North Sails Cowes Week 2026 - Day 3
by Cowes Week Ltd 3 Aug 22:14 BST
1-7 August 2026
North Sails Cowes Week has remained true to its roots over 199 years, and for most boats a single longer orienting race around the Solent each day remains the preferred option. Meanwhile, some of the smaller one-designs prefer multiple short, intense races each day and the event has evolved to deliver that.
Joining the list of classes using the so-called mini-series format in 2026 is the Folkboat class. It couldn't have been closer, with a single point separating first from second and another point back to third. Gybe N won from Crackerjack, which pushed If Only back into third place.
It was a different story in the J/70 fleet as they enter their last day of racing on Tuesday. Martin Dent's Jelvis, carrying the yellow North Sails-branded spinnaker as the overall leader, dominates with a scoreline that saw him and his crew on the podium in all nine races sailed to date.
Another new class to North Sails Cowes Week this year is the RS21, where Tiga Tiger, sailed by Tom and Jo Hewitson, won the mini-series of nine races by 8.5 points, ahead of Geoff Carveth and his team on Does Your Mother Sail? Carveth is a serial championship winner in everything from J/70s through Melges 24s and a host of dinghy classes, so the RS21 fleet was as competitive as they come.
It was good to see the Hong Kong entry Rainbow Chaser, sailed by Simon Wang and KK Lee, out on the racecourse, one of half a dozen Hong Kong crews competing.
At the other end of the scale, but no less important to the ethos of Cowes Week, was the Weekend Warrior Trophy. Three days of racing were laid on at North Sails Cowes Week for boats that perhaps don't race that seriously nor very often but want to be part of the world's biggest and most well-known keelboat regatta. Selina Dallas and her crew on Xscapiste took the winner's accolades ahead of local Cowes sailor Louis Kenna in second, while Paul Foster in Harlequin took the bronze medal home.
After a few years' absence, the Squibs are back at North Sails Cowes Week, with their distinctive tan sails making them easy to spot in the 641-boat fleet.
Lee Deck, sailed by Martin Harrison and Andy Ramsey, is going to take some beating, having put three bullets on their scorecard in the first three races. Kev and Marnie Gibson from Royal Victoria Yacht Club in Wootton hold a small lead over Steve Warren Smith in second, with Charlie Thomas and Harry White hustling hard in fourth and no doubt looking to improve as the week progresses.
The Squib class, along with a host of other Solent day-boat classes, started from a committee vessel today and sailed around a 10-mark course covering nearly 10 miles.
IRC Zero covered the longest distance on the day, fully 27 miles, which saw them beat out through the forts to the east. The big boats, starting earlier and going furthest east, had the best of the breeze, so IRC Zero was back in good time, with another Hong Kong crew led by Karl Kwok on his TP52 Beau Geste taking their third win of the week.
With seven days of competition, North Sails Cowes Week is a solid week of racing, and over that time hugely different conditions allow the race team to try to complete Cowes Week bingo for as many classes as possible.
That is, everyone gets to do a little bit of everything, whether it's starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line and going west up the Green close to the shore, finishing under spinnaker from the west with the RYS cannons firing, or going east as has been the case for the last couple of days when the breeze is best in that direction.
Looking at the forecast going forward, it's clear that the course setters will have very different conditions indeed to work around, with a solid south-westerly expected on Tuesday, building to a possible "big day at North Sails Cowes Week" on Wednesday. Legend has it that there is always a big day at Cowes Week, and the 2026 edition may be on its way.
Two balmy days of sunshine and flat water in the eastern Solent may become a distant memory very quickly.
Event website: www.cowesweek.co.uk