Key Yachting Ltd would like to offer you the chance to buy tickets for the Southampton Boat Show at a discount:

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To book your tickets now, please just click here: http://www.seetickets.com/boatshow/?pass=S42

Key Yachting Ltd will be exhibiting the following boats at Southampton Boat Show on marina berths 343 to 347. The J/95 will be available to sail at the show on the Try A Boat Feature

Grand Soleil 46

The European Yacht of the Year 2009/2010 makes her UK debut at the Southampton Show. 

Grand Soleil 45

The boat we will be showing at Southampton is available for sale. She is straight from the yard, and just needs sails and instruments.  

The J/95

This 31 foot J Boat is the one with the twin rudders and a lifting centre-board. She is fast, exciting and supremely manageable. You can sail her yourself at the show because she will be based on the Try A Boat feature. 

The J/97

Our 31 foot IRC performance cruiser-racer, winner of Class and Black Group overall at Cowes Week 2009, there is a growing fleet of these in the UK now and we plan class racing in 2011.

The J/80 Sportsboat

We are expecting a good deal of interest in the J/80 at Southampton. The UK Nationals will be held in Dartmouth in 2011 and then the World Championship will be held there in 2012. The J/80 Class will be ramping up in preparation for these major events.  

The J/122

This forty foot asymmetric cruiser-racer has a fantastic race record both inshore and offshore. She is the smallest boat in the J Boat range with three cabins. She is fast and fun and manageable.

Today Black Group sailed in the western Solent, with classes starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line heading east, while White Group headed downwind towards the east. After starting from the Black Group committee boat in the western Solent, Charles Dunstone’s TP52 Rio took a fourth win to secure the overall series in IRC Class Zero from Sam Laidlaw’s Farr 52 Bob. At the start of the day, Ian Matthews’ J/122 Jinja was leading by two points from Peter Morton and Andrew McIrvine’s First 40 La Response in IRC Class 2. However, Matthews was forced to count a sixth place today, while Morton and McIrvine’s first place secured their victory in the class by three points.

In IRC Class 4, Philippe Bourgeois’ Marine Diffusion Dunkerque was forced to count her fifth place today, while a first place for Tom Snowball’s Mongoose left the two boats tied on 15 points, with Bourgeois winning overall on countback.

Starting mid-line on port tack, two boats in IRC Class 5 – Bob and Jon Baker’s X332 Brightwork and M Brown, J Leese, S Elliott’s Beneteau Figaro Black Diamond – took a large lead, appearing to be almost 10 lengths clear ahead. However, Adam Gosling’s Corby 30 Yes! again proved to be invincible, taking her third win of the event and the overall class title.

In IRC Class 6, John Brattan and Andrew Lambert’s Sigma 362 Software Mistress Team 88 made another good start, along with the Linton/Apps/Jackson team’s UFO 34 Westerner. Both found clear water to the south – and therefore to windward – of the bulk of the fleet to start on port tack ahead of the pack. The first two boats to cross the line today, Stephen James’ Jacobite and Ian Braham’s Enigma were at the top of the leader board on corrected time. They also topped the fleet overall, with Braham two points ahead of James.

Tie breaker

The two boats at the head of IRC Class 7, Madelaine and Isobella Donald’s Folkboat Madelaine and Paul Blower’s Impala Patriot Games, were tied on points going into the final race. The majority of the fleet opted for the north end of the start line, allowing James Gibbs’ J/24 Wild Thing to find plenty of clear space for a port tack start that gave her a big advantage in the early stages of the race. As the fleet tacked along the north shore, David Kirkley’s 39ft Nicholson Conteza had pulled ahead to lead the fleet, with Patriot Games second on the water, and Wild Thing third.

Patriot Games maintained this position at the finish, crossing the line three minutes after Wim Driessens’ Bolderik. These two boats took first and third on corrected time, with Madelaine second, giving Madelaine the overall class win by a single point.

The Quarter Ton class revelled in today’s winds, with more of the very close racing for which this fleet has become famed. Rob Gray’s Aguila took her first win of the series, just five seconds ahead of Louise Morton’s Espada. There was even closer racing further back in the fleet, with places six to eight separated by only five seconds. Morton took first overall by three points from Howard Sellars’ Bullet, with Aguila just half a point behind in third overall. In the Contessa 32 class, another win today for Ray Rouse’s Blanco saw her take the overall win again.

The front of the Sunsail fleet is very closely fought, although it has again been dominated this year by The Listening Company. Today’s start was won by National Grid and Sunsail 30, both at the southern end of the line. Sunsail 30 had a reef in and, surprisingly, no crew on her rail, allowing National Grid to pop out ahead from under her lee. However, by the time the fleet started short tacking towards Stansore Point, Red Funnel 1, The Listening Company and Deloitte had gained a slim advantage on National Grid.

At the finish The Listening Company was two minutes ahead of Red Funnel 1, securing her overall win in the class for a second year, and an impressive overall win in Black Group.

The tightest of racing

Three White Group classes concluded their races today. The 10-boat RS Elite fleet has again proved to be one of the most competitive this week, with just five points separating the top five boats at the start of their final race. At today’s start five boats were in line abreast, spinnakers drawing, with nothing to choose between them. However, two boats, Andrew Christie’s Ellanore and McGrigor Bennett’s White Water gradually pulled ahead of the pack, while Steve Powell’s E’tu, leading the class overall at the start of the day, was back in fifth.

Jono Brown’s Aeolus got ahead into a commanding lead, to win from Paul Jenkins and Ernie Hatton’s Activ 3G by a three and a half minute margin, with Crauford McKeon’s Kandoo 3 taking third and Powell fourth. This left the leading five boats just two points apart at the end of their series, with Powell taking the overall win on count back.

