Champagne Sailing for the J/109 Fleet (Cowes, Isle of Wight, England- May 29-31)- To quote Solent sailing legend Kelvin Rawlings- "On a day like this there's nowhere I'd rather be racing than the Solent" - and for the competitors at this year's Vice Admiral's Cup, hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Cowes from 29-31 May, it was certainly a weekend of champagne sailing.
The four fleets enjoyed three days of hot competition in glorious sunshine and excellent winds under the auspices of Race Officers Bob Milner, running racing for the Classes 0 and 1, and Robert Lamb, running racing for the Quarter Tonners and J109s.
For Class 3 – the J109s – it was confidently won by David & Kirsty Apthorpe’s J-Dream with five firsts, two seconds and a discarded sixth. Speaking after sailing David put their success down to simple time on the water. “Going into the event Zelda and Jambhala looked like our closest competition, but we’ve sailed more than they have recently and put a lot of time in on the water which makes a big difference.” There was some controversy in the class when it was noted that Jambhala, owned by Gill Ross and Richard Sainsbury, had sailed the first day without either owner aboard which contravenes class rules. As soon as Gill and Richard realised their error they immediately did the honourable thing and retired from Friday’s races dropping them from third to tenth overall. Jambhala’s loss was to be Zelda’s gain and Ben Richard and Mike Ewart Smith were delighted to unexpectedly find themselves moving up into third place overall. Second place went to fleet newcomer Martin Miller sailing Jouster/Velvet Elvis who was thrilled to have done so well. For more info.