Lighter winds Wednesday morning increased to give competitors another great day on the water, predominately in breezes of 10-18 knots.
Among the big boats at the Regatta, Ian Atkins’ Dark n Stormy picked up one of the sailing world’s most prestigious trophies, the Britannia Cup, which was first awarded to King George Vl in 1950.
Atkins, who is sailing in his 33rd Cowes Week, stormed around the 25 mile course to take line honours three minutes ahead of another GP42, Guy Gillon and Christian Hamilton’s Khumbu, with both boats saving their time on the lower rating boats in the fleet.
IRC Class 0 – Overall leaders
1, DARK N STORMY (Ian Atkins)
2, TSCHUSS (Christian Zugel)
3, FARGO (Bertie Bicket)
4, KHUMBU (Guy Gillon & Christian Hamilton)
5, VAN UDEN (Mr Gerd-Jan Poortman)
Performance Cruiser A encompasses an impressive variety of yachts, including an immaculately refitted Nicholson 55, a Swan 62 and 65, the 45ft ex Admiral’s Cupper Scaramouche, racing today with a team of girls from Greig City Academy, plus a pair of modern X4.3s.
Richard Loftus’ Swan 65 Desperado went on the take line honours, however the giant ketch was unable to save her time on Charles Esse’s X4.3 Baby X, which took victory on corrected time. Global Yacht Racing’s First 47.7 EH01 was third after time correction, only 57 seconds behind Desperado.
Performance Cruiser A – Overall leaders
1, BABY X (Charles Esse)
2, EH01 (Global Yacht Racing)
3, DESPERADO (Richard Loftus)
4, TIAKI (Charles Youngman)
5, XOXO (Richard Hutchings)
In IRC Class 3, John Howell and Paul Newell’s A31 Arcus scored a decisive victory, almost seven minutes ahead on corrected time of a trio of boats that were separated by only 20 seconds in the standings.
Mike Moxley’s Malice was second across the line, followed by Mike Bridges’ JPK1010 Elaine Again. However, neither saved their time against Clemency Williams Ives’ lower rated J/105 Jos of Hamble, which took second place three seconds ahead of Bridges, with Moxley dropping down into fourth 17 seconds adrift.
IRC Class 3 – Overall leaders
1, ELAINE AGAIN (Mike Bridges)
2, MALICE (Mike Moxley)
3, ARCUS (John Howell & Paul Newell)
4, JET (James & John Owen)
5, ANIMAL (Debbie & Kevin Aitken)
IRC Class 4 this year comprises lightweight designs with asymmetric spinnakers, including J/92s and Cork 1720s. On the final approach to the start David Greenhalgh’s J/92 J’Ronimo was closest to the line, sliding sideways on the stream before bearing away and filling the spinnaker ahead of her competitors.
Richard Matthews’ 1720 Decoy was also well placed, somewhat to leeward, with Jack Bank’s J/92 Nightjar and Craig and Emma Dymock’s modified 1720 La Vie en Rose 2 also doing nicely.
One of the lowest-rated boats in the fleet, Robert Baker’s J/97 Jaywalker, took first place on corrected time, five minutes ahead of J’Ronimo, with Nightjar third a further five minutes adrift.
IRC Class 4 – Overall leaders
1, JAYWALKER (Robert Baker)
2, J’RONIMO (David Greenhalgh)
3, NIGHTJAR (Jack Banks)
4, JUSTIFY (Ross Bowdler)
5, LA VIE EN ROSE 2 (Craig Dymock)
In IRC Class 5 overall class leader after the first four days, Giovanni Belgrano’s 38ft Laurent Giles classic Whooper, was further back from the line at the start. However, she was already at full speed, with the spinnaker set, and powered past the shorter boats to take a useful early lead on the water.
Despite a more conservative start, the highest rated boat in the fleet, Harry Heist’s S&S41 Winsome took line honours, almost two minutes ahead of Paul Thomas’ First 34.7 Cobra. Although Whooper was third on the water, she took a fourth consecutive victory on corrected time, ahead of Cobra and Winsome.
IRC Class 5 – Overall leaders
1, WHOOPER (Giovanni Belgrano)
2, WINSOME (www.winsome.nl)
3, COBRA (Paul Thomas & Matt Green)
4, 2XS (Aindriu McCormack)
5, SECRETS (Chris Agar & Lauren Bates)
In the J/109 Dutch entry Arjen Van Leeuwen and Silvy Leijh’s Joule took an early lead, followed by Michael Weinman’s Je T’aime Jami, and John Smart’s Jukebox. Joule went on to victory and now leads the fleet overall by three points, ahead of Jukebox, which finished second today. Brown Teal recovered to finish third, a substantial distance ahead of Chris Burleigh’s fourth-placed Jybe Talkin’.
J/109 – Overall leaders
1, JOULE (Arjen Van Leeuwen & Silvy Leijh)
2, JUKEBOX (John Smart)
3, BROWN TEAL (Clementi, Sheldon & Walker)
4, JYBE TALKIN’ (Chris Burleigh)
5, JE T’AIME JAMI (Michael Weinman)
Full Daily Results available here . . .
Report by Rupert Holmes
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