Created 181 yeas ago, Cowes Week has considerably grown since 1995 and Skandia’s decision to start a long-term sponsoring of the event. Skandia Cowes Week is now a great British sailing institution. More than 10,000 visitors per day came on-shore to see and admire the show going inshore and with nearly 1,000 entries i.e. 8,500 competitors, the Cowes Combined Club had the huge task to schedule races for 34 classes in only 9 days. Despite the tricky weather conditions and the strong tide, especially on the last week-end of the event, this 2007 edition was a real success.
One of the highlights of the week was the 3d and penultimate iShares Cup Extreme 40 Series. The numerous visitors got the unique chance to admire those sports catamaran from a very close distance. Won by Team Basilica who, thanks to this stunning performance, brings its tally to 3 wins in the overall series, the fight was strong on the sea. Some crews included famous Olympic sailing athletes all on their way to the 2008 Beijing-Qingdao. The Australian’s tornado team, silver medallist in Athens, Darren Bundock and Glenn Ashby, finished second on the BT extreme40 after a tough fight against JPMorgan Asset Management’s boat sailed by Brit Shirley Robertson, double Olympic gold medallist, who was making her 1st appearance on the circuit and eventually finished 3d, a pretty good score for a 1st timer and a yngling specialist . Carolijn Browers the only female competitor on the Tornado circuit, had a brillant final day on Holmato’s extreme 40 after a tough start finishing 4th overall.
After a 14-year tenure as title sponsor, Skandia has decided not to renew the current contract that wiil end in August 2008 and to concentrate its effort on different types of sailing partnership. Discussions have already started to find a new title sponsor. But seeing the importance of the event it doesn’t seem like it is going to be a problem.
In the meantime, the ultimate event for this year’s iShares Cup series will run from 14-16 September in Amsterdam, just 5 minutes from the city centre. A show not to be missed.
