Cowes Week Ltd, organisers of the world’s best-known sailing regatta and highlight of the British Sporting Summer, are delighted to announce that Title Sponsor, Lendy, have put their support behind Ladies Day plans for 2018.
In the year marking 100 years since some women were given the vote, Lendy Ladies Day will return to the regatta on Tuesday 7th August with a celebration of female talent on the water to inspire more women to take up sailing as a sport.
Ladies Day Trophy
Lendy Ladies Day 2018 will culminate in the presentation of the Ladies Day Trophy at an exclusive evening reception, which will be attended by famous faces from the world of sailing, as well as celebrity and VIP guests.
In 2017 Annabel Vose was the twelfth deserving winner of the Ladies Day Trophy following her achievements as part of Sir Ben Ainslie’s Land Rover BAR Academy team, competing in the 2017 Red Bull Youth America’s Cup in Bermuda.
Nominees for 2018
The five nominees for 2018 are:
Dee Caffari – Record breaking Round the World sailor Dee is the only British Skipper in the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race. Dee is also the first woman to have sailed single -handed in both directions around the world.
Libby Greenhalgh – Navigator on Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag in the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race and Director of Operations for The Magenta Project, Libby strives to enable women to have equal access and opportunities to sailing.
Lucy MacGregor – Olympian Lucy, has twice skippered her crew on Team Mac to win the Women’s Match Racing World Championships.
Tracy Edwards – Setting the standard 28 years ago as skipper of Maiden in the Whitbread Round the Word Race with an all-female crew and recently launching the Maiden Factor Foundation, a charity to help educate and empower young girls around the world.
Lucy Hodges – Blind sailor Lucy has been an inspiring sporting figure for many years and has won numerous international sailing awards
All these ladies have achieved great things and made huge contributions to the sport in the past year. The winner will be unveiled at the Lendy Ladies Day reception.
History of Ladies Day
Ladies Day was introduced for the first time in 2006 to champion the role of women in sailing and to celebrate both female achievement and participation in the sport. There are some 8,000 competitors taking part in the regatta and around a third of them are female.
Sailing is one of the few mainstream sporting events where men and women can compete on equal terms and the strength of female competitors has grown with a 150% increase in female skippers over the last decade.
Ladies Day a high point of the regatta
Commenting on its support for Ladies Day, Liam Brooke, CEO from Title Sponsor, Lendy, says:
“We are so delighted to be the official sponsor of Ladies Day at Lendy Cowes Week 2018. Lendy Ladies Day is a high point of the week-long regatta, with its focus on celebrating the amazing achievements of female sailors. It’s easy to forget that up until nearly 30 years ago, women competing in the sport was almost unheard of.
“Today, there’s an awful lot to celebrate in the world of women’s sailing, including Olympic gold medallists Heather Mills and Saskia Clark, who added so much to the festivities at last year’s Lendy Cowes Week.
“We’re very proud to be sponsoring the day and hosting the evening reception at which the Ladies Day trophy will be awarded. Expect a spectacle of glamorous ladies and dapper gentlemen.”
All nominees are deserving winners
Commenting on the announcement, CWL’s Commercial & Marketing Director, Kate Johnson, said:
“We’re already looking forward to Lendy Ladies Day, which has become a real highlight of the regatta. All of our nominees this year are deserving winners, and we’re excited about revealing who will be awarded the Trophy.
“Lendy Ladies Day will add a sense of fun and a dash of glamour to the week with our visiting celebrities, as well as allowing us to put the spotlight on women both competing in and enjoying the event.
“We will again be encouraging all the ladies at the event to dress in traditional nautical stripes, and boats with women on board will be flying a Lendy Ladies Day flag.”
Once again ladies at the event, both on the water and shoreside, will be encouraged to dress in navy-and-white stripes, and prizes will be on offer around the event for those sporting the nautical dress code.
Lendy Cowes Week 2018 takes place from the 4-11 August.
