Daily Reports

 Saturday 29th July

15.5 kts on the speedo and 17 pts on the scoreboard, not such a bad day at the office.

With 89 boats sailing in the SB3 class and a start to the west (against the tide) meant that the inevitable would happen......everyone getting a practice start ! It was just a shame that marineontheweb (MOTW) had an absolute flyer. Attempt number two caught a couple of boats OCS under the black flag, but for MOTW we had a bit of a Jen moment arriving a little late forcing us to start in the dirty air from the leading half of the fleet.

Working close to the island shore off Cowes green was the only way to go, and after a 3 mile beat upto the first weather mark MOTW had clawed herself upto 30th place. Working hard over the next 3 legs in breeze building from 10 to 20kts, MOTW continued to make good progress as a result of some good tactical calls from Ian and some arm stretching trimming from Nick.

“We had great downwind speed today” commented Nick, “these boats really start to hoon when the pressure rolls down the course”. “We made up two or three places on each slay ride and with some good leeward mark roundings we avoided any major incidents.”

“I think everyone returned to the dock with smiles on their faces today” said Mark as he stepped ashore. “It has been a while since Skandia Cowes Week produced such a thrilling ride on day one, lets hope the forecast for the next few days holds as we are expecting more of the same.”

Roll on day two, our target is 18……………kts

See www.photoaction.com and www.eddiemays.com for some great photo’s of MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk

 Sunday 30th July

Day Tim….a holiday for the Laser SB3 class

‘Champagne sailing’ were the words most commonly heard in the bars and yacht clubs of Cowes as day two delivered stunning racing conditions, clear skies and a gusty breeze that topped 20 knots throughout the afternoon.

However the Laser SB3’s were drowning their sorrows shoreside as two general recalls resulted in Principal Race Officer Malcolm McKeag having to take the difficult decision to abandon the class for the day to ensure no further disruption to the lengthy starting sequence on the inshore White Group line.

The knock-on effects of general recalls can cause havoc for the later starters and with the benefit of hindsight, the decision would, although disappointing for the 85-strong SB3 fleet, seem to be correct. Certainly there were some dismayed sailors kicking their heels in Cowes as they eyed the rest of the fleets having one of the sails of the year in stunning, picture-perfect conditions.

Afternoon consultations with the class association and the organisers of Skandia Cowes Week ensued as a compromise solution was weighed up to ensure that this exciting class, brimming with talented sailors, can avoid further disruption to their series. A longer line will be introduced for the White Group fleet overnight with the moving of the Alpha outer distance mark and the starting time for the Laser SB3’s has been brought forward to 10.05am to allow up to three recalls without affecting the second start (International Etchells) whose schedule will remain unchanged. Further tweaks to the Sailing Instructions will see the Black Flag meaning instant disqualification and, if after three recalls, the fleet still can’t get away, they will be placed on the Committee Boat start line.

“We’re certainly not trying to teach the Laser’s a lesson,” said McKeag, “It was a very difficult decision to take to abandon the fleet but we, as organisers, have to cater for over 1,000 boats and it would have been unacceptable to, say the XOD fleet (the last starters) to push their starting sequence back to a time when expected finishers would be crossing the Squadron line. We did have that situation last year and we’ve done everything to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. I feel terrible for the Laser SB3 fleet but, as a race officer, sometimes we have to make unpopular decisions for the good of the majority.”

 Monday 31st July

After yesterday’s abandonment for the 89-strong Laser SB3’s, it was an early 10.05am start for this, the biggest fleet at Skandia Cowes Week as the race officers hammered out a compromise solution to ensure that not only could the hard-charging fleet get away but that any general recalls would not disrupt the schedule for the rest of the inshore fleets.

Somewhat surprisingly, when the Royal Yacht Squadron canon fired for the SB3 start there were cheers from the platform as every boat got away cleanly for a 14.74 nautical mile course around the central Solent. As squalls filtered down the racetrack, the SB3’s showed just why they are such a popular class as they flew downwind on the mainland shore under asymmetrical spinnakers, pumping huge spray and hitting impressive surfing speeds.

From the start it was clear that a gaggle of four boats would dominate the race as PWC, Selden Seen, Henri Lloyd and Musto jumped out in clean air to lead up along the green against the tide. For MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk we had to sacrifice some early places to get into the shore where the breeze was going to lift on port tack, and the foul tide was weakest in the shallow water. Short tacking up the green was again a spectacular sight as all 89 boats fought hard for the inside track, some taking things a little too far and running hard aground. Having brushed the bottom lightly a couple of times, MOTW rounded the first weather mark just inside the top 20 boats and reached across in procession to the eagerly awaited first downwind leg. “In 20kts of breeze it is very important to get the kite up quickly to be able to heat up and get the boat planning” commented Mark, “we had a reasonable hoist but just as we started to heat up a rather large gust caught us sitting too far forward and the inevitable broach ensued letting 4 or 5 boats thro. At least we had cleared the weed from the keel somewhat un-intentionally, which a couple of passing boats could also confirm as we waved the keel at them before recovering to set-off on the sleigh ride downwind."

