Sandy Askew’s Flying Jenny beat 23 of the highest rated IRC yachts competing at Cowes Week 2025 to lift the prestigious Britannia Cup.
The battle for the Britannia Cup was between Class Zero, IRC1 and the Cape 31 fleets. The biggest boats in Class Zero were joined by Tony Langley’s Gladiator, which will be racing for the rest of the week.
First off on the Committee Vessel 1 start line was the Britannia Cup fleet, who got away at 13:00. Heading west, their first mark was Tuakana Construction. The big guns were out for the first to finish in each class.And first to be greeted by the reverberating sound in IRC Zero was Gladiator, with a healthy lead over Braveheart.
These two were followed over the line by Coco de Mer from Performance Cruiser A. It was a spectacular sight to see the giants powering their way downwind past the keelboat fleets, making the XOD fleet look tiny.
In the competition for the Britannia Cup, the adjusted results put the Cape 31 Flying Jenny ahead of Chris Frost’s sleek silver Carkeek 40 Amp Lifi, with Gladiator third.
Youth Day celebrates all the young sailors competing in Cowes Week. These range from young crews, like the crew on the Sonar Cowes Match Racing Blue, helmed by 17-year-old Will Bradley, all the crew are under 20 and the youngest is 16. They’ve been having a great week, currently lying second in class behind Richard Bailey’s Bertie.
Leading the XOD class are familiar faces and no strangers to winning Cowes Week, John Tremlett, Tim Copsey and Fraser Graham sailing Astralita, who finished second Wednesday behind Silhouette. However, fresh faces in the class are Abby Hire, Alex Paton, Kate and Tom Whamby from Lymington who are racing XL this week as part of the class’s Youth Bursary Scheme.
The scheme pairs young crews up with boats, lending them a boat and funding their Cowes Week entry. Next year the aim is for more young crews to join the fleet, with bursary boats from each of the XOD divisions from Cowes, Yarmouth, Hamble, Itchenor, Lymington and Parkstone.
Tomorrow the weather looks windy, with stronger, steadier south-westerly winds, with gusts in the mid to high 20s, the wind moving slightly right in the afternoon.
It’s also Royal Navy Day, with a helicopter and Fairey Swordfish display at 7pm in the evening, see the shore side programme here.
Read more here . . . Report by Gael Pawson
