spirit of jethou yacht

• Sold Yachts
• Swan 601 - CHESSIE RACING 4

CHESSIE RACING 4

Sold - swan 601 chessie racing 4.

• Model: 2004 Swan 601
• Hull Number: 601.002
• LOA: 60 ft 2 in
• Beam: 15 ft 6 in
• Draft: 11 ft 6 in
• Displacement: 34200 lbs Dry Load
• Ballast: 13200 lbs
• Engine: Volvo Marine diesel 70 HP

Chessie Racing 4 (ex Spirit of Jethou) was purchased by the present owner in the fall of 2012. He liked the way this Swan 601 performed so much he has traded up to the new model Swan 80 which will give him even more performance. Nautor has now taken Chessie Racing 4 in trade and is fully motivated to sell her. During the short time of ownership Chessie Racing 4 was upgraded including four new sails, three of which have never been flown. Also, the services of one of the crew members off the recent Volvo Race was hired to go through Chessie Racing 4 to further optimize her for racing. As well as being a very competitive race boat Chessie Racing 4 also has the ability to turn into a performance cruising boat with electric winches and headsail roller furling. Chessie Racing 4 is in impeccable condition and she is highly recommended.

{gallery}brokerage/601.002.Chesse.Racing.4.Exterior{/gallery}

The hull is of built in a female mold using unidirectional carbon fibre Sprint layers vacuum bagged and oven cured. Foam cored topsides and single skin bottom. Structural bulkheads are of Nomex honeycomb cored carbon fibre epoxy pre-preg construction. Stiffeners are carbon lay-ups with unidirectional flanges and double bias webs. Engine beds are of CFRP with steel inserts. Flotation reference marks at bow and stern. Bottom treated with epoxy primer for improved blistering resistance, and antifouled. Sea cocks of plastic for all through-hull connections below waterline, closing flush with outside and located in accessible positions.

Faired using long boards and epoxy primer, sprayed with Awlgrip Jet Black. No stripes or boot top.

Faired using long boards and coated with Hempel black epoxy. Primer is sanded and polished to racing bottom standards. Recently two coats of sprayed Hempel Hard Racing antifouling applied

Ballast Keel

Racing keel with narrow steel fin and lead bulb. Keel bolts are of high-tensile stainless steel. Fin CNC machined from high-tensile stainless steel. Bulb and Fin faired using computer cut templates.

Steering System

Dual steering gear, sheaves provided with guards to prevent jamming. Lightweight steering quadrant bolted to rudder stock. Two 1.2 m destroyer type carbon fibre wheels, 1.7 turns H.O to H.O. Pedestals with roller bearings and friction brake. One spare carbon wheel and two spare aluminium wheels used for deliveries Emergency tiller stowed in lazarette.

Racing rudder. Foam filled blade with carbon fibre skins and stock, supported by two self-aligning bearings. Weed deflector in front of rudder.

The ergonomic design on deck ensures the clean, sleek lines of the boat are unbroken and adds to her capacity for high-speed sailing. Deck is of carbon fibre Sprint sandwich construction with foam core, vacuum bagged and oven cured. Glued deck/hull joint. High-density core under deck fittings. Laid teak 6 mm nominal thickness on side and bridge deck, cockpit sole and seats, glued and vacuum bagged without screws. Low toe rail in front of chainplates. Deck surfaces are painted in Hempel Jet black.

Anchor windlass and roller:

The vessel has a Lewmar V5 windlass. On the port side of the bow is a removable SS anchor roller. Stemhead fitting and chainplates Stemhead fitting for asymmetric spinnaker and code 0. Carbon fibre chain plates bonded to hull and to reinforced structural knees.