The Laser SB3s also had their last day of racing today. A second place helped Nick Phillips’ Chaotic secure the series by a seven-point margin, with Colin Simond’s Doolalli’s seventh place today forcing him to count a fifth place on Tuesday.

With tide and wind carrying them over the line, the Victory class opted for a relatively cautious start. Bill Arnold’s Zarena, Duncan and Carol Evans, Di Corke and Tom Hartridge’s Peregrine and K Taylor and W Bancroft’s Zest were best placed on the line, with Zest pulling well ahead after the start.

At the finish, Jeremy Lear and John Tremlett’s Zinnia – already confirmed as likely overall class winners – led Zest by 29 seconds, with Russell Mead’s Shearwater third. Today’s second place lifted Zest to third overall, two points adrift of Geoff and Sarah Dixon’s Zelia.

TEAMORIGIN defeats BMW ORACLE Racing

The final three match races held this morning between TEAMORIGIN and BMW ORACLE Racing at the 1851 Cup saw the British crew claim victory over their American opponents, with a final score line of 10-4.

Report by Rupert Holmes/CWL

Black Group classes on the RYS line started going west, with spinnakers popping up in the final 30 seconds before each start. The J/92 class held its national championships over the first four days of Cowes Week, but all but two boats are still competing. Today Taylor, Greenhalgh and Bexon’s J’Ronimo started closest to the line at the southern end, but Neilson Redeye was the first of two boats to sail though to leeward with superior speed in the opening 10 minutes of the race.

With the Sigma 33 start having been brought forward to 0930, at the class’s request to give them a six-and-a-half hour race, there was time for an outbound tanker, the 60,000 tonne Navion Akarita, to slip through the line without delaying with the start sequence.

The Contessa 32 class took a slightly more timid approach to the start, with no boats having a spinnaker set at the gun. Ray Rouse’s Blanco, already the top-scoring boat in this class was first away from the start, followed by Simon and Kay Porter’s Equator.

IRC Class 6 saw the fleet spread out across the line, with a trio of boats closest to the committee boat looking good on starboard gybe, while a second group towards the southern end of the line were led by Brian Cooper’s First 375 Little Spirit. Five minutes into the race, however, John Brattan and Andrew Lambert’s Software Mistress Team 88 and Phil Eagleton’s Half Tonner Sevcon Team Chia Chia held an early lead over the fleet.

The final Black Group start on the RYS line was for the OnDeck class, with Spirit of Isis capitalising on an initial advantage to pull out a large lead in the early stages of the race.

Vying for position

The final start of the day, heading west from the inner part of the RYS line, was for the XOD class. This is the largest class at Cowes this year, with 88 entries, although up to 120 are expected for the class centenary next year. Competition is always super-close in this class and, with scores of boats vying for the same spot in the line, it looked as though there was no way a general recall could be avoided with one minute to go before the gun. However, the tide was strong enough to carry the slow-moving mass of boats behind the line and it was clear at the start, with almost the entire fleet towards the offshore end.

Lisa and Stuart Childerley’s Palassie, however, adopted a different strategy, tacking onto port close behind the inner distance mark. It was a perfectly-executed manoeuvre that that gave an impressive 12-length lead in the first 90 seconds of the race. A little further offshore from Childerley, Steve and Peter Lawrence and Patrick Smart’s Catherine also had a great start, with these two boats leading the fleet as they short-tacked past the Green.

Having clean air helps in a big fleet – half an hour and dozens of tacks later, these two boats retained the lead as they passed Gurnard SC. However Catherine now had the advantage on Palassie, as they lined up to follow the rest of the White Group boats short tacking through the narrow passage inshore of Gurnard Ledge.

A quarter of a mile offshore, the Etchells fleet was heading towards the finish under spinnaker, led by Graham and Stephen Bailey’s Arbitrator, Mark Downer’s Moonlight and Robert Elliot’s Esprit. Bailey crossed the line a moment before 1336, to take the first finishing cannon fired for a White Group boat in more than 30 years. Bailey is one of only two competitors at this stage of the regatta to have scored a straight run of firsts, along with Rupert and John Mander’s Flying 15 Men Behaving Badly. Both are confirmed as class winners with a day to spare.

Black Group finish

As they approached the Black Group finish line off East Cowes just before 1500, two J/92s – J’Ronimo and Andy Howe and Annie Kelly’s Blackjack – were almost neck and neck. The Taylor, Greenhalgh and Bexon team on J’Ronimo took the winning gun by a margin of just five seconds, while Andrew Dallas’s Hullabaloo crossed the line seven minutes later to take third place.

Ian Braham’s MG346 Enigma, one of the highest rated boats in IRC Class 6, finished at 1500, taking line honours in the class. Benefiting from her good start, John Brattan and Andrew Lambert’s Sigma 362 Software Mistress Team 88 (which rates the same as Enigma) followed a shade over three minutes later. Both boats were able to save their time on handicap, with third place on corrected time going to Rory Fitzwilliams’ Three-Quarter Tonner Simplicity.

Spirit of Isis retained her impressive early lead in the OnDeck class, finishing almost 20 minutes ahead of sistership Spirit of Juno. Having made the best start of the day in the IRC (no spinnaker) class, Andrew Yates’ Dufour 44 Piccolo crossed the line at 1513, winning on corrected time from Bruce Mauleverer’s Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45 DS Prospero by almost 13 minutes.

Just under 10 minutes later, when the first of the Contessa 32s were approaching the finish, Blanco and Equator had lost their early lead to Michael Hill’s Nimbus and Ken Mizen and Don Laing’s Blue Shark. Blanco’s third place means she remains overall class leader going into the final two days of the regatta.

