Ramsgate Week 2026 at Royal Temple Yacht Club - Queen Elizabeth II Cup day
by Peter Jackson 25 Jul 14:26 BST
19-24 July 2026
The committee boat set up off Sandwich bay for another light wind day but now with very little tide. The IRC classes did two short windward- leeward courses for the QEII Cup, the only trophy the late Queen ever presented for yacht racing.
Again the Pronavia Sport 42 Assassin quickly built a good lead in race 1 in very light airs, in fact so light that the race was sensibly shortened after one lap. The A-41 Aztec led the chase from the Cork 1720 Flying Pig, these 2 correcting seconds apart for 2nd and 3rd behind Assassin.
In YTC (classes 4-6) Mike & Jo Brands X-40 did a similar job on the water enough to correct ahead of the J97 Jura with the Dehler 34 Zephyros 3rd ahead of Loki.
In the second race the places were shuffled as the beats against the tide ended and the smaller boats came into contention. A late 20 degree veer lifted the later boats direct the finish line. Zephyros won that race by 40 seconds. Jura pushed the X-40 down to 3rd, with Bad Boys 4th. The top 3 all ended up on 4 points aggregated so the Andrew French et al Zephyros from the Medway beat the two larger boats overall on tie break.
In class 8 YTC, racing from the inshore start line, it was the usual suspects filling the places in the sunshine with slightly shuffled order. James Bradneys RTYC Mullins 23 Monarch won race 1 from John Barnards Greenwich based Limbo 6.6 LoFlyer then the RTYC E Boat Ziggy, and Zorra. The 2nd race ensured the bullets were finally fully distributed among the top three in the class as LoFlyer took the win, from Zigge and Monarch. Zorra was a consistent 4th.
In IRC the second race was also all change as the wind swung towards the south.. Assassin again led, but helm Peter Jacksons previous day prediction of a bullet for Aztec came true as the wind shift on the last leg lifted the chasing boats direct to the finish.
Simon Clifton's A-31 corrected a minute ahead of Martin Law's Cork 1720 Flying Pig, also getting second on aggregate behind QE II trophy winner Aztec. Assassin fell to sixth in race 2 but held on for third place overall from the Simon Northrop & Paul Thomas's Melges 24 Lock Stock.
In non-spinnaker class 7 on a short inshore course Susan Andersons Gibsea Impulse finally and comfortably bested Bernard Sealeys Karibia Breezes in the light airs to claim the win. Carenage claimed third, 2 minutes ahead of the severely overweight Avventura, reportedly on a diet for next year.