Deck fittings

Carbon fiber bow sprit (2012) detachable Rollers for three pairs of forward stanchions Three pairs of Custom Carbon winch handle pockets fitted Fairleads integrated into stanchions Three removable Aluminium mooring cleats, one forward two aft Pulpit, pushpit and lifeline stanchion 640 mm high of stainless steel. Spacing conforming to ORC requirements. Stainless life lines. Socket for flag pole. Stowage for two eight-man life rafts in lazerette Composite mast collar. Carbon cockpit table Cockpit cushions in beige

HATCHES AND WINDOWS

Hinged fore deck hatch to deck stowage Flush hinged sail hatch and openable deck hatches of composite construction. Flush side windows. Portholes Goiot. Main companionway lockable sliding hatch of tinted acrylic with sliding dropboard. Aft deck hinged GRP hatch to lazarette. The lazarette is separated with a watertight bulkhead from the interior. Open stowage in lazarette with separate locker for LPG tanks

Lewmar system Primaries: #80, 3 speeds with overdrive box 2 x Primary winches can be driven by removable electric motors (fitted as option) Center removable pedestal Mainsheet: #80, 3 speed with over drive box Mainsheet can be driven by a removable electrical motor (fitted as option) Center mainsheet pedestal clear coated and twisted carbon Mainsheet pedestal is connected to a Navtec rotary pump 2 x Secondary winches: #68, 3 speeds carbon self tailing 2 x Halyard winches: #68, 2 speed carbon self-tailing 2 x Traveler: #44, 2 speed aluminum self-tailing

{gallery}brokerage/601.002.Chesse.Racing.4.Interior{/gallery}

Partly white painted interior. Lightweight carbon floorboards in clear cote carbon, providing access to the bilge. 10mm painted marine ply floorboards for racing mode. Topsides where visible lined with lightweight composite panels. Overhead lined with removable panelling Upholstery - spring mattresses and Scandiflex batten system for fixed berths and thick foam mattresses for pipe berths. Textile covers with Velcro zippers for berths and settees

Forward Cabin

Vanity desk with mirror under lid and removable stool Watertight collision bulkhead Removable double berth. Hanging locker and seats Sony stereo with CD changer unit and two speakers

Pipe cots, for aft cabins, with an adjustable rope tackle system attached to the hooks in the ceiling Twin V berth port and starboard with shelves and hanging locker

Stainless washbasin, mirror, telephone type shower (in fwd head) and lockers. Aft head also has fixed ceiling shower rose Teak gratings. Tecma Carbon heads Aft head is plumbed with a holding tank. Fwd Head is plumbed directly overboard (no holding tank). Bothe heads are raw water flush.

L-sofa in saloon instead of standard Cushion/headboards on forward bulkhead Locker with acrylic shelves for bottles and glasses on stb side of saloon Black covers for chainplates Carbon saloon table with two teak removable chairs Carbon companionway steps Removable 26 inch LCD TV with separate DVD run off the invertor. Numerous scatter cushions

Black Corian in galley. Insulated and sheathed space for stove with extractor hood over. Stainless steel sinks. Garbage container, front loaded refrigerator, top loaded freezer. Four burner gas stove with oven, gimballed and provided with fiddles. DC driven unit for refrigerator and freezer. Optional Quooker 230v water instant hot water

Navigation area

Carbon fibre bulkhead behind nav-seat Provided with shelves, lockers and space for instruments and radios

ENGINE ROOM

Engine space internally sound insulated, fire resistance meeting SOLAS B-15 requirements. Propeller area sound insulated. Volvo Marine diesel 52 kW (70 HP) with reduction gear connected to sail drive Propeller Flexofold 2 bladed Shut-off valves for each fuel tank. Fuel valve chest with return valve for each tank. Fuel filter/water separator with water alarm on feed line to engine. Tanks are vented to deck edge. New electrical panel fitted for engine instruments. Engine hours are approx. 2000

PLUMBING and VENTILATION

Sea water hoses of reinforced PVC tubing, fresh water piping of nylon and copper tubing. Fuel tanks are of 2 x plastic and one stainless, and provided with baffles, inspection covers, sounding plug, and vent pipes. Water tanks of plastic. Shower sump tanks are of plastic.

Freshwater system

Pressurised and heated water. Two fillers port and stb Water tank level gauges. Tank vent pipes terminate at galley sink. Single lever mixing faucets type Oras for washbasins, galley sinks, and showers. The consumable water can be heated either with engine cooling water or with a heating element working on AC. Hot water tank 22 ltr (5.8 USg). Galley spout with foot pump delivery salt water Optional Water boiler, Quooker ST, 800 W 230 V installed in galley

Sinks and wash basins

Galley sinks drain through sea cock. Washbasins and showers drain to sump tanks Sump tanks are emptied by electrical pumps.