There are 15 boats competing in the Tacktick Suunto Sigma 33 Class Championship this week, and today was their long-distance race – a 34-mile epic lasting almost seven hours. At the finish only five minutes separated the first seven boats, with three of these – Jeff Worboys’ Workout, Mark Allerston’s Alexa and Mark Watkins’ Spirit of Kudu – just 53 seconds apart in a nail-biting finish. The winning gun, however, went to Richard Puddifoot’s Whippa Snappa, consolidating his overall lead in the class.

Windy White Group Finish

In the western Solent the wind had increased to give gusts of over 20 knots as the first XOD, Steve and Peter Lawrence and Patrick Smart’s Catherine, was approaching the finish just before 1615. The front-runners were well spread out, with Catherine holding a lead of two minutes 22 seconds on James Meaning’s Venus in second place, and a further two minutes passed before the third boat, Barney Sandeman’s Anitra, crossed the line.

After the race Sandeman said, ‘Our third today is certainly going to help our overall score. It’s a tough fleet and difficult to be consistent with so many boats, so many variables and very good competition – you have to keep changing gears. I’m sailing with the legendary Robert Bedford and Jonathan Abbott from Parkstone, Poole.’

At the finish Palassie had slipped to sixth – still a very respectable result in this class. Talking about today’s race Stuart Childerley said, ‘We had a great start, port tacked the fleet and led for quite a while. It took us two laps to get the boat going – it’s all a bit new for us – but eventually we got it going, stopped losing places and pulled back two or three places on the last lap. It was hard out there and now we’re quite familiar with that island coast all the way up past Gurnard. There are some big rocks there, luckily we didn’t hit any.’

In Black Group the overall winners of five classes are now decided. A third win for Rick Garret’s Jeroboam saw him secure victory in the very competitive 35-strong J/109 class. Similarly, a fourth win enabled Carl Hennix’s Seacart 30 True Look take victory in the Multihull class.

Although Willem Wester’s Grand Soleil 43 Antilope slipped to fifth place in today’s race for IRC Class 1, with a run of four firsts and a third earlier in the week her overall win is secure. A fifth place today was also enough for Andy Budgen and Fred Schwyn’s Sigma 38 The Project to secure her overall class title by a comfortable margin. IRC Class 3, a third win for Iain Kirkpatrick’s X-37 Fatjax gained her overall first place in class with just nine points.

In addition to the Etchells and Flying 15s, the winners of two other White Group classes have now emerged. With a string of firsts under her belt, a second place today for Roger Wickens’ Sunbeam Danny took her to overall victory. As in previous years, Jeremy Lear and John Tremlett’s Zinnia has dominated the front of the Victory class, with four wins to add to their aggregate score of 61 Cowes Week race wins at the start of the week.

Extreme Sailing Series at Cowes

Today’s five races resulted in another change in the leaderboard for the Extreme 40s. The Wave, Muscat finished the series 14 points ahead of Mike Golding’s Ecover Sailing Team, with Groupe Edmund de Rothschild in third place overall.

Report by Rupert Holmes/CWL

The first Black Group start was for the big boats competing for the New York YC Challenge Cup in IRC Class Zero. In the first four days of the regatta this class has seen three different race winners. Sir Peter Ogden’s all-black Mini Maxi Jethou, lying third overall at the beginning of the day, asserted dominance from the start, significantly ahead and to windward of her competitors. Next were two TP52s, Johnny Vincent’s Pace and Charles Dunstone’s Rio, the latter making an uncharacteristically mediocre start.

In IRC Class 1, a huge mêlée of assorted boats, from J/133s to 12-Metres, tussled at the inshore end of the line. With the boats to leeward forcing those above them to luff over the line, a general recall was inevitable.

The fleet was much more cautious for the second start, giving Michael Bartholomew’s King 40 Tokoloshe and Andy Middleton’s First 47.7 EH01 ample space to make a great start at the inner end of the line. Richard Rankin’s 12-Metre Italia was right behind them, creating a huge wind shadow for the fleet to leeward as she tacked onto port 20 seconds after the start. However, she was unable to maintain height on the fleet, allowing many of her rivals to climb to windward above her.

Ten minutes into the race Tokoloshe was ahead and to windward of everyone else – she was one of only a relatively small number of boats in the fleet to clear Stansore Point without tacking, conferring a useful advantage on the long beat to EchoPilot, off Hurst Spit at the very western end of the Solent. By this stage Richard Loftus’ Swan 65 Desperado had powered through the fleet, her mizzen furled in the fresh breeze, with another First 47.7, Javelin Sailing Promotion’s Moana, a little to leeward. Richard Matthew’s 12-Metre Crusader had also joined the front-runners, having climbed well to windward of Italia.

Class 2 got off to a clean start, with Brian Thompson and Lloyd Hamilton on the Archambault 40 Toe in the Water Too closest to the southern end of the line. A few lengths to the north, Rudi Floridor’s Sydney 39 Allard Natural Stone was sufficiently far ahead to tack onto port in front of the pack. Off Stansore point Peter Morton and Andrew McIrvine ’s First 40 La Response crossed ahead of the fleet on starboard, with Allard Natural Stone sitting just on their weather quarter.

Four First 40.7s were OCS and failed to return at the start, including yesterday’s winner Nicolas Gaumont-Prat’s Tradition Philosophie lV. In contrast to the earlier classes, in which competitors had all tacked onto port to head to the north shore within a minute or two of the start, the 40.7s were soon spread across the entire width of the Solent, with Reter Robson’s Playing Around and Herbert Smith’s Interceptor both passing south of Gurnard north cardinal buoy.

