Skandia Cowes Week newsletter

The latest from the UK's biggest regatta

To kick-start Skandia’s 10th Anniversary as title sponsor of the world’s longest-running and largest sailing regatta, Skandia Cowes Week (7-14 August), Skandia will be joined by Australian sailing supremos John Bertrand and Rolex Sydney Hobart winner Grant Wharington at this year’s event. Bertrand, currently ranked World No. 2 in the Etchells class will act as an Ambassador for Skandia’s twinned event, Skandia Geelong Week, taking place from 21-26 January 2005.

The five lucky teams who are shortly to be announced as this year’s Skandia Squad, will benefit from Bertrand and Warrington’s wisdom and sailing experience as they help coach the Squad members at Skandia Cowes Week 2004.


Get your entry in!

It’s still relatively early days but Cowes Combined Clubs (CCC), the Regatta organisers, report that they’re receiving a ‘healthy’ number of European and international entries but point out that NORMAL ENTRIES CLOSE at 17:00 hrs on Monday 21 June 2004 after which date the late entry fee is applicable - for details see the Notice of Regatta.

Entry news

Following her construction in California Iain Hall’s production CBTF Schock 40 Wraith heads for UK waters will be taking part in Skandia Cowes Week with including Dave Ullman, Tom Schock, the designer, Matt Brown and Tom Paulling.

Wraith will have a black hull and black sails will create a ‘suitably menacing’ sight on the Solent this August. Wraith has recently left the US, bound for the Panama Canal, and she’ll be delivered to Hamble Yacht Services at the end of June for commissioning. Thence follows some shakedown sailing before the full crew complement merge at the beginning of August for a serious workup.

Meanwhile, Peter Ogden’s new Swan 601, Spirit of Jethou, will have her first regatta outing at this year’s Skandia Cowes Week and Mervyn Gutteridge’s Moose on the Loose, the only J/90 in Europe, is described on the entry form as ‘very very wet, and very very fast downwind’.

Full Pelt X/Jo Richards – the 10th in line of Full Pelts owned by Stephen Fein and designed, built and managed by Jo Richards will be undertaking one of her first major competitive outings at Skandia Cowes Week. She’s 36ft and weighs in at just 1700kg - and she’s been rated 1.704, the highest IRC rating currently issued and more than the new generation maxZ86s (1.648). The new boat has a 800kg canting keel and will field a crew of six. Full Pelt is of Carbon/Nomex construction - SP Materials, built by an ex-GBR build squad, carbon mast, future fibres composite rigging, and UK/McWilliam sails. She has impressive power-to-weight ratios - in excess of a 49'er, so the aim is that upwind planing is possible. Full Pelt X is competing in the Round the Island Race, at Cork Week and Skandia Cowes Week.

…& the Russians are coming!

A team of 11 Russian yachtsmen are competing on the IMX 45 Follow Me, representing the Regional Social Organization "Sport Club UTS”.

On the Multihull front

This year sees the first-ever Multihull Class being catered for at Skandia Cowes Week and one interesting entry that has come to light is that of the 10.9m Wingover from Brian Wilkinson who is preparing for the 2005 Single Handed Transatlantic Race.

Brian Wilkinson acquired Wingover in 1999. She was built in 1992 in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and is a heavily modified Lock Crowther design. The design name, Twiggy, was the name given to Ian Johnstone and Kathy Hawkins Twiggy tri which sailed from Australia to take part in the 1982 OSTAR and Round Britain Race. Designed to a 3ft x 30ft platform, the design generates extreme righting moment and has proved a popular production design in Australia.

Wingover is the only boat of its type north of the Equator. In her modified form, she is in some respects, a half scale ORMA class trimaran with a rotating wingmast and water ballasting and with these features incorporated in the boat during the 4-year build, her design was clearly ahead of her time. Originally designed for the Jester Class of the OSTAR race, Twiggys have established a strong pedigree for offshore and ocean racing.

Watch out! Watch out! The Weakest Link’s about!

Anne Robinson's acid delivery and her verbal put-downs have given her a reputation as the rudest person on television. 'You’re a coward, aren’t you?'; 'We’re not fainting with admiration here'; 'pathetic'; 'appalling'; 'shameful'; 'stupid.' - just some of Anne's choicer phrases!

On Wednesday August 11th, a team from the BBC TV Quiz Show ‘The Weakest Link’, hosted by Anne Robinson, is coming to Skandia Cowes Week in search of new victims! The Weakest Link researchers will be based at the Sail 4 Cancer marquee in Cowes Yacht Haven between 11am and 1pm and will spend the rest of the day out and about canvassing spectators, competitors, organisers…in fact anyone and everyone…to ask if they would be interested in being considered for the 6th series.

Cowes Combined Clubs - It’s 40 years old this year but what’s it all about?

