Cowes Week 2011

We have been enjoying the Spectacle of Cowes Week Sailing Regatta.

It has been a really good week of steady breezes, in fact quite windy on some days! so it has been great to be on shore watching all the action.

With hundreds of boats racing everyday there is always plenty to see from the starts at The Royal Yacht Squadron line to the finishes both at this line and over at Shrape (see previous blog post).

Something special for this year is the Centenary year of the X One Design(XOD) boats so a record number of these lovely wooden sailing yachts were racing, they make an amazing sight with tight racing on the start line- my photo only captures a small mass of them imagine a white fluttering line of sails stretching across the Solent!

One hundred years on and the Extreme 40's are fast Catamarans flying around a short course at high speed.

It is always wonderful when the yachts are on a spinnaker run home for the line and they come in really close to shore this makes for a fantastic view for spectators and entertainment off the Green, especially if it is low tide and a few keen sailors get stuck on the rocks as they sail in too close.

Skipper has raced as crew at Cowes Week over the years and I think with such a good week's racing this year he is hankering for another race, on the helm would be his dream now!