News - 2017

16:40 Monday 31 Jul 2017 Sue Pelling/LCWWinners' quotes

Whooper going for gold in IRC Class 6 for the second day in a row – photo Paul Wyeth/LCW

Mike Wigmore, Swallow, Gwaihir

“It was a great day on the water, fabulous sailing. Yesterday we had to retire because we had a course-reading error, so we are extra pleased today. Interesting race though because we were mid-fleet for most of the race and the leader was about a quarter of a mile ahead. Anyway, through good crew work, playing the shifts and positive thinking, we worked our way up and managed to sneak through into the lead at the last mark. The moral of the story today is ‘never give up’.” 

Ed Nainby-Luxmoore, Redwing, Snowgoose II

“It was fantastic racing today with a good course for us and the boat was going well and really seemed to power through the waves. Because we led off the line we spent the race working hard to keep the others behind, so there were times when we wished the course was a bit shorter. Having said that it was really enjoyable and we are very pleased to have won a race. Last year I was sailing with my dad when we won overall, so this is the first time I have helmed at Cowes, sailing with my three friends – all of us under 24.”

Giovanni Belgrano, IRC Class 6, Whooper

“We won today by keeping out the tide, in the shallows; a bit irresponsible really and we promise we won’t do it again. We are feeling bad because we are taking far too many risks with our 78-year-old Laurent Giles design. From now on we are going to give her a bit of a break. The other reason we did so well today, and yesterday, was because the course favoured us. Whooper loves reaching, and there has been lots of reaching over the last two days. Crew work is tip-top too. We’ve sailed over 50 races so far this season and we all know the boat inside out.”