The opening day of Cowes Week delivered perfect conditions, with bright sun and a solid sea breeze in classic Solent conditions.
By mid-afternoon the breeze was up to 15-17 knots in the central Solent, with occasional gusts into the low 20s. It was enough to produce a few broaches among Black Group yachts as they approached the Royal Yacht Squadron finish line, and power Cape 31s, TP52s and other speed machines to boat speeds in the upper teens.
Stand out performances include Peter Morton’s TP52 Notorious in IRC Class 0, which took line honours just two seconds ahead of Tony Langley’s Gladiator team that won the Rolex TP52 World Championship at the New York Yacht Club earlier this month.
Gladiator gybed in a strong gust just 50 seconds from the finish, with Notorious following suit moments later, positioned on Gladiator’s windward quarter and both boats hitting speeds of 16-19 knots. Another gust propelled Notorious forward to take line honours by the tightest of margins. Gerd-Jan Poortman’s lower rated Dutch Ker 46 Van Uden – Rost 3, took third place on corrected time just 36 seconds behind Gladiator. This was classic big boat Cowes Week racing at its very best.
“We had cracking Solent conditions, with plenty of sun and good wind all day,” says Morton. “We were never more than 5-6 lengths apart all the way round the course and it was like a four-hour match race, with lots of tacking against the tide up the mainland shore – I wouldn’t be surprised if we did 80 or 90 tacks today.”
Class detail
Racing got underway after a short postponement to allow the sea breeze to fill in, with the 30 strong J/70 class first away from the Royal Yacht Squadron line. The bulk of the fleet wildly optimistic about positioning at the start, resulting in a general recall. Even the restart under a black flag, saw four boats disqualified for crossing the line in the final minute before the gun.
An adverse flood tide gave a big advantage to anyone who could cleanly short tack within little more than 100 metres of the beach. This led to a few tense moments and provided plenty of spectacle for the throngs of spectators below the RYS and along the Green to the west.
Marshall King and Doug Struth’s DSP was among the boats to emerge at the head of the pack a few minutes after the start, as were Mathieu Cadei and Horatio Sykes’s Jeepster, along with Ian Poynton’s Powder Monkey. However, all three had fallen foul of the black flag. In addition, two boats – the first of many during the start sequence – met with the Grantham rocks, less than a quarter of a mile west of the start line.
The first leg proved a testing one for many and by the time the fleet was running downwind off the Solent’s north shore towards a committee boat finish, much of the fleet was well spread out, with a 16 per cent difference in elapsed time across the fleet. Nevertheless, this figure masks some very close competition within the class. Simon Patterson’s Standfast took the winner’s gun just 28 seconds ahead of Martin Dent’s Jelvis, with Bertie Fisher’s Powerhouse third 11 seconds later. The finish also turned out to be very tight further down the fleet, including six mid-fleet boats that crossed the line in a 30 second second period.
Their second race was just as close, with Jelvis taking first place, Ian Edwards and Ian Dobson’s Sardonyx second and DSP third, while Jelvis, Standfast and Sardonyx prevailed in the third. Jelvis therefore holds the overall lead after three races, with only four points.
Performance Cruiser Division A were the first of the larger yachts to start from the RYS and were far more conservative in their approach to the line, while also making longer tacks, than the smaller dayboats. Charles Youngman’s Arcona 410 Tiaki was first away, hitting the line at speed on port tack, clearing ahead of the rest of the fleet by several lengths before standing further offshore in stronger breeze.
However, she stood too far out into the stronger tide offshore, handing an initial advantage to Richard Dilley’s Grand Soleil 46 Belladonna, which had started on starboard tack, heading into the shallow water close inshore. By the end of their 24 mile race Belladonna had pulled out a lead of almost four minutes on Derek Saunder’s higher rated Corby 45 Incisor, to win by a very comfortable margin.
This year IRC Class 4 features a mix of J-Boats and saw close competition between a gaggle of J/105s and J/92s at today’s start, with David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J’Ronimo and Richard Newsom’s J/105 Javelin both OCS. In the heat of the moment it’s always difficult to judge if you’re only marginally OCS and only Javelin returned to start correctly. Nevertheless she climbed back up the fleet to take second place on corrected time, behind Alain Waha & Matt Waite’s J/99 Further West, which took victory by three and a half minutes. Libby Finch’s J/92 Nightjar completed the podium.
IRC Class 5 is more numerous and includes several larger boats. Today there was plenty of frenzied action at the inshore end, with many boats attempting to duck behind the line in the final 30 seconds and even then a number were OCS. Even experienced local boats were not immune, including Harry Heijst’s one off S&S 41 Winsome, which had to sail almost to the shore before finding a spot to return safely.
A few minutes after the start, John Howell & Paul Newell’s Archambault A35 Arcus, along with Dom James’ Archambault 32 Thunderbault, looked among the best placed boats on the water. Arcus went on to take a comfortable victory almost four minutes ahead of Jon Powell’s SJ320 Betty on corrected time, while Brita Van Rossum’s Belgian HOD35 Zarafa took third 94 seconds later.
IRC Class 7 also had its share of intense action at the inner end of the start line, where yachts that had started prematurely, and therefore had no rights, mixed with those closehauled on starboard tack who had started correctly. Cowes boat builder David Heritage made what initially appeared to be more cautious start further offshore in his immaculately restored West Solent One Design Harlequin, avoiding the melée inshore, but he was one of five competitors scored OCS.
Rick White’s modified Jeanneau Fun 23 Hasta la Vista was first to finish, but was also among those who started prematurely, leaving another beautifully refurbished West Solent One Design, Victoria and Chris Preston’s Suvretta to take line honours. However, Craig and Emma Dymock’s H Boat Wight Wedding gained victory on corrected time, bumping Suvretta down to second place, while the Leather family’s Sonata Sonic completed the podium.
Racing continues on Family Day tomorrow, when a lot more brilliant sun is forecast, although the sea breeze isn’t predicted to be as strong.
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