Taking a flyer

In IRC Class 3, Dirk and Dianne van Beek’s Bavaria Match 42 Sabriel went for a port tack flyer at the southern end of the line. With no starboard tack boats in the way, this would have worked perfectly had they not been OCS. With the second-placed boat overall, Michael Brough’s Match 38 Steady Barker also OCS, Phil Farrands’ lovely one-off Humphreys Old Mother Gun was best placed on the line.

The next start, for J/109s, was postponed due to an in-bound bulk carrier, the 44,000 tonne Panama registered Luminous Orange, due to pass through the line a couple of minutes after scheduled start time. However, despite VHF announcements, few competitors noticed the postponement, leaving the line boat, Running Bear, to round up competitors, as the ship sailed through the middle of the fleet.

A number of boats did not return in time for the restart, and of the boats that were on the line, Henry Kevill’s Howden Insurance Brokers was OCS, leaving Pete Walker’s British Police on Stalker best placed on a sparsely-populated line. David McLeman’s Offbeat, a few lengths astern and to windward, was also looking good, and James Arnell’s Jeez Louise was also quickly on the pace.

With the young east-going flood tide gaining strength, the IRC Class 4 fleet opted for the northern end of the line, with Richard Allen’s First 35 Ancasta Boat Sales closest to the line at the gun, and Tom Snowball’s First 34.7 Mongoose also looking well placed.

Thrilling conditions

The wind continued to increase through the morning, with gusts of over 25 knots, giving all classes plenty of excitement on their downwind legs. A weak warm front passing over the Solent just after lunch gave competitors an additional challenge, as the mean wind immediately in its wake dropped to 10 knots, but it soon recovered to its previous levels.

The first of the Black Group finishers were crossing the line just after 1500, with True Look, Carl Hennix’s Seacart 30 trimaran the first multihull to finish, blasting across the line at 1513. Phil Cotton’s Buzz, another Seacart, was second at 1526.

By now impressive rain clouds were building and a thundery shower scattered on-shore spectators at 1532, just as the first Sigma 33, Richard Puddifoot’s Whippa Snappa crossed the line. This cold front was much more active than any of the forecasters predicted at the start of the day, a five minute band of driving rain heralding a sharp spike in the wind speed. In IRC Class 7 Madelaine and Isobella Donald’s Folkboat Madelaine executed a spectacular broach 200m from the finish line, but recovered quickly to win their race.

At the same time, the wind veered by more than 90 degrees, from west-south-west to north-east, and dropped to just 8-10 knots. As the sun returned to the Solent spectators were treated to the sight of Black Group competitors heading east towards their finish lowering spinnakers, while White Group classes, heading in the opposite direction, hoisted theirs.

After the storm

Finishers were now crossing both lines thick and fast, with the RYS cannons firing in rapid succession. Jethou finished at 1549, with no other boats in Class Zero in sight, yet she was unable to save her time on Charles Dunstone’s Rio, who won by an impressive eight minutes on corrected time, despite her unspectacular start.

Tonnerre de Breskens was the first Class One boat to finish at 1622, three minutes ahead of the Richard Matthews’ Crusader, giving Matthews an advantage of more than five minutes on corrected time. Tokoloshe took second in this class on corrected time.

La Response maintained her lead in class two, taking honours in IRC Class 2 just before 1640, with a big enough margin to win her race by six minutes over Jim Macgregor’s Elan 410 Premier Flair. Peter Robson’s Playing Around crossed the line at 1642, to win the 40.7 class from Guy Prest’s Tarka and Pete Newland’s Anticipation.

Four minutes later Bernard Olesinski’s X-40 Xinska took line honours in IRC Class 3, although Lance Adam’s Corby 33 Banshee, and Iain Kirkpatrick’s X-37 FatJax were ahead on corrected time.

Report by Rupert Holmes/CWL

On the White Group start line the Laser SB3 class got away cleanly after a 10-minute postponement. The adverse tide favoured the inner end of the line, but in light wind there were big holes close inshore. 10 minutes later it was very soft for the Longtze class, with only one boat on the line and the back-markers were barely clear a couple of minutes before the scheduled Etchells start time.

The wind increased during the final minute before the Etchells got away, with two boats accelerating over the line early. However, it faded again as the Darings started 10 minutes later – two minutes after the gun, one-third of the fleet was sliding sideways on the tide away from the line.

Division Belle initially looked to have a great start, quickly popping out a couple of lengths ahead of the pack, but with the wind light along the entire line, on this occasion starting at the inshore end paid off. This enabled Hamish Janson and Malcolm Lofts’s Streak to get well ahead in the initial stages of the race and they continued to pull out an impressive lead as they tacked west along the Green.

However, Janson and Lofts weren’t able to hold this lead through the race – at the finish they had slipped three minutes behind Jamie Clark’s Decanter, to finish sixth. Jeremy Preston and Scott Macleod’s Defender was second, just two seconds behind Clark, and Division Belle third.

Expert moves

The inshore end of the line also worked for the J/80 start. Simon Ling’s Spitfire expertly snaked through from behind the slower-moving boats on the line to pop out ahead of the pack. Within five minutes he’d caught up with the back markers in the Daring fleet that had started 10 minutes earlier. Ling crossed the finish first, two minutes 20 seconds ahead of Robin Fielder’s Warp Factor lX, in his third win of the regatta. Sebastian Ripard’s AgainstMalaria.com was third.

In Black Group, tidal planning called for starting at the north end of the line with a long port tack into the relief from the adverse tide. Five minutes into their race, the first four Sigma 38s – Andy Budgen and Fred Schwyn’s The Project, Dave Cooke’s Monet, Chris and Vanessa Choules’ With Alacrity, and Susan and John Rainer’s Light – were separated by only three lengths, with The Project in a commanding position marginally to windward.

