Contessa 32 2025 Racing Season Preview
by Peter Binning 25 Apr 11:49 BST
Action from Contessa 32 Nationals start line 2024 Merak II chasing Andaxi © Clive Hughes
The evergreen modern classic, the Contessa 32, continues to attract significant numbers to one design class racing in the Solent.
This weekend sees the season opener, the first of the Inshore Series on Saturday and Sunday 27-28 April at the Island Sailing Club in Cowes with dinner for competitors at the Max Aitken Museum. All Contessa 32s are welcome to join the racing fleet. Pure one design racing with 20 or 30 boats on the start line for the major events makes this a great class to race in; and you can still go cruising or race competitively offshore under IRC too.
After this weekend, the Inshore Series continues at the annual Contessa Regatta on 17-18 May at the Royal Solent Yacht Club in Yarmouth with a total of 9 events over the season including the glorious Taittinger Regatta at Yarmouth and Cowes Week culminating in the Nationals which this year is hosted at Cowes by the Royal London Yacht Club from Friday 26 to Sunday 28 September 2025.
One of the boats to watch this year will surely be Collateral, now returned to her original name of Solan Goose, having changed hands for this season from Ray Mitchell, a serial Contessa 32 owner, to Ben Rogers who needs no introduction to the class! Ray Mitchell's clean sweep of the 2024 Inshore Series, Cowes Week and the Nationals will still be a hard act for anyone to follow.
The Round the Island Race on 7 June will no doubt see another large turnout if last year is anything to go by. In 2024 there were 34 entries in a very windy edition in which the 5 Contessa 32s that completed the course finished within 3 minutes of each other with Bugler taking 3rd overall in the ISC class. This year will be the 95th year of the race and Contessa 32's will be hoping for more benign conditions to enjoy one of the best days on the water in British yacht racing.
There are some 400 members of the Contessa 32 class association. All Contessa 32 owners are welcome to come out at race this season. It is going to be a good one.