Main Page | Newsletter | Sailing calendar | America's Cup | Glossary

Rocky finish for Britannia Cup

Team Tonic snatched victory by just one second

COWES, England -- There was high drama on the finish line at Cowes Week for the Britannia Cup with the Team Tonic winning by one second and Volvo for Life hitting the rocks.

After four days of light winds and cancellations the fifth day looked like it would end up with disappointed sailors crowding the beer tent.

The race committee postponed racing until noon, finally managing to get the starting sequence underway in an eight to 10 knot breeze.

However, by this time the tide was flowing strongly to the west, causing problems for the boats as they struggled to stay on the right side of the start line in the light winds.

YOUR SAY E-mail us with your views  on the world of sailing   MORE STORIES • Gay sailors make waves at Cowes  • Cowes sailors test SMS navigation

Many boats in the White Group collided with Alpha buoy as they tried to get over the line.

In the big boat class, Class 0, the race was for the Britannia Cup, a prize held by the British America's Cup team boss Peter Harrison with his Farr 52 Chernikeef.

The three Farr 52s, Chernikeef, Bear of Britain sailed by Mark Campbell-James and Nick Hewson's Team Tonic steered by Jeremy Robinson, started well, with Bear of Britain being the best on the line.

The final leg brought the fleet past the spectators on Cowes Green in an exciting spinnaker reach against the slackening tide.

The two Farr 52s Bear of Britain and Team Tonic were just half a metre apart, with the Union Jack-emblazoned Bear holding off the black Team Tonic.

Almost on the line Jeremy Robinson made an attack trying to take Bear's wind, but there was never any chance that she would pass.

Team Tonic closed the gap to just eleven seconds which was enough to claim the Brittania Cup on corrected time with Team Tonic beating Bear of Britain by the smallest margin of just one second.

Soon afterwards Ben Ainslie brought the Swan 70 Volvo for Life towards the line, assisted by the combined talents of fellow British Olympic Gold medallists Shirley Robertson and Iain Percy.

But virtually on the line Volvo for Life hit the rocks just off the Royal Yacht Squadron, stopping dead, gybing and then finally extricating herself to finish.

Cowes Week, the world's longest running and most famous race week, was first held in 1826 as the Cowes Town regatta and has been run continuously since.

Nine hundred entries are racing in 33 classes with about 8,000 competitors out on the water with the race committee handling around 245 race starts and courses over the eight-day regatta.