Cowes Week - King of Cowes

Cowes, UK - The King of Cowes, now in its second year, gives the overall winners of each of the 35 classes from the previous year's Skandia Cowes Week the opportunity to race each other on a level playing field of identical boats. With sailors competing for the top prize of a brand-new VW Touareg (for the helmsman), and winds gusting over 30 knots, competition at this year's event was, as you can imagine, quite fierce.

The identical Laser SB3s were seen sailing off Cowes on Friday, starting the three race regatta to find out who exactly is the 'King of Cowes.' Nearly 30 teams of sailors tested their skills on the water, but only one team came out on top. In the end it was the crew of Giles Peckham, Craig Burlton and Steve White sailing Gill Race Team - Carjacked, that won the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes. The team had no trouble excelling in the extremely windy conditions on the Solent, beating Team Earls Court (Mark Greenaway, Geoff Carveth, Sarah Allen and Catherine Summerhayes) by a narrow one point margin in the overall scorings.

Laser sailors Peckham, Burlton and White made the sailing look easy as they won in the high wind conditions, while many less experienced laser sailors struggled just to keep their boats upright. Gear failure led to at least five race retirements in the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes, including Ian Southworth's boat with Richard Talbot at the helm, which lost its mast in the first race.

Peckham commented on his win: "It was a fantastic day, a blast, and the guys on the boat just led me through the whole thing. We really needed a good crew today and I think knowing the boat today really was the key. I do own an SB3 as well as my Daring so, yes I've had a bit of practice before and that paid dividends. Winning the last race just capped the lot, and winning a new car is a bit of surprise, and I haven't come to terms with that yet. I'm certainly not going to drive it away until I've sobered up!"

Several celebrities also had a bit of fun on Friday, including TV presenter Kirsty Gallacher, and Olympic track stars Jonathan Edwards and Colin Jackson, who joined the sailors on the course. Jackson commented on the sail: "It was all a bit traumatic to start with but I survived and I'm back. I have to say, I really enjoyed it and sailing definitely gets the thumbs up from me."

Cowes Week - King of Cowes by KH for YachtPals.com

READ MORE ABOUT:

• Sailboat Racing
• Cowes Week
• Isle of Wight
• Laser Sailboats
• Cowes
• UK

Sailing Video: Clips from last year's King of Cowes in Cowes on the Isle of Wight.