Cowes Yachting

18/07/2023

Wow, those are serious stats. 29 IMOCAs, that is huge, as we've seen recently in the Ocean Race, the competition in this class is very tight. The last Fastnet I did was on an IMOCA with Mike Golding and there were 13 IMOCAs, it was unbelievably close racing all the way around.

Entry Numbers for the Rolex Fastnet Race. 📈⛵️
TOTAL: 4️⃣5️⃣5️⃣ As Of Tuesday, 18th July 2023

28/06/2023

At NOON today we will close entries to the 2023 edition of Round the Island Race - so there's still time to get your entry in!

Be part of the fleet and have a cracking day out on the water this Saturday. Weather reports for the weekend, race info and entry form on the event website: www.roundtheisland.org.uk

Island Sailing Club

21/06/2023

The Island Sailing Club has an incredible collection of 400 burgees, given by visitors and Members over many years. They adorn the ceiling of bar and restaurant in the Clubhouse.
The collection began, unexpectedly, after the Club gave H.R.H. The Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh a Dragon class yacht called ‘Bluebottle’ as a wedding present in 1948. Bluebottle sailed across North America and wherever she went, her crew, consisting of members of the RNSA, were given burgees as mementos. When Bluebottle returned to England, they were sent to the Club to proudly display with name tallies. Visiting sailors are encouraged to contribute to the collection.
Ros from Pequot Yacht Club has been intouch with the Club and wanted to swap burgees while visiting the Island from the United States.
Phil Cracknell Sailing Flag attended the exchange.

30/05/2023

The discounted entry fee for Cowes Classics Week entries closes on 31st May 2023. Don’t miss out on the savings – enter here today 👇

https://www.cowesclassicsweek.org/enter-online

21/12/2022

Some great stories and beautiful photos of projects at one of our favourite boatyards over the past 12 months.

21/12/2022

Some great stories and fabulous photos of projects at one of our favourite boatyards in the past 12 months.

20/08/2022

Another sailing dynasty represented at this regatta is the Vines family, with Jeremy Vines one of the most senior sailors here sailing the National 18 Ace. He told me he had sailed in first National 18 championship in 1948, with his father and brother.

As well as National 18s, he and other members of his family have been prominent in the Fireflies and International 14s.

In this photo, Jeremy on the right, is helping Paul Reilly with fitting out his recently restored Fancy Free.

20/08/2022

Not all the gems to be found on the Parade during this regatta are boats. I bumped into Mimie Curry, sailing royalty, she was admiring the boats and in particular the International 14 Sunrise (545), which had originally been owned by her father, Charles Curry.

It was of course Charles Curry who started Fairey Marine, which was the original builder of Fireflies, Albacores, and many other Uffa designs.

Mimie was the first woman to win a dinghy national championships in England when she won the Firefly nationals.

20/08/2022

19/08/2022

19/08/2022

19/08/2022

Thank you Dartmouth Gin, John Terry and family and the Royal London Yacht Club for a great opening party at the Commodore's House yesterday evening. Star of the show was Cowslip, the late Duke of Edinburgh's Flying Fifteen, back in her old home.

The atmosphere was jovial and convivial, with so much talk of times gone by. There was also huge relief for those who had instigated this event that it has finally come to fruition.

18/08/2022

17/08/2022

VIGILANT, BUY A PIECE OF YACHTING HISTORY.

By John Roberson

Cowes, Isle of Wight: 17th August 2022. Vigilant, one of Uffa Fox’s earliest and most significant keel boat designs, is for sale following a restoration by the famous Elephant Boatyard in Bursledon. Designed to the original 22 Square Metre rule and built by Uffa in 1930, he sailed her from Cowes to Trosa, Sweden for the Skerry Cruiser Championships, a perilous journey in a boat not much bigger than a Dragon.

The 22 Square Metre rule, created for the Royal Swedish Yacht Club in 1908, was particularly suited to Uffa’s creative mind, essentially stipulating the sail area and allowing the designer a free hand with the hull. Vigilant has a gross displacement of just 2 tons, length overall of 10.51, waterline length of 7.77m and a beam of 1.93m.

The stormy return trip from Trosa also established Uffa as a pioneer of offshore racing. While he is best known as the father of planning dinghies, Vigilant had been for him an early venture into keelboat design. In the storms he found that that the stretched bow and stern made her ideal for rough coastal waters. This broke with traditional thinking that only heavy, wide and high-sided boats were seaworthy in open waters.

Yarmouth, I.o.W, based owner Phil Thomas, who commissioned the restoration, sadly died before getting much time to enjoy that beautiful work of the Elephant Boatyard. Consequently the boat is for sale and can be seen on display at Cowes Yacht Haven during the UF50 celebrations.

Why not come to Cowes and revel in a feast of boating history, then take an important part of it home with you?

Offers are invited by e-mail - [email protected]

17/08/2022

A festival celebrating the legacy of Uffa Fox 50 years onwards. This festival will include a sailing regatta. Plus many more events shall be happening for Families and Children.

18/07/2022

Great to see this boat being well looked after.

07/07/2022

I caught up with my good friend Mark McNeill yesterday, and over lunch at the Royal Ocean Racing Club he updated me on the upcoming UF50 event - uf50.org - a celebration of the great Uffa Fox's legacy, 50 years after he died.

There are now 43 entries ranging from Uffa's famous Atalanta series of offshore yachts, to the humble Firefly. In the entry list my attention is drawn to the five vintage International 14s, and I'm almost salivating at the thought of seeing these beautiful old boats sailing.

The Int 14 Avenger was a turning point in Uffa's design career and the whole world of dinghy sailing, because she was the first proper planing hull. Sadly she is not on the list of entries, but some of those that are date back to the 1930s.

This three day event, 18th - 21st August is really shaping up to be a great celebration of a very significant period in the history of boat design.