Isle of Wight News on Ventnor Blog

A crippled motor-cruiser in danger of drifting into a shipping lane at the entrance of Southampton Water was towed to safety by Cowes RNLI lifeboat yesterday (Thursday) evening.

The motor-cruiser, a 32 foot Grand Banks class with four people on board, had lost engine power off Bramble Bank. Helmed by Simon Hawkins, the lifeboat towed the boat, which came from Itchenor near Chichester Harbour, was towed to Cowes.

It was the second time in two days that Cowes lifeboat’s volunteers had to take in tow a motor-cruiser in trouble in the Solent. The boat had been off-station for just over an hour.

Image: RNLI

Three fishermen whose boat was crippled by its own anchor rope were literally hauled out of their predicament in a wind-swept Solent by Cowes RNLI lifeboat yesterday (Wednesday).

The emergency began just before 1pm when the fishermen radioed that their anchor rope had become wrapped around one of the two propellers of their 32 foot motor-cruiser Arco Bellina off Thorness.

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If you haven’t already heard, later this year a new event aimed as a tribute to Britain’s serving armed forces makes its way to Yarmouth.

The event, titled Sailing for Heroes, has been organised by the Yarmouth Harbour Commissioners with support from the Royal Solent Yacht Club.

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We heard yesterday that the Little Britain Challenge Cup recently held its annual charity cheque presentation.

They tell us that despite the credit crunch and most people tightening their belts last year, the event raised nearly £100k for the event charities.

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Once again, organisers of Cowes Week have chosen the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) as their official charity for Cowes Week.

This is the second year running that Cowes Week have shown their support for the RNLI who provide a vital service to the sailing community.

The money raised during the week long regatta which takes place 31 July to 7 August will go directly towards the lifeboat stations supporting the Island at Bembridge, Cowes and Yarmouth.

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With registration opening last month for the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, we hear that Steve Le Butt’s ‘High Spirits’ was the first boat entered for the 2010.

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If you’re a sailing type and fancy a bit of excitement and challenge, then why not enter the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race?

Online entries are open from tomorrow (21st January) and we’re told that the process of entering online worked so well last year that it will be continued and particularly encouraged this year – just think of the paper that will be saved!

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It’s always good to hear a positive news story and especially so when it’s an Island business doing well in these hard financial times.

Cowes Yacht Haven who manage the marina in the sailing capital of the UK, tell us that the last year has been very good for them.

The marina alone has seen an increase of 6 per cent of boats booking berths.

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Plans to develop and extend Cowes Yacht Haven have now been lodged with the Isle of Wight Council and are open for public consultation.

The Cowes Waterfront Trust who own the site plan to replace some of the currently tenanted buildings with new, purpose-built and affordable buildings.

The planned improvements will also increase winter boatyard facilities and hopes to integrate the yacht haven with the town by creating a new pedestrian route directly from the the High Street onto the new open space.

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We happened to be in Ryde on Monday afternoon as the massive Oasis of the Sea was passing through the Solent.

Given we understood that it was the only time it would be coming to the UK, we thought we’d grab a few photos of it.

The tide was very low and given its size, it was way off in the middle of the Solent.

The gallery below should give you some idea of quite how massive it is. As you can see it dwarfed the forts.

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The date and start time for next year’s Round the Island Race has been announced.

It’s up with the sunrise for those taking part in the iconic sailing event, with a start time of 5am on Saturday 19th June.

Lea Bennett, Club Secretary for the Island Sailing Club points out, “Whilst the tides on the day are indeed dictating a very early start, it also means that the majority of competitors will hopefully cross the finish line earlier in the day and, with luck and a following wind, be able to enjoy rather more of the shore side hospitality that’s on offer in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Race Village in Cowes Yacht Haven and with us at the Island Sailing Club.”

If you haven’t bought your 2010 diary yet, pop this somewhere safe to ensure you don’t miss this world class sailing event.

Image: Patrick Eden

We all know what a great job the coastguards do around the UK.

Today one of them, Terry Short, who is based just over the water, will be heading up to Buckingham Palace to receive his MBE for public and voluntary service from the Queen.

Terry, a recently retired winchman from the Coastguard helicopter flight based at Lee on Solent, heard of the awarded of his MBE back in June, in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.

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Aimed at Island children between eight to fifteen, the new academy hope to take these young budding sailors to a level able to compete at the 2010 World Island Youth Games and beyond.

If you’re got a basic sailing knowledge and are aged between eight and and fifteen you’re welcome to apply to join the Academy.

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The outstanding yachtswoman, Dee Caffari, was on the Island night receiving an award from the United Kingdom Sailing Academy (UKSA).

The Exceptional Achievement Award was presented by HRH The Princess Royal to Dee in front of an audience at The Royal Yacht Squadron.

Dee who became the first woman to sail around the world non-stop in 2006 and earlier this year secured a double world first by crossing the official finish line of the Vendée Globe yacht race after 99 days to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop both ways around the world.

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Straight from the gossip files …

The sailing-mad founder of the Carphone Warehouse, Charles Dunstone, was rumoured to have brought thirty of his closest friends over to the Isle of Wight recently as part of his ‘main’ stag do.

Those included at the sailing bash were reported to include M&S boss Sir Stuart Rose and Duran Duran star Simon Le Bon, who raced with Dunstone on his boat Rio this year.

It doesn’t say if gaffer tape and a lamp post were involved with the festivities.