Fifteen minutes later, as they tacked along the mainland shore towards Stansore Point, The Project had a lead of a couple of lengths on Light, this pair having pulled well ahead of the fleet. At the end of the four-and-a-half hour race, The Project was almost three minutes ahead of Kevin Sussmilch’s Mefisto in second place, with Max Walker Pavlova lll just 19 seconds behind in third.

In the Quarter Ton class only two boats were on the line at the start – Lincoln Redding’s Whiskers at the northern end and Roger Swinney’s Innuendo as the southern-most boat – with the rest of the fleet being uncharacteristically cautious. However, Louise Morton’s Espada was already moving forward, with noticeably more speed than the boats around her, and within a few minutes had sailed through the lee of Innuendo.

At the finish, however, Howard Sellars’ Bullet had sneaked 20 seconds ahead of Morton, while Rob Gray’s Aguilla was snapping at her heels, just seven seconds behind. The finishing order was also reflected in the corrected times.

The inshore end of the White Group line again looked favoured for the Dragon start, with MD Issaias’ Fanfare executing an impressive wriggle to get into clean air inshore of the inner distance mark (which was a length and a half behind the line) but the wind then filled in for the offshore boats, benefiting the top two boats in the fleet Eric Williams’ Ecstatic and yesterday’s winner, Julia Bailey’s Aimee.

A building breeze

By this time the south-westerly wind had built to a consistent 10-12 knots, with bright sun promising a further thermal enhancement later in the day. The leading SB3s were now running along the north shore past Calshot, with the fleet well spread out. The front runners in the Etchells fleet were among the mid-fleet SB3s, led by two Illusion sailors Graham Bailey, who won yesterday by a whopping 17 minutes, and Mark Downer. Downer, however, was one of the boats OCS at the start.

Although most Black Group starts are for handicap fleets, the bulk of White Group starts are for one designs. The Mixed Dayboat start, however, is an exception – the 29 boats in this start encompass Sonatas, 707s, 1720s, and the Sportsboat class. A high degree of skill is therefore required to manoeuvre among the different boats, with their varying speeds, acceleration and tacking angles. With the wind still increasing, the combined fleets misjudged the speed at which they were approaching the line, prompting the call: ’standby for a general recall’ to come from the RYS Platform a full 20 seconds before the start.

The second start was X-flagged, automatically disqualifying any boat over the line in the final minute before the start. Only one boat fell foul of this – Richard Powell and Andrew Sutherland’s 1720 Rogan Josh. Harry Hall’s This is Jeff was the first 707 off the line, with Jon Powell and Sarah Norbury’s Betty hanging safely back not wanting to risk a second and able to rely on superior boat speed to give them a win.

The RS Elite fleet may be small, but it has built a reputation for impressively close racing. Today was no exception – at the start it was impossible to identify a boat with an advantage. This task was little easier as they approached the finish three hours later – only 30 seconds separated the first four boats, Steve Powell’s E’tu, Martin and Amanda Wadhams’ Joyce, Mike Tong’s Ciao Bella, and Jono Brown’s Aeolus.

Champagne sailing

The wind in the central Solent rose to a solid south-westerly of 15-20 knots for the Sonar start at 1215, giving an increased tempo and energy to the short tacking and progressively more anxious calls for water. The Mixed Dayboats were now heading downwind, fully on the plane on a fast broad reach, but no match for an Extreme 40 that flew past at 25 knots. However, at this time the all-star cast racing around the Island on the six IMOCA 60s in the Artemis Challenge were still struggling for wind off Bembridge.

After the Redwing start, White Group changed to a five-minute sequence, starting with the combined start for the Swallow and Flying Fifteen classes. Jeremy Buckwell and Peter Bond’s Swallow Boomerang looked perfectly placed until a moment before the start, when she luffed to close-hauled, taking her a nose over the line with a second to go. This left Anthony Lunch’s Solitude, currently placed second overall, to win the start by what appeared to be a comfortable margin, although within a couple of tacks Tony Glover’s Darter was marginally ahead on her lee bow.

By the end of the 16-mile race Harry Roome’s Skua was ahead of second-placed Solitude, with Darter third, a little over two minutes behind Skua.

The Flying Fifteen start was tighter than that of the Swallows, with Rupert and John Mander’s Men Behaving Badly – the most successful boat at Cowes Week over the past decade – closely pursued by Nick Clarke’s Black and Sam Chan’s Ffreefire 20. With the Manders hiking hard in the gusty conditions, they held the boat noticeably flatter in the gusty conditions than their rivals, and pulled slowly ahead, to win by a margin of almost four minutes ahead of Clarke.

In the Squib class, young Fred Warren-Smith, who has won two races so far this week, made an uncharacteristically mid-fleet start. Chris Gear and Andy Foulks’ Osprey was best placed on the start, with David Longford’s Kestrel looking good just to leeward. Warren-Smith was one of the first boats to tack offshore, gaining clean air in doing so, but when she tacked inshore there were still eight boats in front. Ten minutes into the race Ted Reilly’s Squiblissitude had taken a lead of several lengths.

At the finish, however, Roly Wilson’s Incognito had a 44-second advantage over Stephen Porter’s Polyphagus, with Reilly in third place two minutes behind.

In the Mermaids, Archie Ward, Jack Haigh and Harry Edwards’ Dragonfly had a cracking, though slightly slow start, allowing Anthony Eaton’s Miranda to quickly make up some distance. The order of these two boats was unchanged at the finish, but Richard Prest’s Halluf had sailed through to take the winning gun, 61 seconds ahead of Dragonfly.

