The meaning of Cowes week.

[flaming]

The organisers bill it as "the most prestigious international sailing regatta in the world."

Every business in Cowes seems to call it "an excuse to raise prices to astronomical levels."

Berthing fees in the yacht haven are an eye watering £13.50 per night. Sorry, £13.50 Per METRE per night. For the right to be rafted 6 deep. Ok, there are other (cheaper) options, but is there one marina in the Medina offering their normal rates during Cowes week?

The Redjet run an offer on day returns. Except between the 1st and 8th of August.

The entry fees have of course risen with the lack of a sponsor, and whilst they do represent good value when set against the berthing fees, Cowes week ltd are wrong in asserting they are good value in comparisson with other big regattas.
For example Dartmouth "week" works out at £27.50 / day, Cowes at £68 / day for a 37 footer. Oh, and in Dartmouth you get up to 3 races per day.

More and more private yachts are choosing either not to race, to charter the boat out for Cowes, or to stay in Hamble and miss the shoreside fun, which as a result is gradually being turned over to the corporate types. Nothing wrong with that exactly, but does it fit with "the most prestigious international sailing regatta in the world" if the majority of people in the beer tent are only there because their boss or a supplier offered them a place?

And this year, with no sponsor, and corporate numbers waaaaaaay down, will the beer tent even look busy?

I LOVE Cowes week. As a spectacle it is up there with any sporting event in the world. But as more and more boats empty of racers, and fill with charterers along to "experience world famous cowes week" it is in SERIOUS danger of becoming of little relavance to the racing world.

 

[lw395]

I have raced in dayboats for about 15 of the last 20 Cowes Weeks. I really feel it has lost a lot of what was special. Not going at all this year.
Cowes week limited needs to be disbanded, as they have totally failed in their function of managing sponsorship.

 

[Dyflin]

The subject has even reached their own turf

 

[ChrisE]

The subject has even reached their own turf

I liked the message that said it wouldn't be Cowes Week without a moan about the pricing.

Bit like the Lounge wouldn't be the Lounge without someone blaming Gordon Brown for everything.

 

[Dyflin]

So what do the other marinas charge for the week?

 

[Blue5]

Berthing fees in the yacht haven are an eye watering £13.50 per night. Sorry, £13.50 Per METRE per night. For the right to be rafted 6 deep. Ok, there are other (cheaper) options, but is there one marina in the Medina offering their normal rates during Cowes week?

I can understand the logic in having to raise race entry fees through lack of sponsorship but raising berthing fees for Cowes week smacks of pure greed, perhaps a list of the offending marinas along with those that have not raised prices may encourage prospective visitors to Cowes at other times of the year to favour the latter

 

[Judders]

Sadly, right now, Cowes week is not for thee and me, it's a corporate thing. The truth is I am not going this year because I have committments elsewhere, but compared with other regattas, it doesn't have the feel I want out of a week of sailing. I've just completed the Swans and despite the money flying around, that was a real regatta with people passionate about their boats and their racing (too passionate at times, it's true).

I can't make it this year but next year it'll be Cork for me and the year after it'll be the Swans again. Cowes will only happen if it's decent value and if I can spare two weeks holiday rather than one for regattas.

 

[l'escargot]

So what do the other marinas charge for the week?

As long as demand exceeds supply - whatever they can get away with.

 

[lw395]

As long as demand exceeds supply - whatever they can get away with.

I think that's the problem, Sunsail can afford to pay anything for the marina berth, they are making a lot of dosh out of chartering. Likewise many other charter outfits, sailing schools etc. Look down the entry lists and you will see a lot of companies as entrant.

Sometimes the racing is enough fun to make the cost and shoreside hassle worth it.
Last few times, racing has been OK, but not wonderful.

I also get very pissed off with outfits like Clipper wandering around the race track on spectator jollies, often stopping just to windward of a dayboat windward mark for example. They are making loads of money by spoiling our race. None of that goes to Cowes Week.
Cowes Week ltd sees all this money sloshing about and wants its share. The low rent dayboat classes are just background scenery to the acts that bring in the punters. Every business in Cowes has to cash in, because the place has a lot of shops and restaurants for what is an irrelevant dump 9 months of the year. Any other week you can probably rent a nice house at a fair price, but the backstreet house I shared cost over twice what I'm paying for a place with a sea view in a Cornwall resort.

At least the pesky Royals have stopped parking their bloody caravan on the racecourse!

 

[jason -and the arguenauts]

but raising berthing fees for Cowes week smacks of pure greed,

Greed is good - Gekko said so. And we are all greedy which is why most people do the opposite to the marinas and look for a "good deal". That's a form of greed too.

 

[Judders]

We had such a good time putting Lutine into the Swan's that a we discussed the idea of pulling out of the corporate charter market for Cowes week and making it a members event instead, but the truth is that by charging the going rate for her in Cowes week we keep members use costs down for the rest of the year which makes sailing her more affordable.

 

[Blue5]

Greed is good - Gekko said so. And we are all greedy which is why most people do the opposite to the marinas and look for a "good deal". That's a form of greed too.

