Fickle day for the Open 60s

As BT shows her light wind pace to claim the 2009 Artemis Challenge

A fleet of star names from the worlds of sport, film and television took to the water in the Solent today for the third annual Artemis Challenge at Cowes Week. Zara Phillips, joined by her partner Mike Tindall, climbed onboard the Artemis Ocean Racing IMOCA 60 to compete for the £10,000 charity prizefund on offer to the winning boat.

The famous couple sailed against eight other high speed offshore racing yachts, skippered by some of the world’s leading ocean sailors and featuring celebrity guests such as Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, James and Oliver Phelps, who play the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter Films, and Coronation Street actress, Denise Black.

Light, fickle winds for the 1000 start off Cowes meant that instead of sprinting around the Isle of Wight as in previous years, the fleet took a route east out past the Solent forts before rounding the Nab Tower.

The race became a close battle between the five leading yachts, with the lead changing largely due to the wind lottery. Dee Caffarri's Aviva put in a top performance rounding the Nab Tower in first but after rounding the Winner mark off Chichester Harbour was becalmed.

On board Dee Caffari had joined forces with fellow Vendée Globe competitor Brian Thompson and her shore team of Joff Brown, Harry Spedding, James Bird, Cliff Nicholson and Andrew Roberts. It was role reversal for Roger Johnson as Dee became ‘teacher’ for the day, giving sailing instructions to the BBC presenter onboard Aviva. Also onboard was Champagne G.H. Mumm ambassador Neil Laughton who has recently completed the amazing Skycar Expedition, the world’s first bio-fuelled car that flew from London to Timbuktu in Mali.

"It was good to be racing against the others," said Caffari. "It’s the first time since the finish of the Vendée Globe and it’s great to have had such a good turn-up and to welcome the French and the Spanish in our English waters.”

““The start was good fun and we managed to lead for the first part of the race. Aviva is an awesome boat and it’s been a real treat to race her with Dee and crew. I can’t wait for next Sunday now! Let’s just hope we’ll get more breeze!” commented Thompson.

The lead was taken by BT IMOCA 60, skippered by Frenchman Seb Josse, with Dame Ellen MacArthur in the crew. BT ended up claiming line honours as the race course was shortened at No Man's Land fort in the failing breeze. Volvo Ocean Race winner Mike Sanderson, back at the helm of the Pindar Open 60 he created with designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, pulled up through the fleet to claim second.

Artemis' brace of Open 60s claimed the following spots - Artemis The Profit Hunter, the older Owen-Clarke design skippered by Simon Clay and assisted by Canadian rock god Bryan Adams, narrowly beating the newer Artemis Ocean Racing, skippered by Sam Davies, not enjoying the light conditions.

The win for BT meant that they scooped £10,000 for their nominated charity, the Ellen MacArthur Trust. The Ellen MacArthur Trust takes young people aged between 8-18 sailing to help them regain their confidence, on their way to recovery from cancer, leukaemia and other serious illness.

Zara Phillips commented: “It was great to take part in the Artemis Challenge at Cowes Week today and I’m very happy to have joined Sam Davies and the Artemis Ocean Racing team - seeing how everyone works together as a team is impressive. Sam and Sidney seem so cool and did an amazing job in hard weather conditions - at the end the wind went completely. They got us all involved in what was going on and we had a really good day.”

The Artemis Challenge welcomed the largest fleet of IMOCA 60s since the race’s inception in 2007. Commenting on the race, Artemis Investment Management CEO Mark Tyndall, who sailed onboard Artemis Ocean Racing, concluded: “The light winds and shortened course made for a very tactical and interesting race, which resulted in a precise game of cat and mouse and delivered a wonderful spectacle; the Artemis Challenge has gone from strength to strength each year. We had a great bunch of really talented sailors in British waters today with a fantastic fleet of IMOCA 60s charging up the Solent. We were delighted to host such guests as Zara Phillips, Mike Tindall, Bryan Adams and Dame Ellen MacArthur to name but a few, and I would like to congratulate BT on a great win in testing circumstances, which will see the Ellen MacArthur Trust benefit from the £10,000 prize fund.”

Artemis Challenge 2009 Results:

1. BT IMOCA 60
2. Pindar
3. Artemis The Profit Hunter
4. Artemis Ocean Racing
5. Aviva
6. Akena Verandas
7. Grey Power
8. Toe in the Water
8. Pakea Bizkaia