Jeremy Lear and John Tremlett’s Zinnia has dominated the Victory class at Cowes for many years. There was frequent place-changing after the start of this competitive class today, with Zest, Ziva and Zircon all having moments of glory. However, it was not long before Zinnia re-asserted her place at the front of the fleet and she went on to win by nearly three minutes from Geoff and Sarah Dixon’s Zelia, with Janet Dee’s Variety in third place.

The 1851 Cup at Cowes Week

Today saw the first of four days of racing between Britain’s TEAMORIGIN and America’s Cup holders BMW ORACLE Racing. The home team won the two match races sailed over a short course in the central Solent today, but an increasing wind forced the third race scheduled for today to be canned.

Extreme results

There was a shift at the top of the leader board after today’s racing, with a first, second and two thirds propelling Groupe Edmond de Rothschild to first place overall, 15 points clear of yesterday’s leader Oman Sail Masirah. The Wave, Muscat is now in third place, with Mike Golding’s Ecover Sailing Team just three points behind in fourth.

Report by Rupert Holmes/CWL

Key Yachting Ltd will be exhibiting the following boats at Southampton Boat Show on marina berths 343 to 347. The J/95 will be available to sail at the show on the Try A Boat Feature

Grand Soleil 46

The European Yacht of the Year 2009/2010 makes her UK debut at the Southampton Show. 

Grand Soleil 45

The boat we will be showing at Southampton is available for sale. She is straight from the yard, and just needs sails and instruments.  

The J/95

This 31 foot J Boat is the one with the twin rudders and a lifting centre-board. She is fast, exciting and supremely manageable. You can sail her yourself at the show because she will be based on the Try A Boat feature. 

The J/97

Our 31 foot IRC performance cruiser-racer, winner of Class and Black Group overall at Cowes Week 2009, there is a growing fleet of these in the UK now and we plan class racing in 2011.

The J/80 Sportsboat

We are expecting a good deal of interest in the J/80 at Southampton. The UK Nationals will be held in Dartmouth in 2011 and then the World Championship will be held there in 2012. The J/80 Class will be ramping up in preparation for these major events.  

The J/122

This forty foot asymmetric cruiser-racer has a fantastic race record both inshore and offshore. She is the smallest boat in the J Boat range with three cabins. She is fast and fun and manageable.

Your News:

We have a number of racing owners and crews braving big seas and tricky conditions right now at Cork Week (good luck to all!) and I am also hearing reports from many more of you who have been taking advantage of the fabulous sailing weather we have been experiencing recently to get the most from your Grand Soleils. Lots of you have been cruising around our coastline here in the UK and also further afield. If you have travel tales to tell, and provided that you are happy to share them, please do let me know because your news makes fabulous website reading. It also affords my colleague John Lawrence and I a good hour or so of wistful day-dreaming (or ‘lantern-swinging’ as John calls it) whilst we sift through your salty stories. 

Our News:

The Grand Soleil Dealer Meeting took place at the offices and yard of Cantiere del Pardo in Italy earlier this month and production of new boats there is really cranking along nicely. All of the Grand Soleil dealers in attendance were given a thorough look round the brand new, much heralded Grand Soleil 50, which at that point was just a few moments off completion. Designed by Botin and Carkeek, she is a stunning and graceful yacht with a huge open plan cockpit and with very modern and sleek styling, in line with her new sister-ships. You can find all of the details of the new GS50 on our website (below) and if an autumn sojourn to Italy takes your fancy, we will be happy to arrange for you to visit to the Genoa Boat Show, where she makes her debut.

Also, (and please excuse me whilst I blow the collective Key Yachting trumpet here) whilst at the dealer meeting, Paul Heys, Co-Director of Key Yachting, was presented with one of three hotly contested dealer awards for which we all compete each year. Ours was for ‘Best Team’, and after just two years as the UK Grand Soileil dealer, we are understandably thrilled, so a big thank-you to all of you for your support. 

Southampton Boat Show News:

The new Grand Soleil 46 was also at the dealer meeting and I understand that there are already a large number of orders for this stunning performance cruiser-racer, the 2009/2010 European Yacht of the Year. I am delighted to report that the first Grand Soleil 46 for a UK based owner will be here very shortly and that we will have her on show at the Southampton Boat Show in September. We expect a lot of interest at the show and hope to be extremely busy, but if you would like to come and see her and have an idea of which day will suit you, please just email me to let me know your plans and I will ensure that you have ample to time on board.

Alongside the GS46 at Southampton, we will also be showing the Grand Soleil 45; a first for Key Yachting Ltd. The GS45  is a super boat and she is one of the all-time best selling models from Cantiere del Pardo. The boat which we will be showing at Southampton is brand new, carefully specified and she is available for sale right now. Sails, electronics and other UK fitted options can be to her new owner’s request. If you would like more information in advance of the show, or if you would like to come and see her now, please just give us a call and we will be happy to arrange a viewing for you.

Social Calendar News:

Two important dates for your diaries: 

Saturday 24^th July:  Our Grand Soleil Rendezvous takes place in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight next Saturday. We plan to have a leisurely sail to Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight in time for sun-downers (well, oysters and Muscadet to be honest) on the pontoons at 1700 before moving on for dinner at the Royal Solent Yacht Club a little later. It’s going to be a very relaxed occasion and you will have the chance to meet other Grand Soleil owners. We would love to see you and your crew there. If you think you might be able to join us please let me know and I will forward the details.

Tuesday 3^rd August: The Key Yachting Cowes Week Party takes place at the Island Sailing Club, at 1900, in the marquee bar. It’s nothing fancy, (just extremely friendly) and the party will be the perfect place for you to catch up with fellow competitors. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t racing: if you would like to join us, we would love to see you. Simple as that! More information to follow so please watch this space. 

