Entries for the 2010 British Classic Yacht Club Panerai Cowes Regatta 2010 are flooding in from both seasoned regulars and newcomers to the annual gathering of vintage yachts. Now in its ninth year, the regatta runs from Sunday 18th July to Saturday 24th July, with racing taking place in and around the Solent and competing yachts once again berthed at the Cowes Yacht Haven. In 2009 over sixty yachts took part and organisers are quietly confident of beating that total this year.
This year, for the first time, the regatta forms part of the high profile 2010 Panerai Classic Yachts Challenge Series, which as well as the Cowes event, features some of the world’s leading classic yacht regattas, including the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta and the Régates Royale, Cannes.
An early entry, certain to be amongst the most competitively raced yachts taking part in this year’s regatta, is the 47.6 foot Laurent Giles designed sloop, Cetewayo, which in many ways typifies the true spirit of the British Classic Yacht Club. Built on the Clyde in 1957 by Morris & Lorrimar she was successfully campaigned as Zulu by her original owner, Sir Henry Spurrier. After falling into almost terminal disrepair she was eventually discovered in 1989, abandoned and rotting away on Pembroke Dock, by her current owner, BCYC Commodore David Murrin.
Despite her then sorry state, Murrin undertook to restore the yacht to her former glory and after eight months of painstaking effort and dedication, she was renamed Cetewayo and sailed to her new home on the south coast of England. A season of racing in and around the Solent was followed by a winter of more hard work making the changes necessary to optimise Cetewayo for CHS. The development process which has been ongoing ever since, includes a new keel and engine, the addition of dual cockpits, as well as an update to the winch layout to facilitate the use of more powerful Mylar race sails.
Murrin neatly sums up the end result like this “The original Laurent Giles design for Zulu has been synchronised with advancements in modern technology. Whilst always retaining her classic wooden heritage, Cetewayo is once again a powerful racing yacht, which can compete extremely effectively against modern fibreglass competitors.”
Amongst the other entries already confirmed for this year’s regatta are Darryl Hughes’s 1937 gaff-rigged ketch Maybird, David Sherriff’s 1897 Cork Harbour One-Design gaff-cutter Jap and Barry Bristow’s 1937 Dallimore designed Bermudan cutter Foglio.
More details of the British Classic Yacht Club Panerai Cowes Regatta 2010, including the official Notice of Race can be found at the official regatta website at: -britishclassicyachtclub.org/regatta
Entry forms can be obtained from:
Mary Scott-Jackson
MSJ Event Management
Regatta House, 18 Bath Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7QN
info@msjeventmanagement.co.uk
British Classic Yacht Club Yachts:
Josephine, Cetewayo, Frenesi of Clynder, Undina, Rebecca of Vineyard Haven, Drumbeat, Whooper, Zoom, Foglio, Talisker Mhor, Pazienza, Mikado, Sensa, Droleen II, Corrie, Sceptre , Thendara, Athena, John Dory, Swanilda, Marigold, Sally of Kames, Monsoon, Charm of Rhu, Cereste, Roar for Joy, Zahir , Vivette, Berenice, Huff of Arklow, Fairlight, Ilderim, Dorothy, Zaleda, Clarion of Wight, Shantih 2, Cygnet , St David’s Light, Leonie, Caressa, Tiger C, A Day at the Races, Kelpie, Rubicon, Infanta, Rampage, Halcyon, Thalassa, Sinbad, Lutine, Twilight, Alera, Aeolus Nightfall, Mossie Estelle, Valpi, Rinamara, Varen, Zarik, Croix des Gardes, Opposition, Soutache, Amelia, Cameiial of Rhu, Maybird, Erida, Vigilant, Patriot, Venya, Tuiga, Overlord, Tasma, Gluckhauf, Shuttle, Dirk II.
