The Future of Cowes Week

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islandsailor

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I know I am in the minority as a Scuttlebutter who races and cruises so this will be of limited interest. But almost two months after the last Cowes Week sponsored by Skandia and despite assurances from Cowes Week Limited that they were in "high level discussions" with potential new title sponsor still no announcement.

Skandia publicly announced their decision to hand on the mantle over 14 months ago, as a Cowes resident and a competitor the event and Cowes will surely suffer without the rumored £750,000 that Skandia stumped up to CWL a year (and this apparently was before they paid for all the PR, banners and flags etc)

Can't imagine it is going to get any easier with the current financial crisis
 
I too was very suprised that there was no announcement straight after the end of this Cowes week.

It's entirely possible that they're to a certain extent the victims of their own success, in that Cowes week and Skandia have become totaly synonomous, so any other sponsor cannot hope to change that in the first year.

But to be honest, Cowes week has become so far removed from the sailors, and good racing, that It's no longer on my "must do" list for the season. Competitng at Cowes week as a crewmember cost me nearly double what competing at Dartmouth week did.
 
I love competing in Cowes week and the cost for the boat I race on is reduced as we have a berth here and the majority of the crew live on the Island, but if we lose the sponsor and sailors like you we are in real trouble, Cowes week makes Cowes the town it is.
 
What about Little Britain? I think this event is a close second to Cowes Week, later in the year but same location. Little Britain is associated with the construction industry, ouch!

Re. Cowes Week. Would some downsizing of the whole hooray henry massed beer tent culture be a bad thing? I have heard of regular Solent racers who avoid Cowes Week and head instead for the West Country regattas. These West Country events are probably closer to the atmosphere of Cowes Week 50 years ago.
 
It's not that the beer tents that are actually that bad (once you learn to avoid the one in the haven and head to Shephard's wharf where the actual sailors hang out) it's just that the whole thing seems as bad as Disneyland for emptying your wallet. Everything costs way more than it should, and it's not as if the racing makes up for it....

The west country regattas that have the water to set true windward/leward courses are proving much more popular for true racers.
Witness the likes of Quokka, Premier Flair etc turning up with their regular crews in Dartmouth, but being on corporate charter for Cowes. And who can blame them? The charter fee for cowes would pay their mooring fees for the year, and probably more! Other owners I know use Cowes to fill the boat with business clients, and not racing sailors.
 
It is the corporate stuff and the "non-sailor" that is killing Cowes week. Every other person seems to have a VIP tag hanging round their neck (and they believe they are) and the charter companies have set up on the marina with "Be a professional yacht racer for a day" signs - people pay their 120 quid or so, are put in oilies and go out and sit on the windward rail thinking they are racing. It seems to be getting more down market year on year with this year being the worst.

It is in danger of becoming part of the season for the great unwashed and just another "spectacle" - on par with the procession of stretched white limos from Essex down to Ascot for Ladies Day.
 
I don't avoid Cowes week - just pass through on Starboard now and again .... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
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What about Little Britain? I think this event is a close second to Cowes Week...

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Not that close - a third of the competitors, a quarter of the classes and half as long. Tends to be centred around just the Yacht Haven shoreside.
 
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It is in danger of becoming part of the season for the great unwashed and just another "spectacle" - on par with the procession of stretched white limos from Essex down to Ascot for Ladies Day.

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You're in danger of sounding a little elitist there!

Cowes week is actually a fantastic vehicle for introducing people to sailing, more specifically racing, as it gives so much more to look at and keep the interest.

BUT - Cowes has seemed to lose track of the fact that without the racers, the bread and butter of the event, it doesn't have the draw.
 
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You're in danger of sounding a little elitist there!

Cowes week is actually a fantastic vehicle for introducing people to sailing, more specifically racing, as it gives so much more to look at and keep the interest.

BUT - Cowes has seemed to lose track of the fact that without the racers, the bread and butter of the event, it doesn't have the draw.

