(Cowes, IOW, England)- This year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week,
hosted by the Cowes Combined Clubs, provided competitors a wide-range
of sailing conditions- from the “shorts & shades” variety with
plenty of wind and lots of sun to light air, cloudy and drifts!! The final day was a brilliant conclusion to top off a most extraordinary AAM Cowes Week. High pressure, brilliant sun and a solid westerly breeze again delivered perfect conditions. The wind dipped briefly in strength to around 10 knots as a belt of thin cloud moved across the Solent around midday, before increasing to 15 knots with stronger gusts when the sun returned 30 minutes later.
The
bulk of the White Group dayboat classes completed their series today.
The larger boats dominated the Sportsboat class results. With a win in
Saturday’s race, David and Kirsty Apthorp’s J/88 J-DREAM sealed the deal
to claim the silver in the Sportsboat class. Paul Ward’s EAT SLEEP J
REPEAT took 4th and Dirk & Dianne van Beek’s SABRIEL JR- 6th.Jack Davies’ YETI won their race for the J/70 class, winning three trophies(!)- J/70 Class, the Under 25 Trophy, and the Young Skipper’s Trophy! Fourth place was just enough for Ali Hall’s J-CURVE to retain second overall and claim Top Women’s Skipper, just one point ahead of Claire Lasko’s ELIZABETH- taking 3rd in class and 2nd women’s skipper!
With the main series for Black Group yachts having concluded Friday, Saturday’s racing was for individual class trophies. Rob Salter’s J/92 JACKDAW took away the silverware in IRC 5 on Saturday.
7th day- Friday’s report
The top two boats in IRC Class 1, the Mills 39 Zero2 and Bruce & James Douglas’ J/133 SPIRIT OF JACANA started the day tied on 10 points. A win Friday for SPIRIT OF JACANA cemented her overall victory!
The
J/109 class enjoyed a high-scoring series, with six different race
winners and 11 of the 25-strong fleet scoring at least one podium
result. David Richards’ JUMPING JELLYFISH started the day at the top of
the leaderboard, but a disappointing sixth place, after accepting a time
penalty that cost three places, saw him finish the series in second
place, three points behind overall winner Neil McGrigor’s BOO. A win in
today’s race for Nick Burns’ Team Mandrake saw him take third overall,
just one point behind Jumping Jellyfish and one point ahead of
Christopher Sharples, Richard Acland and Patrick Tolhurst’s Jukebox.A narrow win Friday for Martin Dent’s J/111 JELVIS, 35 seconds ahead of Paul van Driel’s SWEENY, narrowed the scores at the top of the leaderboard. However, third place Friday for Tony Mack’s McFLY was still sufficient to secure his overall win, one point ahead of JELVIS. Paul van Driel’s SWEENY ended the series in third overall, two points adrift of JELVIS’ score. Notably, the BRITISH SOLDIER team won the silver in the Under 25 Trophy division!
The
series points for most of the White Group dayboats finished Saturday,
however, four classes had their final race Friday. Kevin Sproul and
Chris Taylor’s JAT started the day at the top the J/80 leaderboard,
ahead of Chris Body’s MOCKING JAY and Jon Powell’s BETTY. JAT and
MOCKING JAY again led away from the start, followed by Terence O’Neill’s
AQUA J and BETTY. JAT took her fourth consecutive win, 45 seconds ahead
of Mike Lewis’ JESTER, with BETTY in third place only 18 seconds later.
MOCKING JAY finished in seventh place more than five minutes later, a
result she was able to discard to remain in second place overall, two
points ahead of BETTY.The IRC Class 5 had a slew of J/97’s, J/97E’s, J/92’s in the fleet; they took most of the top eleven slots. First J/team and 5th in class was Ole Bettum’s J/97E ALAMARA B III; 6th was Libby & David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J’RONIMO; the next four slots were occupied by J/97s- Andy Howe’s BLACKJACK II- 7th, Bob & Jon Baker’s JAYWALKER- 8th, Rachel & Robert Hunt’s JUMBLESAIL II- 9th, & Matt Paskin & Rob Orr’s JACKAROO- 10th; 11th was Rob Salter’s J/92 JACKDAW. Sailing photo credits- Paul Wyeth- PWPictures.com. For more AAM Cowes Week Regatta sailing information
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