Sunsail F40s at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week Midweek Update

Sunsail F40 racing at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week © Hamo Thornycroft / www.yacht-photos.co.uk

Sunsail F40 racing at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week © Rick Tomlinson / www.rick-tomlinson.com

Well Cowes Week 2013 in now well under way with three fantastic days of close racing under our belts.

Day 1 (28 starters / 28 finishers)

So Cowes Week has begun. Day 1 provided a fantastic breeze of 16 - 22kts from the SW, with the race committee setting a course some 17.4nm around the western Solent.

As ever, the F40's provided some intense and close one design racing which lasted just shy of 2 and half hours.

Last year Miles Dalby took line honours in Race 1 only to be DSQ'd. No mistake this year and sailing under the banner of Cardiovascular Health Clinic they took line honours by just 3 seconds from fleet newcomers, First Sailing with third place only 19 seconds further back, Powell Systems.

To prove the closeness of the class racing, all 28 boats finished within 25 minutes of each other.

Day 1 Results:

1st 4016N Cardiovascular Health Clinic - 02:24:04
2nd 4020N First Sailing – 02:24:07
3rd 4027N Powell Systems – 02:24:26

Day 2 (30 starters / 27 finishers)

Sunday morning dawned with a decent breeze 12-15kts again from the SW for the midday Sunsail F40 start. Today the race committee sent the F40's on a zig zag 21nm trip around the western Solent down as far as Hamstead Ledge in Newtown Bay.

A punishing 3 hours later and it was the team of First Sailing that took line honours from Aberdeen Edinburgh and Simply

Aberdeen Edinburgh was given and accepted a time penalty dropping them to 7th, promoting Simply to 2nd and Schroders Alpha to 3rd.

Day 2 Results:

1st 4020N First Sailing – 03:04:55
2nd 4019N Simply – 03:06:35
3rd 4014N Schroders Alpha – 03:06:53

Day 3 (26 Starters / 26 finishers)

The day started off perfectly with a bit of sunshine and a decent breeze for the SW upwards of 15 knots. A long day lay ahead with a course that would take the fleet again down the western Solent.

It was to be a long day on the water as not far from the finish the rain came in and killed the wind leaving the fleet to battle against the tide. Luckily, for a few front runners, they were not too far from the final few marks, allowing them to make use of the tide to take them to the finish.

Taking their second bullet in two days was First Sailing finishing the 20.4nm course in 3 hours, 41minutes and 38 seconds. 2nd, some 8 minutes behind was Panik and a further 9 minutes back in 3rd was Aberdeen Edinburgh.

Day 3 Results:

1st 4020N First Sailing – 03:41:38
2nd 4002N Panik – 03:49:18
3rd 4005N Aberdeen Edinburgh – 03:58:00

Day 4 (0 Starters / 0 Finishers)

Well we waited and waited and waited but the sea breeze never filled arrived and at 2pm N over A was flown from the RYS, with all racing abandoned for the day!

The forecast for Wednesday is for another day of light winds, however all is still to play for over the final few days for this closely matched fleet!

If you are interested in learning more about Racing with Sunsail in the UK, please contact Terry Hunt at .

Results after Day 4: (three races)

Full results updated daily can be found on the Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week website here.