Bilge pumps

Two hand pumps 100 ltr/min (26 USg). Outlets above waterline. One electric bilge pump in main sump

Toilets using salt water for flushing, and discharging to holding tanks or direct overboard with level indicator. Holding tank (aft only) emptied by electrical pump or deck suction line. Ventilation and heaters 6 x Hella Turbo fans

DC System Larger battery capacity 490Ah, instead of standard 350Ah 24VDCsystem with insulated return. Wires are dimensioned to minimise voltage drop. 230V AC is a three-wire system. A lightning protector on the masthead is connected with heavy cable to a keel bolt. The service batteries are charged by an 80 Amp alternator on the main engine or by a 50 Amp shore powered battery charger with automatic regulation. The main engine starting batteries are charged by a separate 55amp engine alternator Lights 2 x Boom lights, one over forward cockpit table and one at aft end of the boom Indirect light, in owner’s cabin under bunk Interior down lighters in all cabins Saloon and forward cabin lights have dimmer switches Lopo LED navigation lights (including tri colour) 230 V AC consumers Water heater, 1 kW Service battery charger, 50Amp Outlets, provided with earth fault protection switch

ELECTRONICS

SUUNTO 135 mm magnetic compass on steering pedestals. Auto pilot: B&G auto pilot, type 3 drive unit. System is removable for racing. Simrad AP27 control head with plug in GRP box in port side of cockpit. Second plug for auto pilot at companion way inside boat. Full B and G Hercules 2000 system including: Performance processor Paddle wheel speed 5 x FFD displays – one at chart table fur outside 2 x analogue wind displays 5 x 20/20 repeaters on mast Halcyon Gyro compass B and G Loadcell pin Leica DGPS C 120 colour radar plotter at nav station B and G Race Vision with Hewlett Packard desk top computer with 15” screen 1 x wireless screen for repeating of B and G race vision Communications system SSB Icom receiver Furuno FM2721 DSC VHF Iridium fixed handset to nav station Sony stereo with CD changer and speakers in saloon and cockpit

Hall Spars mast are built of carbon fibre and clear coated. Double spreader semi-fractional rig with discontinuous shrouds and 20 deg. swept spreaders.

IG = 23.75 m 77.92 ft. Fore triangle 80.6 m² 868 sq.ft. J = 6.79 m 22.28 ft. Main sail 122.2 m² 1315 sq.ft. P = 23.60 m 77.43 ft. 107% jib 86.3 m² 929 sq.ft. E = 8.37 m 27.46 ft. Spinnaker 290 m² 3124 sq.ft. ISP=23.845 m

Mast of oval section, with external track/luff groove for mainsail, and trysail track. Tapered masthead with 2:1 main halyard sheave. Jib and spinnaker halyard sheaves. Mast, main boom, spinnaker and jockey poles to be carbon clear coated Hall Spars burgee stick with fittings, molded in the carbon masthead, (to reach above top of mast) Hall spars standard 5 display bracket. The mast is stepped through the deck onto a carbon fibre mast step. Tie rods from mast collar to step. Spinnaker pole track.

Standing rigging

The V1’s, D1’s, D2’s, V2/D3’s headstay and backstay are PBO manufactured by Future Fibres. There is a complete set of rod rigging manufactured by Navtec. The racing headstay has a Tuff luff with twin groves for changing jibs. Harken roller furling with furling line. Two carbon fiber spinnaker poles and one carbon fiber jockey pole.

Running rigging

See separate list

Rig Hydraulics

2 x Navtex four-function one-gauge System 50 central control panel with two-speed pump in aft cockpit for backstay, outhaul, cunningham and vang. Hydraulic mast jack with spacers and removable manual pump. The mainsheet pedestal has a rotary pump connected via a bevel box with a disconnect. This pump controls all the function on the main control panel, vang, outhaul and backstay.

