Cowes - sailing central in 2001

With the America's Cup Jubilee, Cowes Week and many other events, Cowes will be the most important sailing venue this year

Globally yachting has its centres - Antigua, Palma, Fort Lauderdale to name a few - but this year the entire international yachting establishment will be focussing on Cowes and the Solent for the months of August and September.
The main reason for this is the America's Cup Jubilee Regatta which takes place from 18th to 25th August, celebrating the anniversary of the world's oldest sailing trophy, for a race first held in the Solent 150 years ago. America's Cup boats from the magnificent J-Class yachts to the veteran 12-metres to the modern International America's Cup Class (IACC) will be arriving in Cowes during the summer months from every corner of the globe. They include Australia II which in 1983 was celebrated for prising the 'Auld Mug' out of American hands for the first time in 132 years. The fleet will, of course, be joined by Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge America's Cup team who have their base in Cowes and are currently training on two of their IACC boats ready for the next America's Cup, which kicks off with the Louis Vuitton cha.
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Centre to the America's Cup fleet will be the three coveted J-Class yachts Velsheda, Endeavour and Shamrock with their sleek lines, long overhangs and huge rigs. These classics were raced in the 1930s by the super rich such as the Vanderbilts and Sopwiths (the Bill Gates and Larry Ellison figures of their day) and have since had millions of dollars spent completely restoring them. Equally awe inspiring for their sheer size and power are the giant classic yachts such as Adix, Shenandoah, and Mariette which will also be attending, along with many other smaller classic racing yachts.

In terms of numbers, best represented will be the 12-metres. Many of these are now British owned including Don Wood's Italia, Irvine Laidlaw's Ecosse and Richard Matthews' Crusader, the last British challenger for the America's Cup. Also among the 12-metre fleet will be South Australia crewed by the Alinghi America's Cup team and skippered by former Team New Zealand skipper Russell Coutts, winner of the last America's Cup.

Stuart Quarrie of Cowes Combined Clubs believes that due to the interest in the America's Cup Jubilee Regatta, the Skandia Life Cowes Week fleet will be the biggest ever and may for the first time top 1000 entries. By May there were four times the number of boats signed up compared to the same time in 2000. "The entries are looking to be way up on last year," he commented. Some impressive boats arriving in Cowes prior to the Jubilee regatta will also be taking part in Skandia Life Cowes Week. These include Mike Slade's round the island record holder Leopard and Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli's all black Stealth. Also to watch out for as it will running at around the same time as Cowes Week is the Royal Yacht Squadron's World Championships for the 12-metre class.

New among the Skandia Life Cowes Week fleets this year are the X-332s who have their own class and the popular owner-steered Farr 40 class who will be sailing three days of windward-leewards during Skandia Life Cowes Week.

The bi-annual Fastnet Race is being held this year starting from a line off Cowes on 12th August. Worth looking out for in this will be the new generation of Volvo Ocean 60s. The Fastnet will be the only occasion these boats will get to lock horns prior to the start of the Volvo Ocean Race (formerly the Whitbread Round The World race) which itself starts from the Solent on 23rd September.

The Volvo has become a truly premier sporting event, the pinnacle of professional offshore racing. Each of the Volvo campaigns have budgets of around $10-15 million apiece and are run along the lines of Formula 1 motor racing teams, often employing as many as 80 personnel and with massive pre-race training and development programs. For the first time the race is being sponsored by Volvo and the organisers have changed the course. Although it starts, as it always has, from the Solent, this time it will finish up in the Baltic taking in Volvo's home port of Gothenberg in Sweden before the final sprint leg to Kiel in Germany.

A slightly different, but equally large event is the which takes place all around Portsmouth Harbour on 24-27 August. At the International Festival of the Sea all manner of craft will be on display from 25 Tall Ships including some of the huge class A types, to an impressive collection of naval vessels right down to rowing boats.

For yachting enthusiasts, there will never be a dull moment in the Solent this summer.