Following two excellent leeward mark roundings and some great tactical calls from Ian, MOTW were able to climb slowly thro the fleet on the next couple of beats before the REAL action started on the final run of the day. “The breeze had built to 25kts (gusting 30) as we turned to hoist the kite at the top of the final run” said Mark, “but the hard slog upwind was more than rewarded as we had the most exhilarating ride with the boat screaming along clocking speeds of between 14-18kts down the 2 mile leg.” After a good final beat to the finish, MOTW crossed the line in 12th place for the day, an improvement on day 1 and delivering the promised 18kts.

Lets hope for more of the same on day 4.

See www.photoaction.com and www.eddiemays.com for some great photo’s of MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk

 Tuesday 1st August

Despite a fantastic start and more outstanding downwind speed, MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk finished a disappointing 46th on day 4 of Skandia Cowes Week having fought hard in the top 5 for all but the final leg of todays racing. The trials and tribulations of racing at Cowes can often deal a poor hand, but the cold beer at the dock with Nick was all that was needed to put aside what was otherwise a cracking day out on the water.

Today running starts were the order of the day for everyone including the SB3 fleet, and provided a fantastic spectacle for the shoreside spectators. As the first start of the day at 10.05am, it was a tense affair for the hard-driving Laser SB3 fleet who all clustered at the outer distance Alpha buoy to take best advantage of the fast running west to east flood tide. A few expensive collisions amongst the back markers ensued as some of the less experienced SB3 sailors struggled with their boat-handling but in the main the fleet got away to a much cheered “all clear” from the line spotters for an energetic jaunt in the central Solent. One of the big winners from the start was the all girl crew of Team Maclaren, who sailed an absolute blinder today and upset the established order in the fleet by recording a beautiful 1 minute 55 second race win from dinghy ace Geoff Carveth’s Small But Steamy. Yesterday’s winner, PWC held off the challenge of Glenn Bourke’s Musto to secure third spot whilst Russell Peters had his worst result of the regatta so far, finishing in a distant 36th place and proving that even with amazing boatspeed, if you get buried in the SB3 fleet it’s incredibly difficult to recover.

With another great forecast for tomorrow, day 5 can’t come quickly enough.

 Wednesday 2nd August

Bright sunshine and more glorious wind greeted the Laser SB3 fleet on day five of Skandia Cowes Week. “I can’t remember a week with such prolonged great windy conditions” commented Ian who is calling tactics for MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk this week. “Everyone in the SB3 fleet has their fingers crossed that it will continue through the last couple of days and send us all away with big smiles on our return to work on Monday morning.”

Once again, the fleet got off to a flying downwind start on the first attempt to give the growing shoreside crowd of spectators another spectacular sight as 89 large VW kites get hoisted at the gun. Surprisingly, with a fast running west to east flood tide, the majority of the fleet exercised good speed on distance judgement as a large gaggle of SB3’s congregated with MOTW on the outer distance Alpha buoy as the gun fired, but it was Glenn Bourke aboard Musto who calmly started on a fast port gybe in mid-line who headed the fleet down to the Hill Head shoreline.

After a storming run down the left side of the course to sail round the leeward mark in 5th place on day 4, MOTW chose once again to repeat the same tactics and headed out on port gybe just behind Team Toureg this time in a much larger pack of boats. However with slightly less breeze and a weaker tide stream it was the turn of the right side to pay dividends leaving MOTW and class stalwarts Team Toureg with a job on their hands as they rounded the bottom mark in the back 3rd of the fleet. “After yesterdays tumble, we were very focused on navigation today” said Ian, “on the first beat we stayed hard right out of the tide as we headed up to a bouy mid-Solent and managed to pick up 10 places.” “Despite an average second run, we had a good last mark rounding and after a couple of clearing tacks at the bottom of the final beat we hocked into a nice lane to take the starboard lift all the way into the shore this time.” “Having learnt our lesson the hard way yesterday, we worked the very left of the course making good use of the echo sounder to keep us in the shallow water and out of the tide to pick up another 15 places as we closed on the finish line.” “Unfortunately after all this hard work we ran aground within sight of the finish line” commented Mark, “it took us a couple of attempts to get off, but luckily only lost a couple of places to finish in 30th place for the day. We were pleased with our boat speed today as we work to understand the boat and the fact that we had worked up through half of the fleet to recover from our average start shows that we are making progress in the right direction.”

However it was the boats that worked the right side on the first run of the day that fought for the top spots today, with Russell Peters in Selden Seen and Price Waterhouse Coopers of Jono Shelley overhauling Glenn Bourke on Musto by the first mark and then extended their lead over the next three legs to the finish enjoying a fantastic tussle that was just edged by Peters after two hours and forty minutes by a desperately close 33 seconds. These two were some three and a half minutes clear of the rest of the fleet that were brought home by David Cheyne’s Bucca with Bourke having to settle for another fourth place. Undoubtedly the SB3’s are one of the most eagerly watched classes in Skandia Cowes Week and with everything to play for in the final standings as we reach the climax to the regatta, it will be fascinating to see who emerges on top. Currently (and before discard) it’s Price Waterhouse Coopers who look good for the regatta win but if Selden Seen can keep it all together going into the final stretch or Glenn Bourke’s Musto can find some much needed bullets, it will be a thrilling conclusion to this, the most talked about inshore one-design racing fleet.

