11 minute read
Cowes Week
Best of both
Whether you’re a racer, cruiser or cruiser-racer, Cowes Week holds wide appeal, as Georgie Corlett-Pitt found out from the current holder of the Sailing Today Trophy, Adam Ridett
owes Week is famous the world over. Seven days of round the cans competition on the prime sailing spot that is the Solent attracts everyone from the grand prix racers of IRC0 and IRC1 to the diminutive yet ever-popular XOD. ere’s hot competition to be found in every one of the 35+ classes – but there’s also plenty of opportunity for family fun.
For Adam Ridett, co-owner (with Phil Moore) and skipper of Beneteau First 40.7 Challenger, this is as much a part of the attraction as anything. But last year’s regatta gave him all that and more, as he and his mixed crew of family and friends took victory in the Performance Cruiser B class and were awarded the prestigious Sailing Today Trophy. Many of the team have sailed together for as long as 15 or 20 years, regularly competing at regattas around the Solent, but this win came as a real highlight amidst the uncertainty and upheaval of covid.
“Of course, the crew li ing the trophy, celebrating together with family, with friends, is the best feeling!” Adam says. He smiles as he recalls the moment with pride, before going on to explain, “For us though it’s not just about the winning overall, it is also about enjoying the moment when we nish, getting together as a family, with friends and enjoying the social side of it as well.”
ABOVE
Close racing in the Performance Cruiser B eet, with Challenger well positioned as the windward boat
BELOW
Adam and his crew of family and friends celebrate winning the Sailing Today Trophy
Close competition
Despite what the title may perhaps imply, Cowes Week’s three ‘Performance Cruiser’ classes o er far more than the casual racing you might expect. So close was racing on the water at last year’s regatta that Adam says they only managed to secure the overall class win in the nal race, ahead of Richard Strong’s Hanse 445 Solid Air and long-time-rival Pete Newland’s Beneteau First 40.7 Anticipation.
“In the end we just nabbed the win, but that is what we want. We want close racing!” enthuses Adam. “Without competition, it’s not a sport, it’s a procession. So for us, the more people, the harder the racing, the better.”
But much as he clearly loves close competition, Adam isn’t tempted to upgrade to a grand prix racer anytime soon. He loves the exibility to race and cruise that his current
boat gives him, and he can o en be found anchored in Osbourne Bay with his grandchildren aboard, or pottering towards the West Country with his wife. He also enjoys JOG events, naming the Race to Deauville as a favourite - a cross-Channel race followed by the chance to enjoy some French hospitality before cruising homewards as the best of both worlds. Whether racing or cruising he emphasises: “For us it’s all about the journey, and the fun when you nish.”
Adam goes on to explain that entering his Beneteau First 40.7 into the ‘right’ Cowes Week class has been key to him getting the most from his racing experience.
He welcomed the move in 2020 by Cowes Week management to split the Cruiser division in to two separate divisions for Performance Cruisers and Club Cruisers. It came in response to signi cant year on year growth of the cruiser eet at Cowes Week.
By distinguishing between modern purpose designed cruiser-racers and what can be thought of more as genuine cruisers (o en sailed by novice or very occasional racers) the Regatta Director Laurence Mead and his team have facilitated fair and enjoyable racing for all, and eet numbers have rocketed.
It’s been a highly popular move, giving Adam and others like him an alternative to competing against the in ux of increasingly sportier thoroughbred racers in the main IRC classes. e result is not only competitive racing, but a great class camaraderie. “We all compete hard on the water but we are great friends a erwards. We will all share pointers with each other; sharing knowledge makes everybody more competitive,” says Adam.
Dream team
To win the class overall, Adam says, was truly a team e ort and down to the skill and experience of his crew. “ e whole crew, as soon as we get into race mode, we switch very quickly. One of the advantages of sailing together for many years is that everyone knows what we have to do. It means I know if there are three or four other boats racing to the same mark at the same time as us, I can delay my spinnaker drop or I can hoist or gybe or manoeuvre more quickly than them. at’s purely down to teamwork and practice.” e team is island-based and regularly sails in the Solent. “ e Solent is unique; it has two coast lines and they are completely di erent,” says Adam. “We have rocks to deal with on the island shore and on the mainland shore we have sand, so it’s much easier to be brave on the mainland shore. We are o en sailing with less than a metre of water under the boat on the mainland side if we need to tuck in out of the tide, but we wouldn’t even attempt that on the island side because we have signi cantly more rocks to deal with, so we might be putting in a lot more tacks.
“In that sort of situation, it’s about having an understanding of how you can push the boat but also the crew. I’ll be honest, I’m not overly sympathetic; if somebody is tiring in one job, we will rotate them with another person, but we won’t go easy - that makes all the di erence.”
But even for the well-honed crew,
What's in store for 2022?
Although it is early days, entries for Cowes Week are running 30 per cent ahead of any year in the last decade, which bodes well for one of the world’s most celebrated sailing regattas.