Fantastic News!:

And finally, I would like to extend our congratulations to Peter Rutter and the crew of the Grand Soleil 43OT ‘Quokka 8’. Peter has been selected to Captain the RYA GBR Red Team at the forthcoming Commodore’s Cup. This is both an honour and a major achievement for Quokka. We wish Peter and GBR Red every success and we will keep you posted with their results. Go Quokka go! 

Best wishes for fair winds and fine sailing to you all.

Organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club in association with UNCL, Yacht Club de Dinard, Société Nautique de la Baie de St. Malo and the Royal Yacht Squadron.

 Course: Cowes – Casquets – Les Hanois – St Malo. Approx. 164 miles. 

This year’s race to St. Malo proved to be a light airs affair but that is something that can happen in any yacht race. Jim Saltonstall is a proven coach at the top level and he recognizes that racing in little wind requires just as much effort as other conditions; “Whether you are sailing in big waves with 40 knots of wind or ghosting along in light airs, you need to sail to the best of your ability to get the results that you wish for. In very light conditions, sailors really need to concentrate on maintaining their focus. Boredom can create mental apathy and the bottom line is that concentration levels have got to be 100% in light airs, just as much as at any other time.”

The young aspiring crew from the British Keelboat Academy carried off the spoils, toughing it out on their TP52, John Merricks II, winning the King Edward VII Cup for best yacht overall under IRC and the Lloyds of London Salver for best yacht in IRC Super Zero. 

“Besides myself and fellow coach Phil Johnson, all of the crew are between 18 and 24,” explained Luke McCarthy. “The race to St. Malo was the final trial before the big event of the season, the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. It was a real boost to the team to win, especially as we virtually match raced the French TP52, Paprec Recyclage, all the way around the course. 

Racing in light airs is always a big test of determination amongst other things but we have been very careful to select crew that are multi-skilled. John Merricks II have five good helmsmen and many crew who can trim the boat well. This allows us to keep it fresh, if a crewmember feels they are losing concentration, we actively encourage them to take a break and let someone equally competent take over their role.” 

Line honours and the Sandison Memorial Salver went to Mike Slade’s ICAP Leopard, there was no chance of a record this time and even the 100’ Maxi came to a halt in no wind and foul tide north west of the Casquets. However the crew, including renowned yachting journalist Bob Fisher, thoroughly enjoyed the race and their run ashore in St Malo. 

IRC Zero was won by Yves Grosjean’s J 133, Jivaro, by just over nine minutes on corrected time from last year’s overall winner; Hugues Riché’s Grand Soleil 44, Spineck. Mike Greville’s Ker 39, Erivale III, was third, another consistent result for the RORC Season’s Points Championship. 

In IRC One the first eight boats on corrected time were all from France. François Lognone’s J 122, Nutmeg IV, was the winner lifting the Yeoman Trophy. Bernard Moureau’s head turning JND 35, Gaia, was second with Philippe Reminiac’s J 133, Blackjack, in third position. 

The IRC Two victor for the second year running was Ame-Hasle sailed by Jean-Marc Rousselin. The A 35 was a clear winner by some distance lifting the Yacht Club de Dinard Trophy. Noel Racine’s JPK 10.10, Foggy Dew, was second whilst the double-handed team on John White’s X 37, SX Girl, was third in class but lifted the Slingshot Trophy for best yacht in the Two-Handed Division. 

IRC Three was won by yet another French entry, in fact apart from the two big boat classes, all of the rest were all won by French yachts. Matthias Kracht’s win on JPK 9.60, Ultreia!, was made all the more sweet by the fact that this was also achieved double-handed. Olivier Busnel’s Bongo 9.60, Olahm, was second with Jean Yves Chateau’s Nicholson 33, Iromiguy, in third. 

The RORC Season’s Points Championship continues with the Channel Race starting from the Royal Yacht Squadron Line, Cowes, on Saturday 24^th July. Competitors will be hoping for fair winds for the 24-36 hour race, around marks, finishing back in Cowes. This will be the last offshore race prior to the 1760 mile Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland race at the end of August. 

Full results and more at www.rorc.org

Congratulations to all of the Grand Soleil owners who successfully completed the 2010 Round the Island Race, which took place on Saturday. By my count there were 16 Grand Soleils racing around the Isle of Wight; a fantastic turn-out and credit to you, our owners. Thank-you.

Class IRC 1A was won by Willem Wester and his crew on the Grand Soleil 43 Antilope and in Class IRC2A the top slot was secured by Michael Ronson, Robin Dollar and team with their Grand Soleil 37 Grand Slam. These are awesome results.

Anyone who has ever done the Round the Island will know what a tricky race it is in which to perform well. These two Class wins for Grand Soleil is testament to the tactical skill, navigational expertise and boat-handling ability of these two teams. It is also a fine reflection of the fact that not only do these beautiful boats look great, but that they are also extremely quick too!

From the smallest Grand Soleils on the race-track, the GS343s, Gazelle and Breakthrough, (owned by Minka Armitage and Martin Hawkes respectively)  to the largest on the course,  David Allen’s GS56 called Petit Lune,  well done to you all. There isn’t room to mention each of you by name here, but we would love to meet you all at our Grand Soleil Rendevous in Yarmouth which takes place on 24th of July. Please just contact Key Yachting for more information.

Over the weekend of June the 12^th & 13^th the Royal Southern Y.C. held the second of its monthly regattas. With the flags of several nations flying at the clubhouse the weekend had a truly international feel to it. As well as the normal weekend’s racing for the IRC & Sportsboat classes the J-109s held the first of their Saturday series, the Contessa 32s raced as part of their Summer series and on Saturday the IRC fleets included competitors racing in the IRC Solent series. 

