No wind for the day boats

Light conditions on the Solent

The many dayboat racers who turned up for the first in this year's series of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboats Championships found that sunbathing was more likely than sailing on both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, 15 and 16 May.

A serious lack of breeze resulted in both day's racing being abandoned when the breeze failed to arrive by early afternoon.

This first weekend of the six Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship weekends was run by the Island Sailing Club at Cowes and race officers dutifully scanned the horizon for wind from the club race box at the top of the famous club premises overlooking Cowes Harbour and The Solent, before chief race officer Peter Dickson called time on the waiting sailors.

Classes taking part in the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat series are Darings, Dragons, Etchells and Sonars, with good turnouts of top class sailors expected all round.

Dates for future Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat series:

5-6 June, run by the Royal Yacht Squadron
19-20 June, run by the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club
24-25 July, run by the Royal London Yacht Club
11-12 September, run by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
25-26 September run by the Royal Thames Yacht Club

The Red Funnel prizegiving for the keelboats championship will be on Wednesday, 12 January 2005 at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, 6.30pm.