Just another event?
by Mark Jardine 4 Aug 16:00 BST
Cowes Week day 3 © Ingrid Abery /
www.ingridabery.com
We've been blessed with incredible sailing so far this summer in the UK (for once) with great breeze much of the time, and some of the best events in the world gracing our shores.
The Admiral's Cup has been successfully revived and has repositioned itself back in its role as the unofficial offshore sailing world championship, SailGP in Portsmouth has proved that if you provide the spectacle then people will come and watch sailing, and countless other events have kept us entertained, whether as competitor or armchair sailor. These are truly halcyon days for British sailing.
But, like with Storm Floris, there are clouds on the horizon and not everything is well in the world of sailing. Classes wax and wane, the fortunes of clubs ebb and flow, and events rise and fall. Cowes Week is sadly an event where the trend continues downwards.
Over the years I've loved racing at Cowes Week. Be that in the X One Designs that I sailed for many a year with (or against) my dad, in IRC fleets with mates, in the Bembridge Redwings on occasion, and special events in the SB20 and Victory classes. There were fun times on and off the water, and a real sense of occasion. Seasons revolved around the event, and getting a good result in the Captain's Cup in the XOD was the pinnacle.
It was in 2011 that the XOD Centenary was held, with 146 of the One Designs gathered on a single startline, and now just 36 have entered the week. The Captain's Cup deserves more, but sailors are voting with their feet, choosing instead to compete in events like the Taittinger Regatta at Yarmouth, Poole Week, Itchenor Points Week, Lymington Week and Cowes Classics.
While media has changed beyond recognition since the turn of the millennium, Cowes Week used to gather mainstream attention in the broadsheets. It was one of the key events for getting sailing noticed outside of sailing circles. Now of course it's all about grabbing attention with short videos paired to the latest viral song, but the event simply isn't getting the exposure outside of the sailors' own social media feeds.
Cowes itself as a sailing venue certainly isn't at fault. The Royal Thames Yacht Club 250th Anniversary Regatta and the Admiral's Cup have reinstated the Isle of Wight town as the global capital of world yachting, and Cowes Week could and should have fed off the success of these events, as well as watched and learned.
Cowes Week suffers from being too long an event with too little racing. Over seven days the norm is to lose one or two days to the weather, be that too much or too little wind. Getting five races in during a seven day event isn't the kind of thing many want to do, and it isn't like the days without racing are days off - long days waiting around in the cafes and clubs, drinking endless coffees, deciding when to tuck into the packed lunch, before debating when to start on the beers, doesn't make for the greatest of days.
There are glimmers of what can be done. The J/70 class is one of the biggest at the event, with three races a day for 4 days of racing, and there lies the secret to success. More racing, less time, and clear proof that the compacted event schedule works, but this hasn't been widely rolled out. With so many fleets it is impractical to have everyone heading off the Squadron line every day, but mixing it up so that one day you have a single Solent race, then the next you have three committee boat starts would provide variety and interest.
Cowes Week does poll competitors at the end of each event, but I fear the results of these surveys are either ignored, or self-validating amongst the ageing group of sailors who like to do things how they've always been done. I again refer to what is working elsewhere to see what a successful model looks like.
So how many yachts are competing in Cowes Week? Taking a look at the first Saturday, here are the figures from the results sheets, including those who didn't start or declare.
By my maths, there are 216 in the 'yacht' classes: 84 boats in the IRC classes, 22 of which competed in the Queen's Cup, 33 in the Club Cruiser classes, 31 in the two Performance Cruiser classes, 14 Contessa 32s, 9 J109s, 9 Cape 31s, 8 Sonatas, 8 Quarter Tonners, 8 Sigma 33s, 8 Sportsboats and 4 Prometheus 41s.
In the two classes with three races a day there are 36 J70s, 16 SB20s, making the J70s the joint-highest turnout fleet at the event.
In the 'dayboats' there are a total of 163 boats, with 36 X One Designs, 17 Bembridge Redwings, 17 Sunbeams, 16 Darings, 14 Flying Fifteens, 14 Seaview Mermaids, 14 Sonars, 12 Dragons, 12 Etchells and 11 Victory One Designs.
That makes for 431 boats total. Cowes Week used to have that number in the dayboat classes alone. It's noticeable that the Squib class isn't at the event at all, whereas in 2018 the class entry had to be capped at 100 boats...
So how should Cowes Week stop the rot? My personal thought is to split it into two halves with a Saturday to Tuesday series and then a Wednesday to Friday series, with two or three windward-leeward races some days and classic round the cans Solent racing on the others - the exact breakdown can be chosen by each class and honed over time. Make it possible to compete in the entire week if you want to, to keep those who like things as they are happy, and I believe the event can be revived.
This may seem overly-negative to some, where I'm normally very positive about the sport, but I believe in Cowes Week and want it to succeed again, especially with its bicentenary celebrations next year. The clues as to how to do this are there, and I've talked to enough sailors over many years to understand what they all want. The question is whether there is the will to change amongst the decision-makers. If not, the plethora of other events will continue to thrive and Cowes Week will continue to be 'just another event', which is far from where it should be.
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor