The wait at North Sails Cowes Week is over for some but hangs in the balance for others
Image: The keelboat classes head into their starts
The penultimate day of a golf championship is often referred to as “moving day”. If you want to be in contention for the big prize on the last day, you need to move up the leaderboard on moving day. North Sails Cowes Week 2026 delivered a brutally difficult day for tacticians, sail trimmers and those trying to steer the 641 boats on the racecourse on Moving Day Thursday.
The forecast had been for a reasonably solid north-westerly wind but, with the weather somewhat warmer than predicted, the breeze was full of holes and the tide was building from the west.
For the eight dayboat classes starting on the committee vessel in Osborne Bay, 12- to 15-mile courses saw them traversing the Bramble Bank and the mouth of Southampton Water. For the big boats starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line, much longer courses saw them going as far west as Lymington.
In the XOD Class, serial winners Tim Copsey, John Tremlett and Fraser Graham on Astralita were left out of the battle for overall honours tomorrow after being disqualified for being OCS before the second start following an earlier general recall. Meanwhile, XOD, Lone Star, sailed by Phil Lawrence, David King and Nick Froud, put another second on their scorecard to lock up the Captains’ Cup with a day to spare, tomorrow being the last day of racing. Competing in a relatively underpowered one-design in a fleet of 59 boats and sitting being in as the top two on the leaderboard everyday is an outstanding performance for both Phil, the former Commodore of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club and now Race Director of the Ocean Race, and his team.
The New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup, the second of the prestigious trophies for the big boats, was won by Karl Kwok’s Beau Geste from Hong Kong. With six straight bullets, Beau Geste has cleaned up IRC 0.
The Sigma 33 class, once the biggest class at Cowes Week, remains a committed group of racers who were seen making as much noise as anybody at the Musto Après Sail at Cowes Yacht Haven on Thursday. Toby Gorman and his crew on Stan The Boat have, however, dominated all week on the water, with six bullets giving them an unassailable lead.
Back on the Bramble Plateau, the Mermaid class has seen the opposite scenario, with Sirena, sailed by Anthony Eaton and his crew, moving up and down the scoreboard. No bullets and a couple of finishes outside the top five, but three second places have given them a very good lead going into the last day. Ben Few Brown’s Halluf is still in with a chance but needs another bullet to avoid being dragged down by the 10th place she scored in Sunday’s race.
Moving Day !!!
No surprise in the Quarter Ton class. Sam Laidlaw’s BLT has six straight bullets and will win North Sails Cowes Week in her class a repeat of her performance last year. BLT is also in good shape to win the Black Group overall and, in a rare occurrence, the leader from the XOD Class, Lone Star, leads the White Group overall.
The Swallow class returned to North Sails Cowes Week last year after a break of about 10 years, and they’re back again in 2026 to celebrate the bicentenary regatta. Nigel Masding and Hugo Fisher, sailing Svala, have a small lead over Osprey, sailed by James Hartley and crew. The battle for third is very tight, but no one can now catch these two overall.
Former Chairman of Cowes Combined Clubs Peter Taylor won today’s race in the Sunbeam Class by just over two minutes. Holly, sailed by Martin and Vicky Jones, was in second place, and these two had an enormous lead over Symphony, sailed by Zac Sheppard and crew.
North Sails Cowes Week would not be the same without the Victory class from Portsmouth. Legendary for their partying ability, the 13 boats always enjoy Cowes Week, and this year James Joplin and Mark Brighs in Zest lead the way in front of Jim Downing and Zoe Whitaker in Ziva, just ahead of John Scammel and Maxine Reeves in Zilch. At this point the typewriter ran out of the letter Z. Luckily, Shearwater, sailed by Russell Mead, Darren Barnard and Martyn Brown, is in fifth!
To recognise 200 years of one of the world’s greatest regattas, Cowes Combined Clubs have put up a new trophy, the Bicentenary Gold Cup. The trophy represented based on the first three days of results made sure that everybody who had raced was able to win. Applying the overall scoring format that the organisers have used at Cowes Week for many years, the Bicentenary Cup was won by High Spirit in the Performance Cruiser D class. Congratulations to Andy Maskell and his team.
Today’s races at North Sails Cowes Week made for another awesome day of sailing. Strong cross tides and a light and variable north-westerly wind made it hugely technically demanding and delivered the all-round challenge at which North Sails Cowes Week has been excelling. It was never easy, and falling foul of a random shift was always a possibility, but over seven days the cream of the fleets rises to the top.
With one race day left in the 200th Cowes Week regatta, some of the winners can start celebrating already. For the rest, it’s another race around the Solent tomorrow to complete an epic week of competition.
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