The Cowes Week regatta may be 178 years old this year but it’s only in recent times (40 years this year) that the Week has become an integrated series of races organised by a single body. During the post-war era, each day of racing was run by a different Cowes or Solent mainland club. Every club printed their own sailing instructions and ran their own programme for the day. By 1964 however, the clubs had realised that there were significant benefits in having one central body coordinate the racing. They agreed to combine resources and establish the Cowes Combined Clubs (CCC) to run the regatta as a single organisation.

Today, CCC is a limited company and has 10 member clubs. On each day, an individual club presents its own prizes but the race teams are arranged on what has become known as the 'triumvirate' system - three combined teams of race officers drawn from the various clubs. Representatives from each club form the CCC Committee, chaired by Peter Ralls, that meets four times a year to plan the racing programme and to decide how the available funds from sponsorship and entry fees are to be spent.

Meanwhile, the huge administrative and logistical operation behind the successful event is managed by a full-time team led by CCC Director Stuart Quarrie. Stuart deals with every aspect of the regatta organisation and, during the event itself, co-ordinates the activities of well over 100 people working behind the scenes to ensure that the racing, results, information room, protests and media centre all run as smoothly as clockwork.

Cowes Yacht Haven – this joint is jumpin!

Cowes Yacht Haven (CYH), one of the key focal points for visitors to Skandia Cowes Week and a firm favourite with the thousands of sailors after racing, will be in full swing again at this year’s Event. There’s a fabulous line-up of live bands scheduled to provide the on-stage evening entertainment. There are sponsor marquees and the Event’s official charity Sail 4 Cancer will be running their daily Lewmar winch-grinding competition. The famous Beer Tent takes pride of place and allegedly boasts the longest bar in Britain, with over 200 pumps. Once again Youngs Brewery will be one of the main sponsors of the Beer Tent along with Fosters Lager. Mount Gay Rum, the unique tipple to Cowes Week, will be one the biggest sellers this year and Jameson Irish Whisky is sponsoring the Nightclub. All this plus a terrific array of food and drink outlets and you’ve got a winning combination.

Skandia Cowes Week Parade Village offers
Model Boat Pool feature for family fun…and more

Building on its success last year, Mainsail and Wight Leisure are working together to create an improved and more exciting Skandia Cowes Week Parade Village for this year’s event.

New attractions will include a model boat sailing pool situated in the exhibition marquee. The Sail for Gold Bar is back and open until 11pm and is donating a percentage of its profits to the Sail for Gold campaign in support of our British Olympic and Paralympic sailing teams.

There’s live music and entertainment from 12 noon - 10pm and Happy Hour every evening. Visitors can review the day’s racing action and results on plasma screens after racing. With great views of the Solent and Cowes harbour, the Parade Village is the perfect venue to watch all the action including the spectacular Firework display on Friday 13th August.

The Skandia Cowes Week Parade Village has something for everyone from shops, and refreshments to exhibitions and marine displays. Browse through the Retail Village with marquees offering everything from clothing, to sunglasses, island arts and crafts or regain some energy in a visit to the food court.

Shepards Wharf goes from strength to strength

Peppermint Events are providing a whole raft of new facilities at Shepards Wharf for this year’s Skandia Cowes Week. The set up is aimed primarily at competing yachts and their crews, offering an open-air bar on the pier, catering areas (including a luxury BBQ), champagne and oyster bar and pre-order lunch service for competitors. For those not racing, there are seating areas, music, entertainment and competitions.

Shepards Wharf is open every day from 0600 during Skandia Cowes Week to provide breakfast facilities for the crews. The ‘Peppermint Pier’ is open all day providing excellent views of the River Medina and all the yachts coming and going from their daily races.

According to Adam Hempenstall – Head of Marketing, Peppermint Events: ”We aim to further develop Shepards Wharf by working closely with Cowes Harbour Commission, Cowes Week Sponsorship and Cowes Yacht Haven to collectively provide Skandia Cowes Week with appropriately distributed facilities, for the crews and spectators alike.”


Sail 4 Cancer – Objectives for Skandia Cowes Week 2004

Sail 4 Cancer, the Event’s official charity until 2005, has announced its four main objectives for this year’s Skandia Cowes Week:

1) Awareness: For every single sailor in the UK to have heard of Sail 4 Cancer by the end of the event

2) Funds: To raise £20,000: Sail 4 Cancer intends to direct 50% of these funds to support Cancer Research UKs ‘Bowel Cancer Research Campaign’ which is racing to find a cure for bowel cancer through the developments of the common aspirin

3) On the water: To provide sailing related ‘Opportunities of a lifetime’ for youngsters with cancer on grand prix sailing yachts such as Open and Whitbread 60s

4) Sponsors: To reinforce and promote its relationships with Skandia, Cowes Combined Clubs and the supporting sponsors and to promote sailing to the wider community as a whole.