Tony Lovell on board ‘Bonnie’ had charge of the J-109s and the Sportsboat classes whilst Philip Gage with ‘Knight’s Challenge’ was further out in the Solent with the Keelboats. On Saturday the wind started at 15 – 18 kts out of the NNW but faded during the day and became quite erratic at times with 30 – 35^o shifts, particularly near the mainland shore. Overnight the breeze steadily veered from Easterly to West southwest by the time racing was due to start at 10:30 on Sunday morning. With a mid-day high tide this gave plenty of water in the Central Solent but as the wind built to 18 – 20 kts and the west going tide gathered pace the sea conditions were much rougher than the day before. 

J-109 Class

Having held a very successful National Championships at the club the previous weekend, the fleet enjoyed close racing throughout the day. The first race was a simple windward / leeward configuration using laid marks. ‘Jahmali’ (Mike Wallis) led ‘Instinct’ (Malcolm Glaister) & ‘Outrajeous’ (Richard Griffith) by a couple of boat’s lengths at the first turn. Over the next couple of legs ‘Outrajeous’ managed to work her way passed ‘Instinct’ and close the gap on ’Jahmali’ so that she was just a boat’s length behind rounding the bottom mark for the last time but ‘Jahmali’ held on for the gun. For the 2^nd race the fleet was given a more complicated course that included a good genniker reach from Hill Head to Royal London. After the beat and run the fleet arrived at Hill Head at the same time as the SB3s and the two classes were intermingled for the rest of the race. Again it was a head to head between ‘Jahmali’ and ‘Outrajeous’ with the honours this time going to ‘Outrajeous’ with ‘High Tension’ again 3^rd.  This set up the final race with the two boats level on points. Another change of course kept the navigators on their toes but after a close race it was ‘Jahmali’ who edged it and took the overall win.  

IRC Classes

This weekend saw a very even split in numbers across the three main IRC classes. In IRC1 Paul Turner’s Grand Soleil 43 ‘Artemis’ was joined by her sisterships ‘Quokka 8’ (Peter Rutter) & Dominic Hurnall’s ‘Jua Kali’, whilst Dirk & Diane van Beek’s Match 42 ‘Sabriel’ was another welcome newcomer.

Race 1 saw the familiar sight of Michael Bartholomew’s ‘Tokoloshe’ take the gun a minute ahead of ‘Jinja’ (Rupert Matthew’s J-122) and ‘Quokka 8’. ‘Jinja’ recouped her time difference on handicap to take the win. In the afternoon these three boats again broke away from the pack and as the wind died and the tide built the gap between the front and the back of the class widened. Solent veteran Peter Rutter used his knowledge well to take both line and class honours ahead of ‘Jinja’ and ‘Tokoloshe’.

When racing resumed on Sunday morning the new wind direction presented new challenges for the tacticians. The first six boats all finished close together but whilst ‘Tokoloshe’ took the gun it was Rupert Matthews on ‘Jinja’ that had his 2nd win of the weekend. Further back in the fleet Stuart Hemingway helming ‘Beam’ had a bad spinney drop at the final mark, tore the foot of his foresail as they hardened up for the final full & by leg to the finish line and then successfully managed to keep ahead of the higher rated Comet 415 ‘Biela’ (Richard Barnes). In the final race things were even tighter. ‘Quokka 8’ established a narrow lead over ‘Tokoloshe’ on the water and that was enough to give him the gun, class win and 2^nd place overall, equal on points with ‘Jinja’ but losing out on the countback. 

The first race for IRC2 had proved to be a benefit event for John Howell on his Dehler 36 ‘Alaris’. They opened up a very impressive seven minute lead by the finish and well deserved their win. However they couldn’t repeat the trick in the afternoon and, in particular, on the long broad reach across from the mainland to the Prince Consort buoy both ‘Stiletto’ (John Barratt & Paul Woodward) and ‘No Retreat!’ (David & Jackie Riley) managed to get away from the rest as the wind faded and the tide built. Having got the hang of winning ‘Stiletto’ went on to win both of Sunday’s races and take the class overall. The final race proved to be a very tense affair with the J/105 ‘JOS of Hamble’ (Roger Williams), ‘Xtra Djinn’ (Neville Hodkin) & Barbara Harmer’sArchibeau’ finishing within 15 secs of each other.

 The IRC3 class was predominantly a collection of various J boat designs but it was very good to see that David Glasgow brought out his beautiful 8 Metre ‘Athena’ to play. This was the only class where the winner, Mike Flood helming his J-97 ‘Induljence’, had a clean sweep of victories. Behind him the minor places went to another J-97, Bill Blain’s ‘Batfish IV’, and Lis Robinson’s ‘Hotrats’. In IRC 4  three boats ended on 11 points but the class win went to Bernard Fyan’s Mustang 30 ‘Erik the Red’ who won on countback from the X95 ‘Crakajax’ (Richard Hollis & Ursula Bagnall) by virtue of his win in the last race that they both competed in. 

Overall Results:

IRC 1                   J-122                               Jinja                     Rupert Matthews  

IRC 2                   First 35                            Stiletto                 John Barratt & Paul Woodward

IRC 3                   J-97                                 Induljence             Mike Flood

IRC 4                   Mustang 30                      Erik the Red         Bernard Fyans

J-80                     Juicy                                734                      Allan Higgs

J-109 Summer Saturday Series: 

1^st                        Jahmali                            Michael Wallis

2^nd                       Outrajeous                       Richard Griffith

3^rd                        High Tension                    Andrew Given