News

17:41 Sunday 5 Aug 2018 Sue Pelling/LCWWinners' quotes – Contessa 32, RS Elite, Solent Sunbeam

Donna Rouse-Collen, Contessa 32, Andaxi

“My father Ray Rouse on Blanco and us on Andaxi have had two good days of racing and a fantastic on-the-water battle. We raced on Blanco for 25 years and we are now in our second season on Andaxi.

“Today we were actually last to cross the line but we put our strategy into action and came out on top. With not much to lose we opted for the Island shore and headed for the deep-water channel while the others headed north to mainland shore in more tide. It was a bit of a gamble but everything seemed to go to plan. However, it was a bit touch and go because in our effort to reach the shallows, we sailed twice as far as dad. At that stage it could have gone either way, but thankfully after we tacked we just managed to stay ahead.”

Rob Holbrook, RS Elite, Centurion

“It was a great day of sailing and certainly better than yesterday. We had a good breeze and we had good pace and we had a great course. The tide was very strong though, which pushed many over the line. We were close on the start line, but we judged our start to perfection and I felt very confident that we were not OCS. Interestingly though we only really knew we’d won when we got the thumbs up from the committee boat after the first three to finish were deemed OCS.”

Julian Money, Solent Sunbeam, Penny

“We had a fabulous day on the water and just didn’t make any mistakes, which was in total contrast to yesterday when we fluffed it up in the light, tricky conditions.

Today we had a brilliant start on port right under the Royal Yacht Squadron.  We then did a quick tack onto starboard and pulled out a good lead. Together with my top team of Richard and Sarah Pearson, my crew for Cowes Classic Week a couple of weeks ago, we went on to take control of the race in clear air and crossed the line 300-400 yards ahead of the next boat.”