Ladies day

Women in short supply at the British Classic Yacht Club Regatta in Cowes

Ladies' Day at the British Classic Yacht Club Regatta Cowes 2009 dawned somewhat grey and overcast, but even the ensuing rain did not dampen the spirits of the female helms who had assembled at the Cowes Yacht Haven this morning eager for the chance to take charge of a classic racing yacht. Some frantic last minute press-gang activity was witnessed on the dock by those owners who had been so far unsuccessful in securing the services of a lady helm. Happily most boats appeared to manage to cajole a suitable female to join their crew and the majority of the fleet left the marina on time. Conditions for the start of the single race of the day were similar to yesterday, but as the rain settled in the breeze dropped back to a moderate eight to 12 knots. It is a testimony to the skill and ability of the lady helms that, from an observer’s position at least, it was impossible to distinguish the quality of the racing from the previous day.

Lizzie Hill took the helm of the Spirit 46 Dido, which she owns with her husband Tom. For today’s racing, Tom had been dispatched to the far reaches of the foredeck, leaving his wife in charge at the back. Although Lizzie has plenty of experience of helming during their many delivery trips, she says her racing helming is restricted to an annual outing at the BCYC Ladies' Day.

So how had she found the conditions during today’s race? "It was actually very pleasant, if a little wet. A bit gusty at times, but it was generally fine and manageable. Steering Dido in a racing situation is challenging, really enjoyable and just great!" she enthused.

Lizzie describes herself as a calm and quiet helm, unless of course she gets bossed around. "Sometimes you get a double input where one instruction conflicts with the previous one, which can be confusing. Luckily I got some fantastic support from our wonderful tactician Matt Fairless who was a great help." According to Lizzie things went pretty smoothly aboard Dido and she puts this down to excellent crew work. Nevertheless she didn’t think they had done enough to win. ‘Fingers crossed, we are hoping for a second’ she confided.

After a difficult delivery trip which saw them arrive only late last night, Peter Cauwenberghe and his crew aboard the Belgian entry Easy Glider had little time to find a lady helm, but at the last minute managed to persuade German Anna Claussen, from the regatta organisation team, to sail with them. A delighted Anna thoroughly enjoyed her day on the water and after the racing described the Easy Glider crew as "very polite and extremely experienced".

She says that the fact that they knew their boat so well made it very easy for her on the helm. "The crew did a fantastic job and their boat is so beautiful and fast that it was a real pleasure to be on the helm and actually much easier than I expected."

So who on board had been responsible for advising Anna during the racing? "I didn’t need any help," she answered resolutely. "The guys are so lovely and did their jobs so well. All I had to do was steer. I would sail with them again anytime." Anna was less confident of her final placing in the race and cagily predicted a mid fleet result.

With female sailors in short supply, BCYC Secretary David Orton had made sure that he had reserved the services of his lady helm Vicky Weston well in advance of the regatta. Back on the dock after racing he described her performance aboard St. David’s Light simply as "brilliant". "It was a great day on the water despite the rain. Our only problem today was a blown out spinnaker, but that was nothing to do with Vicky."

Despite this positive review from David on her first ever time at the helm of his boat, Vicky confesses to being a reluctant helm. "I don’t really liking helming very much so I usually try to avoid it in the main. I have to say though I had a great time today. Fortunately the conditions were pretty moderate and it was a nice gentle introduction to steering St. David’s Light. The crew were all very nice and made life easy for me." Who did she blame for the disintegration of the spinnaker? "Nobody’s fault. I think the age of the spinnaker was responsible to be honest," she said with a smile.

The final Ladies' Day results showed exactly how close the racing had been. In the Modern Classic division IRL 1974 Soufriere took an eight second win from GBR 35 Flight of Ufford with GBR 719R Dido taking third. The Classic fleet produced an even closer margin with GBR 523R Cereste winning by just two seconds on corrected time from K1034 Cetewayo with Mikado taking the final podium position.

Tonight the BCYC Classic Regatta Cowes 2009 competitors will gather at the Cowes Corinthian YC for the regatta Crew Party with provided music by The Accelerators. Racing continues tomorrow with another series points race scheduled to start at midday when conditions are expected to be a little fresher.