Yachts & Yachting – August 2019

Above l-r

Stunning fl eet

racing at high

speed, with short

races designed

to appeal to a

younger audience;

aboard the GBR

boat; race course

o Cowes

Below l-r

Race village; the

GBR boat was

back in action

at New York;

giant screens

will show the

racing close-up

Dylan Fletcher, Stuart Bithell, Richard

Mason, Matt Gotrel and Neil Hunter

are lying third overall in the series and

are keen to use their knowledge of the

Solent’s  ckle waters to post their  rst

series victory at SailGP’s European debut.

 e F50 boats are those used for

the last America’s Cup in Bermuda in

2017, tweaked to create a strict one-

design  eet and now 10%-15% faster.

HOW TO WATCH AFLOAT

 e SailGP racing will take place

once o cial Cowes Week racing

has  nished, each a ernoon on 10

and 11 August, so that Cowes Week

boats can line the SailGP race course

to watch the action close-up.

SailGP has also partnered with Red

Funnel to o er another comfortable

way to watch the racing, on board

the top  oor of the Red Jet, with a

bar and complimentary bu et.  e

vessel will have screens showing

live race coverage and an onboard

event commentator. More details

on the SailGP Cowes website.

 ere are other companies

o ering spectator boat experiences

to watch SailGP on the water – these

companies can be found on the

SailGP website. O cial spectator

FEATURE SAILGP COWES

S

ailGP visits the Isle of Wight

at the start of Cowes Week

on 10 and 11 August, with

the F50 foiling catamarans,

which are capable of

50 knots, racing close inshore o Cowes

and  nishing just metres o Egypt Point.

 e event is the penultimate

regatta in the innaugural SailGP

season, which has so far seen events

in Sydney, San Francisco and New

York. A er Cowes the series  nal is

held in Marseilles, where one team

will win the $1 million  rst prize. 

Despite a dramatic capsize in New

York, the GBR team of Chris Draper,

30 Yachts & Yachting August 2019 yachtsandyachting.co.uk