It has been a bustling weekend of sailboat racing on the Solent – the tidal sandbank-strewn stretch of water that separates the Isle of Wight from the English south coast – with SailGP wowing the grandstand crowds in Portsmouth, while the first Admiral’s Cup edition for 22 years got underway on Saturday morning in Cowes in the annual 160-mile RORC Channel Race.
After weeks of balmy summer conditions in the south of England the prolonged dry spell finally broke on the opening day of both events, with torrential rain on Saturday morning dampening spirits for both the offshore and inshore crews.
Happily though, the skies cleared by mid-afternoon making for close to perfect conditions for SailGP’s four-race opening day. British Olympic medallists Dylan Fletcher and Hannah Mills masterminded a dominant 1,2,3,2 performance aboard the home team Emirates Great Britain crew that was cheered on enthusiastically by the estimated 10,000 people who packed the event’s gigantic grandstand.
Sunday dawned rainy and windy and my hovercraft ride across from the Isle of Wight to the mainland was a bumpy one. Tension was high around the SailGP race village as the branding flags and Union Jacks streamed busily in the 18-knot+ breeze. As the rain passed away and the sun re-emerged the strong Solent tidal flow kicked up a vicious looking chop that made life tricky for the teams as they warmed up around the Southsea race course.
The three fleet races were spectacular affairs with the top teams distinguishing themselves from the rest with superior boat handling around the restricted and obstacle-strewn – multiple channel markers as well as the huge Spit Bank Fort – racecourse.
Clearly enjoying the windier conditions Peter Burling’s Kiwi crew went on a charge in the first race, winning the start easily and storming away into a massive and ultimately unassailable lead.
After snapping their rig on Saturday prior to racing Quentin Delapierre’s team stormed off the start in races six and seven, winning the former by a huge distance and conceding to the Kiwis after a close fight in the latter.
The final saw the British, Kiwis, and Swiss line up to do battle for the overall result. The Swiss team, led by Sébastien Schneiter were in their first ever final and were somewhat outclassed by the Brits and the Kiwis who had a good battle, rounding the final windward gate with the New Zealand crew just ahead. The two teams split sides on the final run with Burling & Co. doing enough to stay in front at the finish, leaving another packed grandstand crowd cheering the British home in second.
All in all a great weekend of racing for the teams and the spectators who flooded out of the race village site like a football crowd leaving a stadium. There were plenty of sailing aficionados in the crowd for sure – Portsmouth and nearby Southampton are major sailing locations, after all – but there was also a strong mix of the non-sailing general public who had come along for the spectacle and excitement of an event like SailGP being hosted on their doorstep.
As far as I could detect as I shuffled out of the venue alongside them, everybody was going home satisfied after a great afternoon of on-the-water action.
Meanwhile, across the water in Cowes the Admiral’s Cup fleet were back from the Channel Race after experiencing a range of conditions out in the English Channel overnight, from light airs drifting to full-on power reaching on the way back into the Solent.
With the crews eschewing watch systems and treating the race like a sprint, the fleet ate up the 160-mile course quickly with the leaders finishing in 18 hours and the stragglers in just over 24 hours. For some sailors that meant, after a quick tidy-up and washdown of the boat, there was time to head over to Southsea to watch the SailGP action.
The Carkeek 52 Rán from the KCSS yacht club was first home in the AC1 big boat division. But after IRC time correction it was Giovanni Lombardi Stronati’s Wally Rocket 51 Django from the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda that took the class win, under six minutes ahead of Karl Kwok’s TP52 Beau Geste representing the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club in second, with Rán taking third.
In the AC2 small boat division the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron’s B&C 42 Callisto took class line honours and won the race on corrected time. Second on corrected time was the Yacht Club de Monaco’s Fast 40 Jolt 6 co-skippered by Pierre Casiraghi & Tom Dawson, with the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club’s Botin 41 Beau Ideal skippered by Christopher Cowan taking third. The Yacht Club Costa Smeralda’s Django JPK – a JPK 11.8 – finished fourth.
In the all-important overall team standings it is the Italian Yacht Club Costa Smeralda that tops the leaderboard with a first and a fourth (2,8 in the double points race), albeit tied with the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (second and third / 4,6). Completing the podium at this stage, two points back is the Yacht Club de Monaco (fourth and second / 8,4).
Today (Monday) is a lay day in Cowes but the teams will be working hard in the Cowes Yacht Haven marina as they scramble to switch gears ahead of three consecutive days of inshore racing starting tomorrow.
The atmosphere here in Cowes is electric and there is a real sense that the return of the Admiral’s Cup is already a success story, even though the racing has only just begun. That atmosphere can only ramp up over the coming days and as the regatta continues we can confidently expect plenty of great action, and almost certainly, some drama too.
Stay tuned for more updates.
