Cowes Week is one of the United Kingdom’s longest-running and most successful sporting events and is a key highlight of the British sporting summer. It has been held in early August every year since 1826, except during the two World Wars. For the 196th edition, 800+ boats were treated to gorgeous sailing for seven days on the Solent waters. As the biggest class in the regatta, the 32-boat J/70 fleet enjoyed tight, competitive racing up and down the waterfront, making starts immediately in front of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Winning the week-long series was Tim Ryan’s VAMOS. The balance of the podium included the foursome sailing DADS’N’LADS (Ole Bettum, Tim Simpson, Markus Bettum and Hector Simpson). Third went to Andrew Barraclough’s JENGA 8. The rest of the top five included David McLeman’s OFFBEAT in fouth and Ray Mitchell’s ESCAPE in fifth place. For more Cowes Week information, visit http://www.cowesweek.co.uk/web/code/php/main_c.php?section=home.