All sails are North

2012/13 Sails 3DL Marathon full batten mainsail 3Di j3 racing jib (unused) A2 Asymetrical racing spinnaker (unused) A4 Asymetrical racing spinnaker (unused)

Other sails

3DL 860 series, inshore mainsail Jib #1 Jib #2 Jib #3-3 Jib #3+, 3DL 800 Jib #4 Jib #5, 3DL taffeta Jib, furling marathon Genoa staysail, newer Aramid 3DL Spinnaker staysail on furler Storm trysail, Norlam Storm jib, Norlam 2S spinnaker, white SL60 4S spinnaker, pink, Airx 900/150 (needs repair) A0/A3 spinnaker, cuben fiber A2 spinnaker, grey, superlite 50/60 A1-1 spinnaker, white, Airx600 Cruising gennaker G3 in sock

ANCHORING AND MOORING

One Fortress FX85 (20 kg) anchor, stowed below deck. 10 m of 10 mm (3/8") high-tensile anchor chain. 100 m of 25 mm plaited nylon anchor line. Four mooring lines. Six air fenders with lines. One boat hook stowed below. Portable anchor light

SAILING GEAR

Winch handles Bosun's chair.

CANVAS WORK

Sprayhood for main companionway. 2 x wheel covers in black

SAFETY EQUIPMENT

Softex total flooding system for engine space with remote control at main companionway. Two portable extinguishers in interior. Fire blanket in galley. Safety belts for navigator and cook. Two webbing jackstays.

MISCELLANEOUS

Owner's Manual in English including manuals supplied by equipment manufacturers. The Owner’s Manual contains directions for use, maintenance and winterising as well as drawings and diagrams for main systems. Sounding rods for fuel and water tanks. Two suction lifters for floorboards. Flag pole. Plumbing spare parts. Engine spare parts. Electric spare parts. Engine tool kit. 40 foot high cube container which houses all sails, spares, rigging etc.

Looking to sell your Nautor's Swan?

Keith Yeoman

Yeoman Yachts

T: +1 401 846 1090

E: [email protected]

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We have many other Swan yachts available for purchase around the world. Below are some of our latest listings, or click here to view all current listings .

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Black beauty

We look at Sir Peter Ogden's Judel Vrolijk IRC 60, Jethou

Feel free to tell us we’re wrong, but we think that Sir Peter Ogden’s Judel Vrolijk IRC 60, Jethou , is the best looking race boat on the water at present (heckle in the comment section at the bottom of the page, if you beg to differ). Like the cooler America’s Cup yachts, Jethou is finished in both hi-tech and alluring clear-coated carbon fibre and being an inshore day racer has a low freeboard for her length. The detail of the finish by her builders Green Marine is also right up there, for the Lymington-based company is good at all-black boats – many years ago now they also built Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli’s maxi, shadowy Stealth .

We were going to write about Jethou after she was launched last summer, but seeing as in these hard economic times and the chances slim of any new racing boats of this size being launched in 2010, we thought we’d hang on to our look at this peach of a boat until now.

Jethou , the boat, like the Channel Island he also owns, belongs to Sir Peter Ogden, a former investment banker and one time MD of Morgan Stanley, who made his fortune as one of the founders of Computacenter, which today describes itself as ‘Europe’s largest provider of IT infrastructure services’.

In the sailing world Ogden is best known for his long series of Swans, culminating in his heavily campaigned 601, Spirit of Jethou . After a top season in 2008 winning regattas in Porto Fino and coming second in Capri and the Swan Maxi Cup and in the Swan Maxi Series, Ogden felt the time had come to move on. According his boat captain Stuart Branson this was also because the other 601s Moneypenny , Artemis and CourdiLeone had moved to pastures new. “It was really exciting with the four of us racing, but we’d gone as far as we could go.”

The choice to go for a 60 was down to Ogden wanting to squeeze into the Mini Maxi class, but not wanting the struggle of having to change his crew or the way they sailed, as would have happened if they had chosen to go bigger. For Ogden, a life-long sailor, races primarily with family, including his daughter and a cousin, and friends. The only pros on board among the 16-17 crew are Branson, Scottish 49er turned Volvo Ocean Race sailor Ian Budgen, who is tactician, and for this year Nat Ives, who has returned to the crew as navigator.

