Keelboat final

Mary McBride reports on the final weekend of racing in the Red Funnel Cowes championship

Overall winners of this year's Red Funnel Cowes Keelboats sailing championship included a Conservative MP from an inland constituency.

Richard Ottaway, MP for Croydon South, sailed his Daring Decoy to victory with a successful six-weekend series at Cowes.

Mr Ottaway and his wife, Nicky, were presented with the championship trophy by Red Funnel marketing director Olive Glass, at an awards ceremony at the Island Sailing Club at Cowes at the weekend. The place of third member of the crew was taken during the summer by Gerry Westbrook and David Chaplin.

Runner up in the Darings, the largest class in the championship with around 40 boats taking part, was Royal Corinthian Yacht Club rear commodore Robin Richardson, sailing with his brother, Rupert, in their Daring, Doublet. Third was Decanter, a previous winner, sailed by Cowes Harbour commissioner Jeremy Preston.

Etchells' class winner was Nils Razmilovic, with Mtu Moja Na Umbwa Yake, but he was unavailable to collect his award because he was racing in the Etchells world championships in the USA, as was runner up Jervis Tilly.

Dragon class winners, Cowes-based Julia and Graham Bailey in Aimee, also missed the awards presentation because they are currently racing the Star dinghies in Nice.

The Sonar class was won by French sailor Hak Phan, who hired an Island Sailing Club Sonar, Biscuit, for the series.

The Red Funnel Cowes Keelboats Championship series is run throughout the summer as a joint effort by six clubs - the Royal Corinthian YC, Cowes Corinthian YC, the Royal Thames YC, Royal London YC, Royal Yacht Squadron and Island Sailing Club.

Red Funnel has sponsored the series for the past five years and marketing director Olive Glass said it was part of a £150,000 a year sailing sponsorship by the company.

Overall winners

Darings
1 Decoy (Richard and Nicky Ottaway),
2 Doublet (Robin and Rupert Richardson)
3 Decanter (Jeremy Preston).

Etchells
1 Mtu Moja Na Umbwa Yake (Nils Razmilovic),
2 Bushfire (Jervis Tilly),
3 El Toro (Paul Hayden).

Dragons
1 Aimee (Julia and Graham Bailey),
2 Excalibur (Paul Pattenall and Rudi Jurg),
3 Supremacy (Richard Cullen and Mark Hart).

Sonars
1 Biscuits (Hak Phan),
2 Sonic Lady (Richard Palmer),
3 Dolphin (Andy Cassell).