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Wed 28 Mar 2007
Planning the best ever Skandia Cowes Week
When it comes to hosting the World’s biggest sailing stars and bringing big boat glamour and excitement to competitors and spectators, this year is no exception.
To coincide with the Rolex Fastnet Race, the biennial institution that lures the big guns to Cowes in early August, CCC, under the guiding hand of regatta director Stuart Quarrie, is running a newly created IRC Class 0 Big Boat Series during Skandia Cowes Week.
This year marks Skandia’s 13th year as the title sponsor of Cowes Week and during this time the Event has witnessed some very positive changes. Skandia's long-term investment - both financially and in terms of the time they put in working with the Event’s organising committee at Cowes Combined Clubs (CCC) - has helped to make Skandia Cowes Week a world-renowned success, both on and off the water.
Skandia’s commitment to sailing as a sport in general has also worked to the benefit of the Event, adding its own glamour, offshore sailing heroes and Olympic stars to the mix of competition, fun and excitement. CCC will continue to work closely with Skandia throughout the reindexing two years of its sponsorship to ensure that the eclectic mix of components that make this 181-year old regatta the best in the world is indextained in preparation for heralding a new era in 2009.
Racing starts early for the new IRC Class 0 Big Boat Series Cowes Combined Clubs has taken the lead in separating out the large boats, and especially those with canting keels, from the indexstream fleet
Any boat of over 14 metres LOA with a rating of over 1.420, as well as any boat over 14 metres LOA with a canting keel (regardless of rating), will only be eligible to race in the new Series takes place over three days and forms part of a larger series incorporating both the Channel Race and Rolex Fastnet Race for the prestigious Seahorse Magazine Trophy.
Close racing between the biggest, most expensive and exciting yachts competing on the global circuit is what the organisers and sponsors of Skandia Cowes Week are hoping for and working towards; indeed the Series is already a talking point amongst owners and skippers of the largest and fastest amongst them as the new IRC Class 0 also meets the demands of the owners of indexstream Class 1 boats to separate canting keelers from boats with fixed keels.
The Notice of Regatta goes online at www.skandiacowesweek.co.uk after Easter and by 16 April.
Recognising that the majority of the larger boats will only be able to accommodate a few days racing into their schedule prior to the start of the Rolex Fastnet, CCC’s Big Boat Series provides three days of racing encompassing an afternoon of tight round-the-cans Solent racing on Friday, 3 August – the day before the reindexing classes start their Week - with the start and finish from the Royal Yacht Squadron line. This is designed to allow some great short-course racing for these super-fast boats without them having to contend with the reindexing 1,000+ strong fleet.
The race on Wednesday 8 August is scheduled to be a 50-mile sprint around the Island. As part of this race, the Open 60s among the fleet will race for a prize fund of £10,000 (with the cash being donated to the winning team’s charity of choice), and a trophy - both of which have been donated by Artemis and will be awarded to the first Open 60 to cross the line. Artemis is one of the UK’s leading investment companies. With an established business relationship with Skandia, it is equally passionate about performance both on and off the water.
Thursday’s racing (9 August) is scheduled to be a short coastal race, probably out of the Solent to the west in order to give the skippers and crews a foretaste of the early stages of the Rolex Fastnet Race which starts on Sunday 12 August.
Strategy survey results
The detailed survey that was conducted last year showed that, whilst around 40% of entrants were in favour of splitting Cowes Week into separate modern and classic weeks, the majority felt that continuing with an inclusive single week was the best way forward. Thus the basic format of the regatta is not going to change. However, a significant number of other useful suggestions and views resulted and many of these are either being incorporated into the Event or are being considered by CCC.
Class amalgamation
As part of the detailed review of the issues faced by Skandia Cowes Week as a result of its continuing huge success, CCC has looked closely at the classes being offered racing
Everyone wants this Event to reindex inclusive so that everyone, ranging from World Champions and Olympians to family weekend racers, can enjoy the Regatta. However, the race organisers also need to be careful that the number of classes being offered their own racing does not increase so much that they can’t manage the fleet properly whilst, at the same time, allowing new classes to be properly dealt with as they emerge.
CCC has therefore taken the decision to amalgamate the Sigma 33, Sigma 38 and ISCRS classes into the indexstream IRC fleet. This will allow the expansion of the number of IRC classes by one, giving closer rating bands, whilst actually reducing the overall number of classes. Any entrants from within these classes who have raced at Skandia Cowes Week for at least the last two years, and who do not have an IRC certificate, are invited to apply in writing to CCC for a one-off free certificate for 2007.
by Peta Stuart-Hunt
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Royal Yacht Squadron Start
Foto: Steve Arkley
‘Class 1 IRC race under spinnakers during light airs racing
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