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17:49 Saturday 6 Aug 2016 Sue Pelling/AAMCWQuotes of the day – Class 0, Etchells, Dragon

Photo – Paul Wyeth/AAMCW

 David Bedford, Etchells (Exabyte 7) – winner race 1

 “We are pleased because this is a new boat. The previous Exabyte was one of those consumed in the fire, which was a real shame.  This one has only been on the water three months. Anyway, we had a satisfying race today. It was all down to good navigation by my great mate Led Pritchard. Knowing The Solent, also helped.

“Lots of the fleet were over the line at the start and, as we made our way up The Green, we were out of sync with the pack, so by the time we reached Gurnard we had managed to get to the right, and stay in good tide because there is a back eddy running. It was a case of not going in too far or out too far but keeping in the favourable stream.

“We were second at this point but we went nearer the beach into Gurnard Bay so by the time we got to the first mark we were first and were never headed.”

Graham Bailey, Dragon (Aimee) – winner race 1

“It is a great start but it is early days and it is important to remember that there are seven or eight boats here capable of winning races.

“We had a conservative start, got bounced around tacking up the first leg off the Green and at one point I think we were probably last but one. It was one of those races you just had to take your chances. We weren’t offered many cards on the first beat but we did manage to come out at the right time and that got us into third place. We pretty much nailed it and nailed the lay line, and that put us back into the game.

“It was a day to not do anything clever but wait for opportunities, and perhaps wait for others to make mistakes.

“We had a building unstable sea breeze with up to 30 degree shifts on the last beat. Thankfully by this stage we were so far ahead we didn’t have to worry too much. I have to say, that up that last beat we got most of the shifts wrong but we had such a lead it was all fine for us.”

Frank Gerber, tactician, Tonnerre 4  (Class 0)

“We had an awesome day’s sailing in a breeze that seemed to build all day.

“The wind was up to about 19kts; classic Cowes Week conditions. We did, however struggle at first when we suffered a bit of gear failure. Basically we couldn’t drop the spinnaker with the conventional pedestal system, so had to adopt the old school system, which worked fine.

“We have some hot shots onboard including Jonny Malbon on navigation, and Team GBR sailor John Gibson on the helm, plus a selection of super fast dinghy sailors fresh from the 505 worlds in Weymouth. We worked hard and about three-quarters of the way round the course we were able to just concentrate on keeping our nose clean.

“Piet Vroon, the owner who is now 86, just loves competing here and was keen to make sure we brought the boat back from northern European specially for this event.”