“We are all learning together and that’s how he [Peter Ogden] wanted to do it,” continues Branson. “We wanted to go racing and be faster and more competitive, but he wants to still sail within the ethos of how he has always sailed with all his boats. Peter steers. He is a big advocate of owner-drivers and he loves that.”

Ogden himself explained his reasoning to thedailysail: “I’d rather sail a smaller boat. Obviously I had lots of thoughts about design. Theoretically all the big boats might fight between themselves and leave us alone maybe a little bit! There are lots of things for a smaller boat, but so far the bigger boats have shown to be on balance quicker.

“Obviously the boats are very exciting boats to sail and the owners are quite a nice group of people. We all seem to get on and chat - on shore it is not that vicious!”

The Mini Maxi class is run under IRC so in theory there should be no benefit to being at one end or the other of the 18.29-24.08m (60-79ft) length limits. Yeah, right.

According Rolf Vrolijk, Jethou's design fits into the gap between their STP65s Luna Rossa and Container and their TP52 designs. “In concept it is closer to the 52s than the big boats and so the ratios are slightly different because of that.”

Jethou is effectively an inshore boat, the most offshore she is likely to go is the Giraglia Rolex Cup (which she is entered in this year, including the offshore race from St Tropez to Genoa) and possibly the Newport-Bermuda in the future. As a result, Vrolijk says, they were able to reduce freeboard to the minimum.

So in the Mini Maxi class, is there any advantage to being a smaller boat, we asked Vrolijk. “On paper there shouldn’t be of course, but I think in breezy conditions the bigger boats should have an advantage. Everything under medium conditions, smaller boats should have a fair chance, assuming there are only one or two bigger boats they have free air and they can sail their own race. But now there are more big boats, it will be interesting to see what happens.”

Ian Budgen says they have taken measures to minimise the downside of their short size: “We realised that the boat is at a disadvantage off the start line and initially round he course because we have to fight for clean air, and therefore we made a conscious effort to make the boat as light as possible so she gets up and surfs and planes quicker than all the rest.”

Obviously there are strong links between Jethou to Niklas Zennström’s 72ft Ràn, which was designed by Judel-Vrolijk at the same time and also built by Green Marine - both boats being developments of Dan Meyers’ IRC-killer JV66 Numbers . The difference is that Ràn is a little more offshore orientated, able for example to do a Rolex Sydney-Hobart.

In terms of their systems they are also very similar – both boats have Lewmar winch packages (in the past the late Owen Parker was a regular in Ogden’s crew) with a John Williams-designed gear box and hydraulics from Ian Lovering. John Williams was also involved in Jethou 's deck layout although not to the same extent as he was with Ràn , says Stuart Branson. Diverse fitted the electronics.

“I suppose with our experience from other projects we’ve been involved in, we tried to make all the systems on board as light and as simple as possible without trying to reinvent the wheel,” says Ian Budgen. “We wanted it so that it was reliable and worked well and to date there is nothing I would change if we were to do it again.”

One major difference is that while Ràn is a Southern Spars boat, Jethou has a HallSpars rig package, with a three spreader carbon fibre spar with HallSpar halyard locks on everything save the staysail. 

Like Ràn , the hydraulic package is a development of that used in the America’s Cup, including the ability for her three pedestals (rather than Ràn's four) to power a Navtec rotary pump capable of driving the boat’s extensive hydraulics. We were surprised to hear that their Swan 601 Spirit of Jethou also had a rotary pump for this same purpose, although it was not as efficient as the one on the new boat.

Jethou has hydraulics for her forestay and jib tack, operated by a ‘Siamese’ ram so they run in tandem, plus outhaul, vang, Cunningham, jib in and jib up-down clew positioning. While there is the ultimate flexibility in terms of what the pedestals grind - whether they power winches individually or in unison or whether they drive the rotary hydraulic pump - typically on Jethou the rotary pump is driven from the aft pedestal and is used to operate the mainsail hydraulics leaving the headsail trimmers to operate the jib hydraulics independently with handles.