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I don't dispute any of that. I just don't like seeing it reduced to the level of bungy jumping - do it once for the thrill and just to be able to say that you have done it, then have your photo taken on the helm in the marina wearing corporate oilies...

Perhaps it needs a few years without a large sponsor to take it back and rediscover itself.
 
Agree entirely.

For me the saddest thing is that the corporate aspect is spreading beyond the recognised classes - the Sunsail class (obviously...) the 40.7s and more recently the J109s.

Now dedicated racing yachts which are sailed hard all season, compete (and win) in major regattas all season long, whose t-shirts are a feature of the pubs in Hamble choose not to race seriously in what always was regarded as "the" regatta of the season.

If I go next year I'll try and sail in the white group, you can't argue with 90 Sb3s!
 
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Not that close

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I was moored in the yacht haven marina the day after Little Britain wound up this year. Reading the blurb, they claimed Little Britain is the 2nd largest regatta in the UK and the size of the marquee dwarfed those I can recall from Cowes Week 15 years ago. Judging by the plasma screens and humongous bars it did not seem much smaller than the main Cowes Week event but then I was viewing the infrastructure in just the Yacht Haven.
 
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Every other person seems to have a VIP tag hanging round their neck (and they believe they are) and the charter companies have set up on the marina with "Be a professional yacht racer for a day" signs - people pay their 120 quid or so, are put in oilies and go out and sit on the windward rail thinking they are racing.

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I went out on one of these boats for the day with OnDeck and none of the clients just sat on the windward rail. They took an active role in sailing the boat. All of the people on the boat had sailed before, some in just dinghies, and were just trying to find out if racing or big boats was for them. None of them were 'Hooray Henrys' on the Ascot circuit. They were ordinary people. If it introduces more people to yacht racing what is the problem.
 
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Competitng at Cowes week as a crewmember cost me nearly double what competing at Dartmouth week did.

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How very true that is... Dartmouth, for us, wins hands down now.
 
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...All of the people on the boat had sailed before, some in just dinghies, and were just trying to find out if racing or big boats was for them. None of them were 'Hooray Henrys' on the Ascot circuit. They were ordinary people. If it introduces more people to yacht racing what is the problem.

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I don't have a problem with more people being introduced to racing, but I would question whether Cowes Week is the place to do it on a big commercial scale. Is it really the place for a boat load of beginners?
 
[quoteIs it really the place for a boat load of beginners?

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As I said in my previous post the boat I sailed on had a scratch crew who all had previous sailing experience and they were backed up by a skipper and mate. But what would be so wrong with a boat full of beginners trying to experience what racing and Cowes week is all about. What harm do they honestly do? Maybe you consider Cowes week should only be for the sailing 'elite' in their shorts and boots with sunglasses on their head?
 
As someone who is a very keen racing sailor, and also someone who works as a corporate skipper I feel uniquely qualified to comment here.

I have no problem with people wishing to experience Cowes week. However the Cowes week I did as a corporate skipper was without doubt the worst week of sailing I have ever done.

We are very used to managing completely novice crews "racing" and are very used to cutting a skipper having problems some slack with the racing rules. However, during Cowes we are then sharing the courses, and in some horrible cases marks, with normal crews who have no such desires to cut anyone any slack. It was extremely stressful, and resulted in the clients not getting the experience they came for in all cases as I had no desire to set the spinnaker on Port tack when I could see the big boats coming across our course on starboard.

The big problem is that the Cowes week organisers have, in my opinion, ridden the corporate horse too far. Regular sailors are pretty much priced out of the Yacht haven for mooring, and are seemingly outnumbered by corporate guests in the beer tents, perhaps unsurprising when for non berth holders the charge for getting into the beer tent was £10.

This is making the regular sailors feel unwelcome. And they are starting to vote with their boats.
And without the racing sailors the whole event loses its credability and simply becomes a corporate love-in.

So yes, the corporate guests, and people wanting to experience racing, are very welcome but not at the expense of driving the racing sailors away.
 
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