Image: Murky1 under CC BY-SA 2.0

Cowes Online, the excellent Website for the yachting capital of the Island, have launched another photographic competition.

The latest is a search for very best photographs which represent sailing and boating on the Solent in 2009.

If you’ve managed to capture some fabulous shots this year, why not enter the competition and you could be taking home one of the great prizes below.

All you need to do if email three of your favourite shots, include your name, address, a telephone number, and a brief caption for each picture.

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It’s just been announced that Isle of Wight-based yachtswoman, Dame Ellen MacArthur, has decided to retire from competitive sailing.

Her reasons? To apply here ample enthusiasm to environmental campaigning.

Those of you who heard the interview we did with Dame Ellen or the her speech at the Eco-Island conference back in March 2008 will know that she’s very environmentally minded.

One of her major points was that modern living is detached from the resource that it consumes.

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Thanks to Rupert for sending through these updates of highlights from Cowes Week 09 which finished on Saturday. Ed

Another fine and sunny day was predicted for the final day of Cowes Week, but the light gradient north-westerly wind was predicted to fade to zero during the morning, before being replaced by a gentle sea breeze.

“We don’t see any point in starting races today in the dying north-westerly,” Stuart Quarrie, CEO of Cowes Week explained after the race team’s early-morning briefing. “But we are hopeful that the sea breeze will fill in before 13:00, enabling us to get racing in during the best winds of the day.” By mid morning the north-westerly wind at the Bramble was down to less than four knots, making the decision not to start classes in the dying breeze look like a good call.

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Rupert gives us the update of day six activities out on the water in Cowes. Ed

Day six of Cowes Week saw mixed conditions that provided challenging racing across the 37 classes, despite an unpromising weather forecast.

“It’s going to be another tricky day,” said regatta CEO Stuart Quarrie as competitors were getting ready to go afloat.

The front that killed the wind on Wednesday afternoon was forecast to remain almost stationary over the race area, with sporadic shower activity moving erratically north-eastwards along the line of the front.

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The one thing that you really need to sail, apart from a boat, is wind, but there wasn’t a lot of it around yesterday. Rupert Holmes describes how the sailors still made the best of it. Ed

In contrast to yesterday’s excitement this was a day of light winds and challenging conditions for competitors and race officers alike.

The day started with a gentle southerly breeze, but a slow-moving and weak cold front just to the west of the Solent, threatened to reduce the wind to nearly zero in its wake. The nine Open 60s competing in the Artemis Challenge got away at 10:00 as scheduled, but the initial plan for a round the island race was changed to a round-the-cans course outside the forts. At the suggestion of Sam Davies the skippers agreed to take their times at each mark, to enable the course to be shortened easily if necessary.

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Congratulations to the world renowned sailor, Sam Davies, who yesterday picked up the 2009 Ladies Day Trophy award at Cowes Week.

This is the fourth year of the award which recognises the achievements and contribution of women in sailing.

Sam, who was nominated last year for the award, was presented with the trophy yesterday for her outstanding achievements as one of the world’s most talented female offshore sailors.

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Thanks to Rupert for his daily roundup of goings on at Cowes Week. Wonder whether Simon Le Bon was singing the lyrics to ‘Rio’ whilst sailing today. Ed

Gusty winds, with puffs of up to 30 knots, provided the regatta’s most exciting day so far, with the thousands of competitors wearing huge grins as they blasted around the courses.

Rob Gray, owner of the Quarter Tonner Aguila said, “Today was some of the best racing I’ve ever had – and the first time I’ve sailed a Quarter Tonner in 30 knots! It was an absolute blast. Gybing was a bit like a roulette wheel, but we did get lucky occasionally.”

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Rupert Holmes from Cowes Week gives us the round up of action on Day Three of the famous sailing regatta. Ed

The 8,500 competitors at this year’s Cowes Week enjoyed another day of sun with a southerly wind of 10-15 knots that increased to 15-20 during the afternoon.

The Laser SB3 fleet started first, going east on Line 2 from the Royal Yacht Squadron. Martin Jones’ Seamarknunn.com was closest to the line, but just astern and to leeward, Geoff Carveth’s Pro-Vela.com had hoisted the kite with 15 seconds to go and hit the line at full speed moments after the gun, even so this was not enough to pull clear of Chris Darling’s Darling Associates who was just to windward of Carveth.

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As mentioned in Rupert’s report of day two action at Cowes Week, a spectator RIB veering onto the race course of the iShares Cup caused a collision this afternoon with one of the Extreme 40s.

The Telegraph report this evening that it was Shirley Robertson’s Extreme 40 that was unfortunate enough to be involved in the collision which forced her out of the race just three minutes in.

The crash not only lead to Shirley having to retire but also resulted in Dee Caffari being thrown overboard.

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Day Two roundup of news from Rupert Holmes of Cowes Week. Ed

Clear skies, plenty of sun and westerly Force 3-4, building to 5 during the mid afternoon provided stellar conditions for day two of Cowes Week.

Commenting about the forecast before the first start, Stuart Quarrie (CEO, Cowes Week Ltd) said: “It’s going to be a lovely sunny day but again the wind is giving the course-setters a tough task – it will gradually back through 90 degrees, but it’s impossible for the forecasters to pinpoint the exact timing of the changes in direction.”

A royal audience
Shortly after 10am the Laser SB3s started, heading east with the 60-strong fleet making a spectacular sight with their asymmetric spinnakers set. Among the onlookers was HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and his entourage on board the Trinity House flagship Galatea, moored in Cowes Roads.

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