“There are times when you want to do both jib and mainsail functions, but just to make it simple, it is easier with them being split,” states Budgen. He adds: “Both the rotary pump and the driven pit winch actually make sailing the boat much more efficient and quite a lot easier in a number of ways. Compared to the boat Peter had before, in a lot of ways this boat is easier to sail, because the cockpit is a lot more open and the controls and functions are easier to adjust. The big step up is actually for the grinders because there are three sets of handles on the boat and they can link into any one of different four winches in any combinations. So the grinding role is the biggest step up.”

The sails were put together by the North UK loft and designed between Dave Lenz, who sails on board, and North Denmark’s Henrik Söderlund, while North’s Bob Lancester is another long term trimmer on board. Typically they have five upwind headsails and five chutes – all asymmetric – of which one is a fractional.

Working back from the bow, there is obviously a bowsprit and zero spinnaker pole. The forestay has a substantial headfoil on it which Branson says is a US-version of a Tuff Luff. In hot climes the all-black deck, one imagines is not to be walked on without some sort of foot protection, particularly with the aggressive non-slip (part of the paint system) which is effective but, Stuart Branson admits, does rapidly eat through crew shorts.

Further aft is a sizable deck hatch with a pneumatic seal, as Ràn s has. Below this is Jethou’ s Cup-style spinnaker drop system which flushes the kite down below via a drop line. The different between Ràn and Jethou here is that the take-down system on the former is entirely below deck while on Jethou the take-down line emerges from its length run around the interior of the boat back on deck into the pit on the port side. Going hand in hand with this is of course a pedestal driven pit winch, another now regular feature of AC boats/TP52s.

Jethou doesn’t have Ràn ’s ‘Lou Varney specials’ for her jib cars, but a more conventional arrangement with the up-down control lines leading all the way forward to either side of the foredeck hatch. A very good looking feature that has been appearing on race boats such as this recently, are the internal chainplates – the Hallspar composite shrouds disappearing through neat holes in the deck.

There is no cabin top (hurrah) and so lines can return directly to the pit area without having to be diverted.

The cockpit has three pedestals, the forward two fore and aft, the aft one mounted laterally. Aft of this is the central island for the mainsheet winch, the two wheels and then forward of the transom, the full width mainsheet track, the twin liferafts (in black cases of course) and the chainplates for the twin running backstays.

Down below the interior finish is clear coated black carbon fibre like the exterior. This means everything, including the moulded galley unit, mounted off to port complete with a carbon fibre cover that lifts up to reveal a two burner stove and a carbon fibre sink.

Hard to overlook in the central 'saloon' area are the three carbon fibre covers for the giant keel bolt heads. Save from frequently spaced ring frames, including the main bulkhead, the bow is open going forward, with the enclosed head compartment to starboard just forward of the mast. Despite being a day racer there are pipecots either side of the boat from level with the companionway, aft. The Ives lair/navigatorium is mounted beneath the cockpit sole, directly aft of the companionway.

While the new Jethou may be around the same size as Sir Peter Ogden’s previous Swan 601, her performance has a marked difference as aside from having more horsepower her displacement is less than 11 tonnes compared to the 601’s substantial more hefty 18.

“In Sardinia it was quite windy and wavy and I think we had 25 knots of wind and big waves which was quite entertaining,” says Ian Budgen. “One day we came ashore with the boat pretty full of water, but we are still waiting for a good blast. We will certainly know all about it because it will be very wet and it will be very quick.” Speed-wise they currently sail downwind at just short of true wind speed and Budgen reckons that flat out boat speed could be approaching 30 knots if they dare to take it out in enough breeze.

The program for Jethou in 2010 has already started with Hublot PalmaVela where they finished third in the Mini Maxi Racing class (or second if you exclude the non-owner driven Container ) and ahead of Neville Crichton’s Shockwave (ex Alfa Junior) . From Palma they head off to Rolex Capri Sailing Week at the end of May and on to the Giraglia Rolex Cup in mid-June, before the boat hightails it back to the UK to compete at Cowes Week. It is then back down to the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in September which will feature the first ever Mini Maxi World Championship.

