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13:02 Thursday 11 Aug 2016 Rupert Holmes/CWLLunchtime update - day six

Action in the Sportsboat class. Photo Paul Wyeth/CWL

The weather is again providing excellent conditions for racing at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week and the Solent is now a mass of boats. The westerly 10-14 knot breeze has gradually swung towards the north-west through the morning and the thin cloud over the race area is predicted to break up during the afternoon.

Racing is now underway for the bulk of classes, although both the White Group dayboats starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line and Black Group yachts starting from the Bramble line, have been subject to two short postponements. At 1300 the Victory and XODs were the only classes still left to start, with the sequence expected to be completed at 1315.

White Group dayboats will finish on the Shrape line off East Cowes, with the J/70 the first class home. The smaller Black Group yachts will finish on the Bramble line, while the larger yachts will finish from the west under spinnaker on the Royal Yacht Squadron line from around 1415 onwards.

Shortly after 1230 the towering rig of the leading boat in this year’s Artemis Challenge, Lloyd Thornburg’s giant MOD70 catamaran Phaedo 3, was tacking up the Eastern Solent towards the finish line. She crossed the finish at the end of her high-speed dash around the Isle of Wight just before 1300. 

After racing this evening watch out for the aerobatics display by the Red Arrows, brought to you by Artemis Investment Management, which will take place at 1920.