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This year's Small Ships Race saw some unsavoury characters, as can be seen by the crew of the mini brig Bob Allen. There was no shortage of wind, producing some challenging and close racing for the 26 strong fleet.
 At exactly 0900 on Saturday 2rd October the start gun was fired, with John Lang (OYT South) being first over the line, closely followed by Jolie Brise (Dauntsey’s School) and Merrilyn (Rona Sailing Project). Exocet was the first vessel to round the windward mark of Gurnard. She was closely followed by Duet, the eventual winner of the race.
The strong winds proved to be quite a challenge, with many of the smaller vessels retiring. The larger vessels on the other hand were revelling in the conditions. In the end fifteen of the twenty six starters finished the race, the last vessel to cross the finish being Queen Galadriel. Follow these links to read the full race report and list of results. Video footage of the race can be seen here.  The crew of Duet collect the Aurora Trophy from the patron of the Cowes Small Ships Race, HM Lord Lieutenant of the Isle of Wight, Major General Martin White. Duet was one of the oldest and smallest in the fleet, with one of the younger crews.
 The crew of Jolie Brise collect the Richard Langhorn 'Spirit of the Race' Trophy. Unfortunately Jolie Brise was forced to retire, but for the first time took away the Spirit of the Race' trophy for the assistance she had given other vessels over the week-end of the event. For the second year the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) entered the race. Last year they were awarded a magnet to attract more young people to their crew, which seemed to work! This year skipper Colum Leggett took his team forward to win the Seven Seas Trophy. |
Small Ships Races 
