News - 2012

10:19 Friday 17 Aug 2012 Sue Pelling/CWLAberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week Day 7 outlook

Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week plays host to Best of British Celebration Day. To mark the occasion 13 members of the 16-strong Skandia Team GBR are in Cowes on one of their first public team engagements since the Olympic Games.

While Skandia Team GBR are ashore meeting the public and chatting about their Olympic experiences, competitors at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week are continuing their battles on the water on the penultimate day of the regatta.

Thankfully the forecast indicates an improvement in the weather and it will be by far the warmest day this week. The wind will start from the south-south-westerly to southerly at around 13-16 knots, although the gradient wind will ease during the day, swinging to the south-south-east. It’s likely to be a mostly cloudy day, but if the sun does break through for extended periods, thermal enhancement will see winds in the western Solent increase, but become patchier in the eastern Solent.

All Black Group classes will be sailing in the western Solent and finishing on the Royal Yacht Squadron line. White Group classes, with the exception of the XOD class, will head off to the east and finish on the Shrape line off East Cowes. At the time of the XOD start, the last one of the day, a decision will be made as to whether the fleet will initially head west, depending on the wind direction at the time.

As the week’s racing reaches it final stages, battle for the lead within the Black and White Groups is exceptionally close, particularly in Black Group where just one race remains to decide the overall winner.

The current leader of Black Group going into today’s race is Jonathan Calascione and Jonny Goodwin’s J/109 Harlequin but as always at this stage of the regatta, the points are extremely close and nothing is guaranteed until all boats are safely across the finish line this afternoon.

Today's Best of British activities onshore include an appearance by Skandia Team GBR on the Cowes Parade stage at 1400 and on the Volvo stand at 1500.

The day’s grand finale is the traditional Aberdeen Asset Management fireworks display which starts at 2130.