Cowes Week 2025 Day 6: Breeze and competition ramps up
by Gael Pawson 7 Aug 12:25 PDT
2-8 August 2025
The penultimate day of Cowes Week 2025 delivered great winds with some fruity gusts and choppy seas to challenge competitors as the competition for the top prizes heats up.
With the wind set to build from the benign 10 knots or so that started the day, and forecast gusts in the high 20s, the Yankee flag was displayed on all start lines dictating that lifejackets or buoyancy aids must be worn by all competitors.
Today saw the biggest boats in IRC Zero starting off the Squadron line - the first time this week that conditions have enabled that to happen. It proved a great sight for those ashore as Gladiator led the charge, powering upwind towards their first mark at Salt Mead. Van Uden chose a track further inshore. Braveheart gave a great view of her Saltire underside in the good breeze, with the TP52s making the Cape 31s look small.
In their sights today was the New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup, decided between all the boats in IRC Zero, IRC1 and the Cape 31s. This was won by the Cape 31 Bullit. Second was, Tokoloshe 4 and Jiraffe third, making it a clean sweep for the Cape 31s.
Super keen, IRC6 were almost all over the line, assisted by the tide, resulting in a general recall, but were off on their second try. The Quarter Ton, BLT, made it another win to keep her clean sheet for the week.
In Performance Cruiser A, just in case you thought there wasn't any competition in a class with the word cruiser in it, Matt Brown's 385 Investigator provided a perfect demonstration of time on distance to the line. Investigator lined up perfectly angled for a pin-end start, to cut through above of a bunch of three reaching down, led by Kenneth Hitchen's X46 Xsabio.
White Group started from Committee Vessel 1, in the Ryde Middle bank area. First off were the Sportsboat fleet, followed by the Etchells, Daring, and Dragons, who got off at 1115. In the Dragon class Bluebottle scored another win ahead of Bertie with Fit Chick third, leaving Bluebottle well ahead overall going into the final day.
Class detail
The 13-strong Dragon class is just one of the classes where the results don't tell the whole story. Apart from a second on the first day, Graham and Julia Bailey, sailing in Bluebottle with young Killian Boag have won every race. However, today's battle was a good example of how tight the racing has been. 'We started on Ryde Middle Bank then up to Colette,' says Graham. 'We were zig-zagging up and down that eastern part and then a final one from West Ryde Middle and then down tide to the finish. It took us about five legs to get into the lead, just biting away. Then we put bit of distance on them, so all was looking good, but we saw this container ship coming and we thought he'd be through us, but he slowed down and we had to wait.
'The fleet gained by being further off, they were able to tack across his stern earlier, so when we eventually went past the ship, we were pretty much bow-to-bow with all our competitors. In flattish water when you let this boat roll, she's really quick, but it's been really tight, there's some really experienced Solent warriors in the fleet, so you've got to pay attention.'
The J/109s started off the Squadron today, with Jukebox and Jenie the keenest at the start and Jukebox taking an early lead amongst the left-hand group. Class leader Joule had a conservative start and went for right of middle and the fleet headed west for their first mark, Newtown East, from there they had a very long downwind leg to the Bramble Bank before coming back upwind to the Squadron line for an upwind finish. Joule has dominated the class this week with straight wins, second on the first day was Frank 4, but Jukebox has been filling the runner-up spot since.
Joule's navigator Julius Janssen described today's racing: 'It was gusty,the wind went up and down between 10 and 20 knots. There were some smaller shift but it was very difficult to find the right gear for the wind conditions. We were a minute or so late for the start, we got our time on distance wrong with the current, but luckily we could catch up with the rest of the group. We had a very intense battle with number two, Jukebox with a tacking duel all the way to the top mark.
Julius says Cowes is worth the trip over from the Netherlands each year for both the tight competition and the socialising ashore: 'All week it's been great racing, the weather with the wind up and down, we like to play with the different settings and different modes. I think this is eighth or ninth Cowes Week for the team, this is the event we work towards for the whole year.'
The Victory class always enjoys a good competition at Cowes. Today's race was won by Peregrin ahead of John Scammel and Maxine Reeves' Zilch. John described the race today: 'We started at the Committee Vessel down in the eastern Solent so we were in the Peel Bank on windward-leewards. We had a very competitive fleet today, there's all the plastic Victorys here racing, which is really good to see. It's very tight at the top we've had three different winners, but today there was a battle to the end with the tanker coming across on the way to the finish and Peregrine pipped it in front of us. Should have been first for us but those things happen, and Ziva was third.'
This leaves Duncan Evans and Tom Hartridge's Peregrine leading by a fair margin. Just a few points separate the next six boats, Russell Mead's Shearwater II, Zada, Zilch, Zest, Ziva and Zelia.
In the Seaview Mermaid class, Sheen scored another bullet today to take a good lead overall with an almost perfect scoreline, counting one second place from Tuesday's racing. Behind the fleet is very tightly bunched, just three points separating Rosemary in second place, Cynthia, Zara, Halluf and Mimosa.
Tomorrow
It's the final day at Cowes Week tomorrow and there are more than a few battles in both the individual classes and for the overall Black Group and White Group titles. In the mix we have the Quarter Tonner BLT in IRC6, the Contessa 32 Drumbeat, The Cape 31 Tokoloshe 4 sailing in IRC1, Wight Wedding in IRC7 and David Franks' Leon in. In White Group, the XOD Astralita, the Sonar Bertie, the Seaview Mermaid Sheen, the Dragon Bluebottle and the Swallow Osprey are lining up as the top five overall.
Conditions look like we may see a delay to racing in the morning, so keep an eye on the App updates for any schedule changes or postponements.