So if you see an all-black boat that stops you in your tracks – now you know what she is.

And some rather more professional images from Mark Lloyd/www.lloydimages.com

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• Jethou Mini Maxi Ian Budgen Rolf Vrolijk Sir Peter Ogden Stuart Branson James Boyd

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Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Wind and rain test Swan Europeans

• Elaine Bunting
• July 5, 2007

Wind, rain and spinnaker troubles aboard Spirit of Jethou

Wind and rain – welcome to regatta racing in the UK in July. It’s a far cry from the cobalt seas of Antigua or Sardinia where Swan owners like to gather, but squally conditions in the Solent have provided the Swan European Regatta with plenty of tactical challenges and drama this week.

Today I was on Sir Peter Ogden’s Swan 601 Spirit of Jethou, as another warm front rolled through, laden with cloud, thick drizzle and winds topping 25 knots. Sir Peter has a great crew of professionals and talented part-timers, good-humoured and slick in equal measure. They include tactician Ian Budgen, Sir Peter on the helm, navigator Nat Ives and crew boss Stuart Branson, and they were fresh from ‘two bullets’ on yesterday’s races. This, however, was not Spirit of Jethou’s day.

As the wind built, a peel from spinnaker to asymmetric on the first race got out of hand – literally – and ended in a serious trawl. The crew wrestled the streaming S2 kite back on board and carried on to finish 3rd on corrected time, but it went wrong again on the second race of the day, this time with disastrous results.

The wind increased as the nimbostratus sneaked up and we sped back towards Cowes on the first downwind leg under the smaller S4 spinnaker. At the leeward mark, the crew squared away and the spinnaker was dropped and hauled in. As it came over the rail a fold fell into the water and it shot off behind us. The bottom of the kite tore across with a noisy rip and unzipped up the tape before disappearing to leeward, complete with guy and sheet. We rounded the mark and continued upwind while the acreage of pink sailcloth bobbed forlornly uptide in the opposite direction. Luckily it was picked up later by a RIB and returned to the crew after the race. Tonight is jigsaw night at North Sails?.

Ours was the most spectacular and costly mistake of the day, but we weren’t the only ones in trouble. On the downwind leg of the second race as the front arrived in earnest several other yachts could be seen wiping out. The other crews vying for an overall win after two days of racing are Graham and Libby Deegan’s Swan 46 Akarana, Richard Loftus’s ever-reliable Swan 65 ketch Desperado and Ed Leask’s Swan 56 Magical, all battling consistently despite such a rough diet of squalls.

More on the regatta in the next Yachting World?..

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Spirit of Jethou takes the spoils at Cowes

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Two cannons roaring from the Royal Yacht Squadron at two minutes past nine signalled a two and a half hour delay, the chance of a massive cholesterol boost, and for those that eventually were released, an afternoon of picture book racing and a thoroughly satisfying day.

Unfortunately, many saw their races abandoned as, even with the shortening of the schedule to a start every five minutes, there was not enough time to go through the number of sequences needed for 43 classes.

Eleven never made it, but the merry-go-round at the top of the big boat Class Zero saw the third winner in three days, the Bossom Challenge Cup going to Sir Peter Ogden's Spirit of Jethou.

But there was no change at the top of the Etchells class, where Graham Bailey and Stephen Bailey, who are not related, remain unbeaten.

Event rider Zara Phillips, bobsled gold medallist Amy Williams, and former rugby international Martin Bayfield are among the guests due in Cowes tomorrow for the Artemis round the island challenge for Open 60 yachts.

Leading the charge will be French solo sailor Roland Jourdain, a tough competitor for the skipper of Bayfield’s boat, Dee Caffari.

Confirmation of Ian Walker's appointment as skipper and design adviser to the Abu Dhabi entry for the 2011-12 Volvo round the world race was made by the Abu Dhabi Tourist Authority.

"Ian is the lynchpin in the dream team we are determined to secure," said Ahmed Hussein of the ADTA. The team hopes to have at least one United Arab Emirates national in the 10-strong crew or as media member. There will also be UAE nationals in the shore crew and the boat will be built in Abu Dhabi.

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