RYS Platform as they approached. Mark Downer’s Moonlight crossed the line just as the one minute hooter for the XOD’s restart sounded. Downer was followed in quick succession by Andrew and Donna Cooper’s Ice and then Laurence Mead’s Freelance. It was another close finish, with the first nine boats crossing the line in little more than three minutes.
The Dragon class, however, was even closer, with the first six boats, led by Eric Williams’ Ecstatic and Simon Barter’s Bertie, finishing in just 45 seconds. There was a similarly close finish at the head of the Mermaid class. Amethyst had a clear lead just over one minute ahead of Sheen, but Dragonfly crossed the line five seconds later to take third place.
XOD action
When the boats that were reaching down their start line from the offshore end were luffed by those approaching on a close-hauled course it was inevitable that many XODs would be pushed over prematurely. The second start, subjected to a black flag, was all clear, with William Norris, Nail Payne and Bill Dunsdon’s Beatrix and Steve Lawrence and the Smart brothers’s Catherine best placed at the outer end of the line. However, when the front runners first crossed tacks it was Kim Slater Robert Bedford and Simon ‘Fumesy’ Russell’s Madeleine, James Meaning’s Gleam and Peter Nicholson’s Sunshine that passed ahead on port tack.
The finish was even tighter than that for earlier classes and with the water dropping towards low tide a number of boats found themselves aground on Grantham Rocks. Michael Martell’s Astralita won today’s race, followed by Madeleine and Catherine. The next six boats crossed the line within 26 seconds and barely more than a minute separated places 17-31 and 42-58.
A fourth place today for James Meaning’s Gleam, sailing for the first time with Rudy Jurg as tactician, elevates him to overall class leader, allowing for one discard, one point ahead of Astralita.
Meaning said after coming ashore,
“It was wonderful champagne sailing in the western Solent today. We had a good start and were lucky with some of the windshifts on the beats, which is important in a big fleet. On all the runs we were skimming the bottom to stay out of the tide and had some very exciting jostling along the Green near the finish – no position was safe until you crossed the line.”
The first SB20 to finish was again sportsboatworld.com, with an impressive six minute lead on Scott Graham and Nick Elder’s Chill Pill Plus. The next four boats – Sarah Allen’s Gill, Spongebob, Duncan Pryde’s 3-Some and edigitalresearch – crossed the line within just 27 seconds. They were followed shortly afterwards by Helena Lucas’ Volvo in seventh place.
At a ceremony after racing Helena Lucas was presented with the Ladies Day Trophy in recognition of her sheer determination that has encouraged many other women to become involved in sailing. Lucas, made history last year in becoming the first ever woman to win a Paralympic gold medal in the male-dominated 2.4mR class last year.
Image: © Rick Tomlinson