The Ball is back
Competitors of a certain age will remember the days when there was a Cowes Week Competitors Ball, and the organisers have announced that in 2022 the Competitors Ball will be coming back. Being run in conjunction with the Royal Ocean Racing Club at their clubhouse on the Parade, the event will be a Black Tie and Platinum Jubilee Best of British theme which gives plenty of latitude on the dress code!
From the old to the new
On the water the event will be celebrating 100 years of highly competitive XOD racing at Cowes Week as well as the 125th anniversary of the launching of the Redwing class who have also been racing at Cowes for over 50 years. At the other end of the spectrum there will be 20 of the new Cape 31 design, a super high-performance modern race boat, as well of course as a huge fleet of J/70s, the biggest in the Solent every year.
Club Cruisers on a roll
Cowes Week will also be continuing with its new Club Cruiser division, separating less experienced teams in more cruising orientated boats (you can have a kettle on board and race at Cowes Week after all!) from the uber-modern performance cruiser-racers, with their bulb keels and latest generation construction methods.
Jubilee celebrations
Cowes Week runs from Saturday 30 July to Friday 5 August – but the festivities won’t stop there. On Saturday 6 August Cowes will play host to the Solent Platinum Jubilee Celebration which will see hundreds of Solent racing, cruising and motor vessels taking part in a Fleet Review. Dressed Overall, the yachts will provide an amazing on the water spectacle for visitors to the town.The Fleet Review will be followed by a Silver Spitfire Air Display in the afternoon with a shoreside social event at Cowes Yacht Haven until late.
not everything went smoothly.
While the team on Challenger had notched up a string of top results in the early part of the regatta, luck turned against them on the penultimate day when, despite holding a 15 minute lead over the 13-strong eet, they rounded a mark on the mainland shore only to nd themselves suddenly in a huge wind hole. Along with a number of other eet leaders, they sat helplessly in that position for over an hour, watching in despair as their competitors spotted the wind void and sailed well clear, hugging the mainland coast and leaving Challenger adri as they headed to the nish. Timed out, Challenger was forced to retire from that race.
But while the result was hugely frustrating at the time, it’s also a race that Adam says stands out for good reason. He explains: “We had been quite happily winning the race, we were racing brilliantly, and the crew were doing wonderfully. It’s certainly true about not counting your chickens before they hatch! I look back now on it with amusement because we did end up winning overall, even if it was a real challenge at the time. But that race was also the highlight of the week. Up until we got into that position, we had been doing great – everything we had been doing well throughout the week, the start, hoists, gybes, tacks – they had all been great, and we had literally pulled away from everybody.
“ at was all down to crew work, and I felt it couldn’t get better than this in terms of the boat’s performance, but then the wind just died! But that’s why it’s a ne line.
“Ultimately, yes, you get a real buzz from crossing the line rst, and yes, we had that a good few times during the week, but I tend to remember times – as happened in this race – when the crew comes together and everything just happens seamlessly. For me that’s the most memorable because those are the things that take a lot of work and practice over months or years.”
Handy hints for first timers
Go for it!
For other cruiser-racers looking to give Cowes Week a try, Adam’s advice is to “go for it!”
“Identify which class you’re going to compete in rst, then get your boat and your crew out on the water as soon as possible. It is not necessarily speed that wins, but practice; last year, there were boats that were potentially quicker than us but because we could round the marks quicker and tactically understand the course better, that made the di erence.
“Do your homework, and enter some club racing locally rst to hone your crew work. Round the Island Race is another good opportunity; it’s much earlier in the season and at a distance of over 60 miles you get to practise every aspect of sailing.
“ e other important thing is to make sure your boat is
ABOVE
From slightly more race orientated eets like the J/109 through to dedicated cruisers, Cowes Week welcomes a wide range of hybrid classes, as well as IRC racers and one-designs
BELOW
Pre-start manouevring on Challenger - Adam says team work has been key to success The Cruising Association, which sponsors the Club Cruiser Class, has collaborated with Cowes Week on a video, answering questions that first timers at Cowes Week often ask. Watch the video online via sailingtoday.co.uk. Club Cruiser Class racing takes place under the Island Sailing Club Rating System (ISCRS) and Cowes Week Ltd can help owners get a rating (which is free) if you don’t already have one. Do make time to read the Sailing Instructions in full, available online two weeks before the event. Don’t miss the Skipper’s Briefing, on Friday 29 July, and daily Musto Morning Briefings broadcast daily on CowesLive! at 9.30am. Remember to make your declaration every day after finishing, either via text or the Cowes Week App. Enter now and get all the latest news updates at cowesweek.co.uk
appropriately geared. e stresses and strains of racing on a boat, on sails and equipment, and on the crew over races that can be four, six hours, can really be intense. If your boat is not geared up for it, particularly in stronger winds, not only can you put your own crew in danger but others as well.
“Overall, it needs to be collaborative thing; you can’t just think of the boat without the crew, and vice versa. Practise, build up to it, don’t go there without any prep.”
For now, Adam is still in the process of con rming his plans for this season a er a back injury forced a delay in getting back out on the water. But he’s determined to compete once again in Cowes Week, along with his crew, and hopes to see many more cruiserracers on the start line.
