News

09:00 Monday 18 Jan 2016 Sue PellingFirst 25 Youth Teams to Enter will Benefit from 50% Discount

Will Heritage, winner of the 2015 Young Skippers Trophy, sailing Flying Fifteen Freddie Flintoff at last year's regatta

The Cowes Week Under 25 Youth initiative, which has been running since 2012 has succeeded in doing what it was originally designed for – inspiring and making it possible for young people to race at Cowes Week writes Sue Pelling.

By offering an extremely attractive package to young sailors under the age of 25 numbers have, not surprisingly, increased over the last few years. Entries for the Under 25 Trophy at the 2015 regatta attracted 37 young teams, while entries for the Young Skipper Trophy reached an impressive 51.

This year Cowes Week Ltd is offering the first 25 crews, who are all under age 25,  a 50% discount on the entry fee. The sooner teams sign up the more chance there is of securing one of the highly desirable discounted places.

Kate Johnson, Commercial & Marketing Director at Cowes Week Ltd commented

“We are committed to making racing at Cowes Week more attractive and cost-effective for the next-generation of sailors, and are delighted by the increase in youth entries over the past few years. Now going into the fifth year of the initiative we are very pleased to be able to offer the first 25 boats to enter with a full crew of under 25 year olds a 50% discount on their entry fee.”

Competition in the Under 25 Trophy couldn’t have been more intense in 2015 with Jack Davies and his team on the J/70 Jugador out to defend their title from 2014. However, overall it was Hugo Sloper and his team on the Itchenor-based Swallow Marengo who just managed to out-smart Team Jugador in the overall rankings, and win by over 11pts.

Equally impressive was the performance of Will Heritage (14), who cleaned up in the Young Skipper’s Trophy fleet. Sailing his Flying 15 Freddie Flintoff  with his father David, Will sailed well all week and was able to break Sloper’s domination of the youth sector and lift the Trophy.

Alex Downer (13) – the youngest skipper competing at Cowes Week in 2015 – was an inspiration too. He was sailing a relatively old, 1978-built Squib, Panther 3, with crewman Jon Evans. Offering advice to other youngsters considering taking part this year, Downer said:

“After two days I was hooked. It is a fantastic regatta but to do well, learning about the Solent tides is essential.” 

One of the most dedicated teams who faced challenges in their quest to compete at Cowes Week in the Under 25 category, including their restricted budget, was the young team from the University of Strathclyde Yachting. They pooled enough funds to charter a J/80 – Jspot from Royal Southern YC – and finish a respectable fifth overall in the 37-strong fleet.  With an intense training and race schedule in place Team Jspot were keen to use Cowes Week to refine their racing skills. Although a seventh at the subsequent Student Yachting World Cup in Le Pouliguen was ultimately a disappointment for the team, they stress that the professionally-run Cowes Week regatta, is one of the best training grounds.

Team member Peter Cameron commenting on their student team debut, said:

"Cowes week was certainly a highlight of our year. The mix between intense racing on the water and laid back socials ashore mixed with a strong sense of tradition led to a wonderful event.  It was a huge learning curve for the team and was the bedrock for our first race victory as a team at the J/80 nationals. Not only does Cowes Week help to build a team’s racing ability but it also focuses on the logistical skills needed to organise a team.

The regatta also provided us with the opportunity to meet and compete with some of the world's best. In my opinion any team looking to race competitively should jump at the opportunity to enter this regatta. It would be great to see more student teams as it can easily be done on a low cost budget (for extra low cost  follow our trend of sleeping in J/80s!).  The memories will definitely stay with us forever and the fun filled week has provided great stories to share.”