News - 2017

08:29 Wednesday 2 Aug 2017 Sue Pelling/LCWDay 5 preview – Youth Day

Photo – Paul Wyeth/LCW

Lendy Cowes Week Under 25 Youth initiative is always over subscribed and this year is no exception with a total of 28 contesting the Musto-supported Under 25 Trophy and the Young Skippers Trophy.

As well as Youth Day, one of the other big events of the day is the Sevenstar Triple Crown sprint around the Isle of Wight for some of the biggest boats at the regatta including a fleet of Volvo Ocean Race boats. The VOR fleet is using the event as part of the VOR race’s mandatory Leg 0.

As crews prepare to head out for the fifth day of racing, threatening-looking rain clouds are beginning to roll in from the west, which means the chances  of some white-knuckle racing, particularly round the back of the Island, is looking more and more likely.

Weather

Today sees a change in the weather, with succession of fast-moving frontal systems crossing the race area. These will bring bands of rain, some of them heavy. As the morning progresses the gusts on the leading edge of the clouds will increase to around 30 knots.

Race officials are planning to get all starting sequences away on time, although there’s a chance that the White Group classes scheduled to start later in the day may need to be curtailed.

Courses

White Group Dayboats will start to the east from the RYS line, with a relatively short race finishing on the Shrape line. The XODs will start from the committee boat and finish on the Shrape line. 

The Black Group Committee boat will be stationed near Browndown in the east Solent and finish on the Bramble line. The remaining Black Group classes will start from the Bramble line, heading towards the west. Again a short course is planned with a finish on the RYS line.

There will be three starts for the Sevenstar Triple Crown event today. The first start is for the Maxi Ocean Racer class at 0945, from the outer RYS line, with the Volvo Ocean Race yachts following five minutes later for their race west-about around the island. IRC Class 0 will start at 0955 for a race in the Solent.