Of course the sailing has been great for competitors, except when races were cancelled due to lack of wind on Thursday and Friday, social events have been held all over the town and with good sunshine throughout most days this year’s AAM Cowes Week has been hailed a success.
Variety of shoreside activities
For the general public there was good live entertainment at various venues, in many cases showcasing Island talent and there were plenty of activities for children. Long queues formed for photographs with the Abu Dhabi falcon with the finished product transporting those photographed to Abu Dhabi.
Situated in Cowes Yacht Haven a team from Project Kraken was on hand to give advice and make the public aware of criminal activities around the coastline of the UK. This project run by the NCA, Border Force and the Police seeks the help of the public to increase vigilance along the coastline and maritime environment. Anyone can report suspicious activity to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 quoting ‘Kraken’.
Raising awareness for UKSA
AAM Cowes Week’s chosen charity UKSA ran learning to sail sessions as well as shore based fun activities and the ‘Boss up the Mast’ proved a hit and helped raise some of the much needed cash to enable UKSA to get all the Island’s year six students into sailing.
Fine Art Sail
More special sailing off The Green took place on Thursday evening when six Olympic Star Class boats from Fine Art Sail gave a demonstration.
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With sails depicting art from across the world Fine Art Sail is a legacy of the Olympic Games.
The travelling wheel
Visitors to Cowes could not miss the Big Vue Wheel located in Northwood Park. Standing 33 metres high the wheel has a diameter of 29.5 metres. Comprising 24 cabins the Vue Wheel afforded panoramic views of Northwood House and Park, along the River Medina to Newport and over the downs to Rowridge and beyond. Seaward there were views of a plethora of racing yachts dotted across the Solent and Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth in the distance.
Run by De Koning Leisure, based in Manchester, this wheel travels all over the country packed on three transporters.
It was a return visit to the Island having been at Seaclose Park for the IW Festival and during the next few weeks it will be placed at various shows and events before returning south for the PSP Southampton Boat Show in September. At most times there was a steady queue waiting to board.
The place to be
Northwood House and Park really seemed the place to be for sailors, locals and visitors. Cream Teas provided by Wight Vintage was so well supported that this local company decided to open for an extra day as did the wheel.
Also in Northwood Park this year’s version of the Annual Bowls Tournament took place. Supported by Geoff Banks, Mayor of Cowes, this was the 60th running of the competition and in recognition of this Geoff presented a new trophy which was won this year by John Crews.
The show must go on
Moments after the trophy presentation on Friday the first drops of the rain, that was to continue for some hours, fell on Cowes.
However the evening’s planned entertainment went ahead as arranged and despite a number of yacht races being lost through lack of wind there was much interest at the final prizegiving to see who came out top of their class for this year’s AAM Cowes Week.
