Fabulous Sailing @ Cowes Week

(Cowes, Isle of Wight, England)- Cowes Week is one of the United Kingdom‘s longest-running and most successful sporting events and is a key highlight of the British sporting summer. It has been held in early August every year since 1826, except during the two World Wars. For the 196th edition, 800+ boats were treated to gorgeous sailing for seven days on the capricious Solent waters. J/Boats owners and crew continued their strong performances across the board. 

IRC 1 Division
The fourteen-boat IRC 1 Division saw Frenchman Gilles Fournier’s J/133 PINTIA take the silver medal after winning the last three day’s races in a row! Their colleagues on the J/122e MOANA, Frans & Michelle Van Cappelle, sailed a consistent regatta to finish just 2 pts off the podium, having to settle for 5th in a tie-breaker! 

IRC 2 Division
The nineteen-boat IRC 2 Division saw David Franks’ J/112e LEON have a spirited battle against Adam Gosling’s YES, scoring just 1sts and 2nds, but that wasn’t sufficient enough for them to top the leaderboard, missing the win by a mere 3 pts and taking home the silver medal. 

IRC 4 Division
A trio of J/92S was racing in the eight-boat IRC 4 Division. However, it was Bob Baker’s J/97 JAYWALKER that won four races to top the leaderboard with just 9 pts net. Past class winners, David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J’RONIMO, sailed a solid series with three 2nds and a 1st in their scoreline to take the silver medal. Jack Banks’ J/92 NIGHTJAR sailed a consistent series to take 4th place, including a victory by the all-women crew on Tuesday- Ladies Day!

J/109 Class
The nine-boat J/109 Class saw the top Dutch team on JOULE, led by Arjen van Leeuwen & Silvy Leijh, continue their early season success and post a scoreline of all firsts (5) and seconds (2) to win comfortably. John Smart’s JUKEBOX had all podium finishes as well, but was no match for the Flying Dutchmen! The JUKEBOX boys took the silver with 12 pts net. Rounding out the podium was the trio of Clementi/ Sheldon/ Walker on BROWN TEAL. Past class winners filled out the top five- Chris Burleigh’s JYBE TALKIN’ in 4th and Rob Cotterill’s MOJO RISIN in 5th place.

J/70 Class
As the biggest class in the regatta, the thirty-two boat J/70 class enjoyed tight, competitive racing up and down the waterfront, the fleet making picturesque starts immediately in front of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Winning the week-long series was Tim Ryan’s VAMOS. The balance of the podium included the foursome sailing DADS’N’LADS (Ole Bettum, Tim Simpson, Markus Bettum, and Hector Simpson). Third went to Andrew Barraclough’s JENGA 8. The rest of the top five included David McLeman’s OFFBEAT in 4th and Ray Mitchell’s ESCAPE in 5th place.  Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth  For more Cowes Week sailing information