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Cowes-Madeira Race
The Cowes to Madeira Yacht Race is new to the RORC sailing programme but the route is centuries old; Charles II granted traders sailing to Madeira tax exemption on wines in 1665. The 2008 race organised by the Royal Ocean Racing Club is certain to provide some challenging and spectacular ocean sailing for the competitors. On Monday morning, August 11th, the race fleet will line up on the historic Royal Yacht Squadron Line at Cowes and head for Madeira, some 1480 miles away.

The competitors will be looking for tidal advantages and changes in wind speed and direction as they make their way west through Hurst Narrows and into the English Channel. Once through Hurst Narrows, the tactics will be to play the many tidal gates before turning South West for Ushant; the southern gateway to the Atlantic Ocean.

The fleet will then cross or go into the Bay of Biscay depending on the wind speed and direction. By then, the competitors will be getting used to life at sea and would usually be experiencing fast reaching conditions in the Atlantic swell, with extremely comfortable air temperatures, even at night. The fleet will race south down the Spanish and Portuguese coasts and pick up the Canary Current towards the finish line at Madeira which rises 1800 metres out of the ocean. Madeira has its own micro-climate and local conditions may cause a thrilling end to the longest ocean race of a busy RORC season.

RORC Madeira - Cowes Race - Tuesday 26th August 2008
The return race to Cowes could prove to be a very interesting tactical race making the best use of the conditions experienced on the trip down to Madeira.

Solo sailing legend Sir Robin Knox-Johnston commented “The RORC Cowes to Madeira race is a fantastic opportunity for sailing enthusiasts and adventurers to do some serious ocean racing, including an encounter with the North-East Trade winds. It’s great that the Clipper 68 foot round the world racing yachts will be on the start line. These are big, fast boats that respond to good crewing.”

Entries have started to come in from all over Europe from a wide variety of yachts, including the smallest boat to finish the 2007 Rolex Fastnet; Foggy Dew, skippered by Noel Racine from La Havre, France. Clipper Ventures are expected to enter at least two of their yachts; The Clipper 68 is likely to be one of the biggest yachts on what already looks to be a competitive start line. Berths remain available for groups or individuals on the Clipper fleet with a discount offered to members of RORC. — Trish Jenkins

www.rorc.org

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 10:31 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.