Warm weather, combined with winds gusting above 25 knots, provided lashings of excitement, thrills, spills and adrenaline for competitors across all fleets at Cowes Week Sunday. Long downwind legs for many classes ensured competitors came ashore with big grins.
In IRC Class Zero, for instance, Emmy Walker is sailing onboard the GP42 Dark n Stormy, with her father Ian, who is the team's tactician. Similarly, Huw Neville is sailing with his dad James on the HH42 Ino XXX, while Jacintha Hamilton is racing with dad Christian on his GP42 Khumbu.
These big boats had a gruelling 25-mile race, with around 80 tacks along the mainland shore, according to Ian Walker, as well as high-speed downwind blasts at boat speeds that topped 24 knots. Yet the first three boats crossed the finish line just 25 seconds apart. Christian Zugel's Fast 40 Tschuss took victory on corrected time, 10 seconds ahead of Dark n Stormy, with Khumbu third.
As Afloat reported previously, some of Ireland's top yacht race crews are among the IRC Zero Class at the world-famous regatta. Tchuss's crew includes Ireland's Johnny Mordaunt, Nicholas O’Leary, Tom McWilliam and Simon Johnson.
"A Classic day at Cowes Week!" commented Johnny Mordaunt sailing on Ker 40+ Tschuss with Christian Zugel at the helm. "A big upwind in full breeze and a rapid downwind." Ian Walker tactician on Dark 'N' Stormy counted 80 tacks upwind and the boat hit a top speed of 24.5kn downwind!
Tschuss won today's four-hour race by just ten seconds after IRC time correction from Ian Atkin's GP42 Dark 'N' Stormy. Guy Gillon & Christian Hamilton's GP42 Khumbu was third, just 26 seconds from winning the race.
Today the turbo-charged IC37 Icy joins the fray.
At the other end of the spectrum, the 20ft long Uffa Fox designed Flying 15 was born in Cowes 75 years ago. Yet it's still one of the fastest small keelboats at Cowes Week, where competitors are honing their skills ahead of the European Championship, with 65 entries, that will be hosted by Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club later this month. Today, several teams recorded boat speeds in the 14-15 knot range. "It was an exhilarating day," says Rupert Mander of Men Behaving Badly, "especially our first reach, which was a super-quick blast." He also reported a "very confused" sea state each side of South Bramble buoy.
