Favourites for the Crewsaver RS Elite Stadium Cup 2013

Tight racing in the first heat: Kandoo III, Crauford McKeon, leads E’Tu, Al Keck, and Livez Simon Cavey during the Crewsaver RS Elite Stadium Cup at AAM Cowes Week © Steve Powell

With just over a week to go until the Stadium Cup at Cowes, several of the favourites will be competing in Lymington for the Class's Southern Area Championship at the Royal Lymington this weekend. Winning this weekend would boost anyone's confidence – a critical factor for the ultra short course Stadium Cup racing.

The two favourites have to be Crauford McKeon's Kandoo III team and Jono Brown's Aeolus crew. Both are double RS Elite National Championship winners, with McKeon holding the advantage as the current title holder. Indeed McKeon dominated the season last year and is also defending his 2012 Crewsaver Stadium Cup win. But Brown has got the attitude to take risks when he needs to and this could make the difference in a 15 minute race. This unpredictability means several other boats could upset the form book - a great start or an OCS could well be the difference between walking away with the trophy and a set of the exceptional new Crewsaver Ergofit lifejackets – or nothing.

Racing will take place close off Cowes Green from 5 to 6pm on Saturday 3rd August, after Cowes Week racing, with live commentary by Cowes Radio; 87.7 FM and through the onshore speakers. Last year the competitors could hear the commentator pointing out their every mistake as they tacked up the Green – a new experience for most.

There will be two 15 minutes heats, with the top two boats from each going into the winner-takes-all final. Three minute start sequences further compact the racing into a short time.

Racing will be videoed by www.Cowes.co.uk so if you can't watch on the day look out for the footage on the site after the event and a link will also be posted from www.RSElite.org

For details of the full Crewsaver range go to www.Crewsaver.co.uk