 Thursday 3rd August

Day 6 brought scandal to the Laser SB3 fleet as some of the leading pack in todays race did not sail the proper course, leading to a string of protests and some difficult decisions for the race committee tonight. After a long 1 ½ hour delay to the starts whilst the committee awaited the predicted drop off in wind strength it was another terrific day of racing that kicked started just after 1.00pm with the Laser SB3’s who streaked away, two sail reaching down to the eastern Solent. MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk started mid-line today so as to sail a more direct course towards the first mark whilst also managing to keep out of the way of the finish line areas which we the subject of the pending protests. Missing marks or not avoiding ‘exclusion zones’ at Cowes Week is similar to having a hidden camera at a poker table !

Classic battles unfurled throughout the fleet today in the closest racing of the week, with Selden Seen and Musto enjoying a titanic struggle all the way around a 12.31 nautical mile course that proved to be a test of boatspeed, boat handling and nerve. The two leaders fought tack by tack and gybe by gybe around the course with Selden Seen shading the final victory by a margin of just 10 seconds. Geoff Carveth on Small But Steamy led the rest of the fleet home nearly a minute and a half adrift of the leaders to take a marvellous third place to demonstrate just how well the leading lights of the SB3 fleet coped with the tricky conditions.

For MOTW the reaching leg had gone reasonably well until we had to keep clear of a couple of barging boats who did not have water at the first mark forcing us out wide to sail in dirty air for a minute or so after the rounding. Having dropped 10 places as a result, MOTW fought hard up the initial beat to start the first of three downwind kite runs in 35th place. With the pressure on to improve on the overall standings, MOTW worked hard in the shifting and varied breeze to slowly climb thro the fleet once again to cross the finish line in a well earned 16th place. “The conditions whilst not as windy as earlier in the week were very difficult today” commented Mark, “a lumpy solent awaited the fleet after the strong breeze in the morning, so this made the upwind legs quite a slog and challenging I’m sure even for the leading teams.” “We all look forward to the closing day tomorrow, atleast that counts towards the week long series scores before the final fling on Saturday.”

See www.photoaction.com and www.eddiemays.com for some great photo’s of MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk

 Friday 4th August

After six days of blustery, testing conditions for the 8,500 competitors at Skandia Cowes Week, day seven of the regatta dawned with light north-westerly breezes, sunshine and a smooth Solent race track.

Racing got underway on time with the Laser SB3’s living up to their reputation of being the hardest charging of all the fleets with a general recall followed by a black flag start.

Crowds of spectators lined the canon hustings of the Royal Yacht Squadron to view the amazing sight of the SB3’s second start that got away on a reaching leg down to the eastern Solent. A blanket of asymmetric spinnakers flopped across the mouth of the Medina River with Glenn Bourke onboard Musto wriggling through the moored dayboats parked on Cowes Roads to emerge as the front-runner. Bourke sailed a blinding race on this, the last day of the series for the SB3’s and held off the fast-charging Price Waterhouse Coopers of Jono Shelley and the triple race winner Russell Peters on Selden Seen to win by some 29 seconds.

MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk obviously needs some practice at these reaching starts, as again we got caught up with a couple of slower boats mid-line to round the first mark in another lowly 60+ position. With the Dyer Burdett team watching in the office, the pressure was on to achieve a good overall series position for the week so there was no sitting back to enjoy the light and shifty breeze. Working hard on both beats, MOTW continued to climb through the fleet and on the final run managed to time the final gybe from the right hand side of the course to overtake enough boats to step up into the top 20 for the day and secure 14th overall for the week.

“We’ve had a great week of sailing with MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk” commented Mark, “our sponsors Dyer Burdett have watched our progress with great anticipation all week and provided a much needed boost of moral after Tuesdays tumble from the 5th to 46th place. With all the interest and hype that the Laser SB3 class has generated this week, I am sure that MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk has provided a good level of exposure for our Marine Law sponsors. It has been a pleasure teaming up for Skandia Cowes Week, and I hope the team in the office have enjoyed the ride aswell”

Overall in the class, Russell Peters (Selden Seen) takes the best of five race series from Jono Shelley (PWC) with Glenn Bourke (Musto) sneaking into third spot. It’s been a brilliant week of sailing for the SB3’s who have provided acres of newspaper and newsreel coverage for the world’s media as well as being one of the talking points of Skandia Cowes Week.

 Saturday 5th August

After a week of fantastic sailing,  MARINEONTHEWEB.co.uk retired today after sailing only 300m in the first 5 mins of the race. Exceptionally light winds, and a poor wind forecast made this an easy call with only a handful of boats finishing in the end.

"It is going to be hard returning to the office on Monday" commented Mark, "but the feeling is always short lived as we look forward to the next event."