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17:04 Wednesday 8 Aug 2018 Sue Pelling/LCWQuotes of the day

The quiet end of the line during the Squib start – photo Paul Wyeth/LCW

A selection of quotes from today’s racing

Arianne van de Loosdrecht, IRC3, Team Heiner III

“It really was fantastic out there today; Champagne sailing. We were able to put our heavy weather skills that we have been training so hard for, to the test. It was definitely our sort of weather.

“The boat is light so we were surfing down the back of the waves and she really excelled. We didn’t have a perfect start but on every downwind leg we made gains. 

“We are really enjoying Lendy Cowes Week, and we are impressed that all the races have taken place this week, despite the sometimes tricky weather.”

Charles Esse, Cruiser Div A, Baby X

“We were keen to have a conservative start and keep above the pack to give us a good gybing angle out on the gun. For us this was key. We were actually less concerned about keeping out the tide but instead we concentrated on keeping the speed going away from the pack. That was a massive factor and so therefore we tended to sail our own race.

“It was fairly lively out there today with 28kts over the bow at one point when we were in the vicinity of Osborne Bay. We were going upwind at the time and the wind just built and built until it maxed out at 28kts. It was really fantastic and everyone loved the excitement after several days of generally light conditions.”

Nigel Grogan, Squib, Helmut Shoing II

“Today was close to being a disaster in that one minute to go we were piling in planning to start at the Squadron end on port tack, so we were sailing down the line on starboard. Duncan Grindley in 760 unfortunately didn’t see us, we had to suddenly luff up and carry out a steep right-hand turn and poor David Cannell in Ruby was right in front of us on port.

“He didn’t have time hardly to react so we went clean through the side of him with a hole in the side of his boat the size of a football, a hole in our boat the size of a golf ball so, with about a minute to go the boats were still connected because we simply couldn’t push them apart.

“At the start gun we were pretty much extracting ourselves still. It was so bad that if he’d tacked onto port I think he would have sank because the hole was that big, and so close to the waterline. Thankfully there was a support boat on the scene fairly quick.

“Anyway, we started well back, and crossed the line – according to those on the shore – in about 80^th place but it was a very long race, it was very shifty and there were plenty of opportunities to catch up. We went round the last mark in third place, we gybed inside Malcom [Hutchings], took off and were second. But the Hogans, who must be leading the event now, and who just beat us yesterday, were sufficiently far ahead that we had no chance of catching them.”