Must remember that one at least it will get a laugh from my customers..........................BTW whats Gekko

 

[islandsailor]

Flaming you have hit the nail on the head

Three years ago Stuart Quarrie (CEO of CWL) and Michelle Warner (Commercial Director of CWL) restructured Cowes Combined Club and Cowes Week Sponsorship into Cowes Week Limited with a board of Directors who will never sack them. CWL is killing the town I live in and love.

Stuart is a great Race Director but not a commercial guy, Michelle is out of her depth. The economic downturn has given them a excuse for not finding a sponsor, remember Skandia gave them notice over three years ago long before the Credit crunch.

Not everyone in Cowes wants to "kill the goose that laid the golden egg" we desperately want Cowes week to get back on track and to people to come to our town and have a great time and not feel ripped off

 

[l'escargot]

... for what is an irrelevant dump 9 months of the year...!

I think if you took a consensus on the island you would find the opposite opinion - it becomes an "irrelevant dump" for 3 months of the year

 

[curve]

As someone who is sailing my own little boat in Cowes Week for the first time as opposed to just being rail-meat then I am really looking forward to the racing and carousing!

 

[Boat44]

For me, growing up in Canada and doing lots of sailing when the river wasn't the skating rink, Cowes week was "the event" and when I got my first taste of it some 20 years ago I loved it.

Sadly over the years it has lost much of its appeal for me, maybe old age, I don't know.

Cork week was far more fun and Dartmouth etc are rated highly be people these days.

Still a lack of corporate may keed the hoorays to a minimum!

 

[BuzzFan]

Nostalgia

maybe its the memory fading, but 20/15 years ago, Cowes week seemed about keen racers making it the highlight of their year - sacrificing a week's holiday as well as the dosh - to enjoy each day's racing, and low key partying informally afterwards.

Many of the racers I know/knew have given up, others have fled to the upwind/downwind courses away from the solent features.

Now onshore its a mass of trippers, shoppers & pi55heads. Mega profits to the anchor & other pubs, the beer tent, the clothes shops etc, but little into the sailing community.

On water there do seem to be load more of the have-go racers. Don't knock the pay-to-race charter companies - few make a profit, and they do attract newbies to the sport. The new SB3 company is offering evening racing for just £ 10 a head - they won't be covering costs at all.

There are numerous staff to be paid - laying/retrieving moorings, race marks, organising the races, radios, marshalling ribs, regatta office etc etc.

In theory the IOW Council could help promote the week, as the pr for the island is, or should e, good, but realistically, the 120,000 IOW population (same as Fareham?) already includes a large ration of dependants & civil servants etc. so there are very few private sector taxpayers who can justify lashing out huge sums for the week.

Hopefully next year we'll see a back-to-basics version, with no unnecessary costs, more volunteers, and a lower key atmosphere. If that's combined with force 4/5 wind & lots of sun, I'll be very happy.

 

[l'escargot]

...In theory the IOW Council could help promote the week, as the pr for the island is, or should e, good, but realistically, the 120,000 IOW population (same as Fareham?) already includes a large ration of dependants & civil servants etc. so there are very few private sector taxpayers who can justify lashing out huge sums for the week...

But why would they want to? There is no huge financial return to the island population as a whole. Contrary to popular belief it doesn't create untold wealth for the beleagured islanders who should doff their caps in gratitude. Most of the money goes off the island to shareholders of national and international companies. It's a bit like saying Londoners should be grateful for the boatshow and and promote the week - perhaps they should even chip in and pay for a firework display for all the visitors to watch on the last day!

 

[Babylon]

"Greed is Good"

Must remember that one at least it will get a laugh from my customers..........................BTW whats Gekko

Gekko, Gordon: Ficticious character in a 1980s American film (the title of which I've suddenly - or was it gradually? - forgotten) which exemplified the personal, social and societal costs of the culture of excessive greed in Capitalism. Gekko (played by Michael Thingy) is a cigar-smoking hostile-takeover asset-stripper who takes a young financial markets guy (played by Sheen Junior) under his wing - who's father (played by Sheen Senior) happens to be a trade union leader in one of the public companies Gekko intends to gain a majority holding in and then strip bare. Sheen junior, having at first been seduced by Gekko's ethos of greed, winds up being used by Gekko (something to do with gaining insider-information), then his dad has a heart-attack, so Junior has to choose between loyalties.

Goodness gracious! I'm astonished I have remembered any of this! Up till now, my only intact memory of this film was of a scene where Gekko is in his office, jacket off with the mother of all 1980s braces showing, waving around a huge cigar and explaining to Junior that "greed is good."

I'll let you draw your own conclusions about how this little parable relates to either Cowes Week or yachting in general.

Babs

 

[flaming]

So what do the other marinas charge for the week?

Did some research.

Shephards wharf is £7 per metre per night.
East Cowes is £7.20 per metre per night.

Compared to the yachthaven's £13.50

But still way above the normal rates.