Countdown to Lendy Cowes Week 2018

Squibs in front of the Royal Yacht Squadron © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

The format for Lendy Cowes Week is well known and loved, but we are looking to build on the traditional areas of the regatta by offering particular classes the type of racing they want and making the event modern and forward-looking for everybody.

Here are some of the new features and changes for 2018:

Lendy Cowes Week App

2018 sees the launch of the brand new Lendy Cowes Week Competitor App. Every crewmember with an iPhone or Android device will be able to download the App and view their own personal schedule of racing, course information for the day (including distance and bearing to each mark), race announcements, the official wind forecast that the course setters are working to, and the key social events taking place shoreside. The App is designed to help the whole crew feel more involved in the regatta, and the inclusion of course and bearing data will definitely be welcomed by those currently struggling with a tiny reference chart in a wet day-boat! The App represents a big technical step forward for the event, and the plan will be to roll out a similar facility to spectators in 2019.

Mini-series for Fast 40+, HP30 and Quarter Ton classes

This year we are running mini-series for 3 Black Group classes. Each mini-series comprises four days of Committee boat starts with two races per day, with the intention for the second race to loop into the standard courses and to finish on the Squadron line. Everybody loves finishing off the Green and Lendy Cowes Week is about much more than just windward leeward racing.

3 races a day for J/70 and SB20

We've also added a third race every day for the J/70 and SB20 classes during their mini-series. The first race will start off the Royal Yacht Squadron and finish at a committee boat on the Bramble Bank plateau. The second race will be a pure windward / leeward course on the plateau and the third race, starting from a separate committee boat in that vicinity, will race back and finish at Cowes. We believe it's important for Cowes to be the hub of the racing and we are excited to offer this race structure which gives a bit of everything.

Repositioned Finish Line off the Harbour Breakwater

We are moving the Shrape finish line from the corner off East Cowes to the Western end of the harbour breakwater. This is visible from Cowes Parade so friends and family can get a better view and will mean that those boats finishing on that line are closer to the beer tent when they get their finishing gun. Both big wins we think!

Western Solent Laid Marks

We have moved three of the laid Lendy Cowes Week black race marks from the eastern Solent to the western Solent which will give the course setters more options in the western Solent. A high priority will be to make sure that as often as possible we give all of the different fleets a variety of sailing in both the east and west Solent, and then a finish off the green on the Royal Yacht Squadron line.

New Sailing Instructions and Radio Channels

We have restructured the sailing instructions into a single document so that there are no longer Black and White group sailing instructions. We have also made big changes to the radio frequency structure. In the past boats changed their radio-frequency after starting whereas now the individual start lines each have their own dedicated channel and boats will use the same channel all day, depending on which start line they use after the 09:45 time check on Channel 22. Worth reading carefully!

For this year we continue to have the Bramble Start Line in the sailing instructions but we will be doing everything possible to vary its angle to suit the prevailing wind conditions each day.

Post Race Performance De-brief with World Champion Andrew 'Dog' Palfrey

We also have the new Lendy Cowes Week Post Race De-brief sessions being run at Shepards Marina's Sugar Store after racing on Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. World Champion and America's Cup coach Andrew 'Dog' Palfrey will provide professional coaching using photography, video and tracking feedback for two classes per day. If you'd like your class to be included let us know at www.lendycowesweek.co.uk/asklaurence. A great chance to talk to your classmates, enjoy Shepards Marina and find out what the winners that day did on the race course.

100 Squibs for their National Championships

We are delighted to have the Squib Class National Championships taking place during Lendy Cowes Week. 100 boats will be competing which will be an awesome spectacle, with extra special viewing opportunities on Saturday 4th, Monday 6th and Wednesday 8th when the class will be starting and finishing off the Green (look out for their co-ordinated spinnakers, generously provided by Communications Sponsor aql). Holding a particular class championship as part of Lendy Cowes Week is something that we would like to develop further in the future. With more and more classes moving away from a totally structured up-and-down race course, Lendy Cowes Week is uniquely positioned to offer a great social setting combined with a mix of committee boat starts, together with well set 'open course' racing around the Solent.

We really look forward to welcoming you to Cowes on August 4th. Sailing Instructions with start times for all classes are now online. If we can help with anything please don't hesitate to get in touch