When the final gun fired on Friday afternoon at the Isle of Wight, Cowes Week had delivered on its 200-year-old promise. Seven days of racing across 43 different classes produced not just a regatta but a masterclass in competitive diversity, where a classic wooden Folkboat could race alongside a modern RS21 planing machine and both get genuine, hard-fought victories.
The week’s standout performance came from Phil Lawrence, Nick Froud and David King, whose XOD Lone Star won overall in a class of 60 boats. Consistency at that scale is rare. “We were just blisteringly fast all week,” Lawrence said simply. For the Lymington crew, particularly for Lawrence himself who has sat at the front of competitive fleets across five decades, it marks another chapter in a long racing life.
The real story, though, lay in what raced alongside the XODs. The Cowes Combined Clubs, who organise the regatta, introduced the Bicentenary Gold Cup this year to mark the event’s bicentennial. They made it count for the first three days only, meaning all 641 entrants had a genuine shot. Andy Maskell took it with his Contessa 33 High Spirit in the Club Cruiser D class.
Friday delivered perfect conditions. Previous days had varied wildly – wet and windy, calm and flat, brilliant sunshine with barely a whisper. The final day brought sun and a clean sea breeze, and the race committee got every fleet started. Ben Rogers’ Contessa 32 Solan Goose pipped Sam Laidlaw’s quarter tonner BLT for Black Group overall by sheer virtue of Friday’s last race. Margins that tight define Cowes.
The young German crew aboard Stoertebeker, sailing IRC Class Zero, earned recognition beyond their podium finish. They sailed from Kiel to the Isle of Wight and back, collecting both the top training boat award and the Sustainability Trophy for carbon-free miles sailed. That commitment deserves respect. Wednesday’s strong winds had forced some smaller classes ashore, yet the regatta still ran the full programme across the week.
Christopher Bake’s classic Anteren won the Newcomers Trophy in IRC Class Five, while the Folkboats returned as a class for the first time in 50 years. Cy Grisley and Simon Evans took honours on Gybe N’, proving that a traditional clinker design with no planing hull can still generate fierce, compelling racing. Twenty-five boats competed. That juxtaposition matters. Richard Patrick’s Performance Cruiser A Dusty P won its class, with Richard Loftus’s elegant Swan 65 Desperado close behind. From yacht club cruisers to grand touring boats to stripped-out racing machines, the breadth of hulls and crews reinforced what makes Cowes Week different.
The Solent Team Trophy, awarded for best club team performance, went to Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club after a tussle with the Royal Yacht Squadron. Crispin Winser’s RS21 White Oryx dominated the modern planing class. In total, 153 trophies went to winners across regular classes and special categories, distributed to more than 5,000 sailors.
Cowes Week 2027 runs from 31 July to 6 August.
