Glorious Race Weeks
by Mark Jardine 4 Sep 07:00 NZST
Hamilton Island Race Week 2024 © Salty Dingo
It would be so easy to write about the Olympics and America's Cup this week in my newsletter but, in all honesty, we're writing and talking enough about those on Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com already. Instead let's focus on Race Weeks.
July and August saw a vast number of these, where local (and not so local) sailors gathered together and took to the water in droves. Much of my focus here is on UK events, but there were also well-attended events in Australia and the USA.
We've done some analysis of attendance at these to gauge how the sport is fairing. For the past 25 years on YachtsandYachting.com we've taken a look at UK National Championship attendance to see how classes are performing, and this has been used as an indicator for the health of sailing, but more and more I believe it is the race weeks that we should be looking at, and it is generally a very positive picture.
There are obvious economic reasons as to why some local race weeks are thriving. Travelling to events isn't getting any cheaper, with rental accommodation becoming very costly, and even campsites now proving expensive. Major sailing events are almost inherently held in holiday season at holiday destinations, leading to peak rate costs, as well as the traffic being more painful.
At local events you can stay at home, travel is easy, and you don't have to rig and derig the boat. You make great use of your free time, and it can be less stressful. Granted, you don't get to see and stay at a new location, but just relaxing where you live, having a sailing event staycation, can be a great holiday.
The size and scale of race weeks can vary massively, with events like Cowes Week and Chichester Harbour Federation Week attracting several hundred boats, down to 30 or 40 boats at a local event. Sailor numbers range from the thousands at major events like Hamilton Island Race Week, to under 100 at smaller clubs.
Some require travel to get there, but for the yachts this can be done by sea, and effectively taking your accommodation with you, though on some of the high-end race boats this simply isn't possible. Cork Week and Cowes Week are examples of events where numbers are down from their peak, and high accommodation and travel costs are cited as major contributing factors of their demise. Some events are addressing their weaknesses, and I've heard very positive feedback from Cowes Week this year which is encouraging.
I love reading about events such as the Cadet Weeks at Solway Yacht Club and Blackwater Sailing Club. Both seem to have found the secret balance of serious racing and fun activities, and welcome bumper participation. These are the kind of events where youth sailors will make memories for life - often including mud and tug-of-war competitions it seems - and sailing will become ingrained in their way of life.
July and August are the middle of winter in Australia, but you wouldn't know it at events like Magnetic Island, Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island Race Week. The weather is often just as good as a UK summer (or better) and fleets of between 65 to over 150 boats compete at each. Nearly everything in Australia requires travel as the distances between places are so vast, but the journeys and the destinations are worth it.
The USA Race Weeks often gravitate around the prestigious west and east coast yacht clubs, such as Long Beach, Larchmont, Chester and New York, which attract over 100 boats at each with some great racing under IRC, ORC and PHRF as well as various one-design classes. There are some great fleets in the various 'J' classes, such as the J70, J105 and J109, as well as some local classics.
Coming back to the UK, local classics have found homes at events such as Cowes Classic Week. The Solent has some incredible racing in fleets like the XOD, Sunbeam and Daring, and having events with more than one race a day gives sailors a feeling of more 'bang for their buck' than at Cowes Week itself.
Two of the massive UK dinghy events are Bass Week (held on Bassenthwaite, the only true 'lake' in the Lake District) which hosted 220 boats from an incredible 42 different clubs, and Chichester Harbour Race Week which attracted a staggering 383 entries from 59 clubs across 20 fleets. Both have a loyal following and become one of the first dates to be marked in next year's calendar.
It's been great to watch the east coast revival in the UK, with both Mersea Week and Burnham Week achieving a good number of boats on the water. I always enjoying seeing the photos of the one-designs such as the Squib, Royal Burnham, Royal Corinthian and East Coast dayboats battling it out in the Crouch estuary at Burnham Week and then classic Smacks at Mersea Week.
On the south coast Poole Week has just finished, with 189 boats out on the water. Poole Harbour, and the Bay just outside the harbour entrance, are truly idyllic sailing venues, with Parkstone Yacht Club's facilities world class, so it's no surprise to see the popularity of this one.
Similarly, Falmouth Week had over 100 boats racing. The Falmouth Working Boats are beautiful sight with their colourful topsails and the Carrick Roads are a stunning backdrop. Another West Country event which offers more than a splash of colour is the Fowey Royal Regatta, where there seems to be an internal competition within the Fowey River class to see how many different colours, often clashing, can be combined together on a mainsail and jib.
The major championship events haven't had a bad year on the whole, but Race Weeks provide a superb alternative for those who either don't want to travel or would like a more informal way of enjoying their racing. It's of course still fiercely competitive at times, and local rivalries can be amongst the strongest, but in general there is a more relaxed pace.
So, July and August haven't just been about the Olympics and America's Cup in the sailing world, because so much else has been going on around the planet. The world's eyes may be on Barcelona, marvelling at the staggering speeds the AC75s are achieving, but it's the breadth and depth of sailing events available for us to do which makes it strong as a whole.
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor