Cowes celebrations

We catch up with some of the stars of August 2015, the Gill Race Team – winners of their class at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week – and news from this year’s spectacular regatta.

It’s one of the highlights of the UK big boat season, and this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week certainly didn’t disappoint, with royalty, celebrities, the world-famous fireworks display, Red Arrows, and incredibly close racing. The weather brought a little bit of everything for the 8,000 competitors to contend with over the week, as conditions varied from scorching sunshine and perfect sea breezes to flat calms and downpours.

An amazing 189 years since the first ever Cowes regatta was held at this iconic yachting town on the Isle of Wight, the 2015 edition attracted entries from over 18 countries. Around 800 boats take part each year in the eight-day event, which this year took place from Saturday 8th-Saturday 15th August.

For the fifth year running Gill was the Official Technical Clothing Sponsor to Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, with an official merchandise range that included special 2015 design polo shirts, t-shirts and sailing caps.

Gill was also very proud to be working in conjunction with the Official Charity of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, the UKSA. The UKSA does fantastic work from its base in Cowes getting thousands of people out on the water each year. They have now pledged to give every Year 6 pupil on the Isle of Wight – that’s over 1,100 children – the chance to experience sailing. The UKSA also set out to raise funds during the 2015 Cowes Week regatta to put 100 young people through their highly successful youth development programmes, which helps them get into employment.

Spitfire flies high

Out on the water there was success for the Gill Race Team, with the Gill-sponsored J70 Team Spitfire winning their class in the competitive J70 Super Series, raced over the first four days of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week for the one-design keelboats. Team Spitfire, skippered by Simon Ling, sails for the Team RAF Benevolent Fund. The crew was recently crowned top Corinthian team at the J70 World Championships in La Rochelle, before continuing their winning streak at Cowes.

Skipper Simon Ling said, “We love racing at Cowes Week as it presents a very different set of challenges to normal J70 racing.  This year was no exception and with the largest ever turn out of J70s at a UK event the racing was very competitive.  It took us a few days to readjust to Cowes Week racing from the windward-leewards of normal regattas but, having bagged a navigation error early on in the event, we managed to post some competitive results and on the penultimate day of racing achieved two first places which put us in the lead overall going into the last day.”

The team improved race on race throughout the series, finishing with two wins, to add to a second and a third place, giving them a three-point advantage over their nearest rivals in the 24-boat fleet.

“Unfortunately the wind did a no-show on the last day and with racing cancelled for the day we were crowned winners, ahead of Darwin Investments. It was a great week and an event that allows us to fly the flag proudly for our supporters the RAF Benevolent Fund and Gill Clothing.

“Team Spitfire now plans to take part in the J70 Autumn Championships in October, and planning is now underway to defend our Corinthian World Champion Crown at the 2016 J70 World Championships in San Francisco.”

Wing Commander Simon Ling also explained their crew’s connection to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund: “I’m in the Air Force, we named the boat Spitfire, and we fly that big heart roundel on our spinnaker, which is the roundel of the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund. Their line is that they are the heart of the RAF family, which they very much are. We’ve got a personal attachment to them because one of my team members was killed, and the charity came to support his family. So it’s something we feel very strongly about, and we love flying the flag for the charity.

“We’re trying to promote RAF sport, we’re trying to promote the charity and at the same time have a lot of fun. We enjoy what we’re doing, and to be able to do that and promote the work of something that means so much to us is a win-win situation, we love it.”

Kitted out

The ‘White Group’ fleets of small dayboats and keelboats make up a large proportion of the Cowes Week fleet, with the modern J70s racing on the same water as classic wooden designs as well as sportsboats. With long days on the water in small, open boats, clothing selection is key.

Team Spitfire were each wearing Gill’s keelboat kit throughout Cowes Week, as Simon explains: “This year is our first year racing as part of Gill Race Team and we have been delighted with the clothing. In both the World Championships and Cowes Week we wore our Gill Race Team clothing and found the lightweight breathable jackets and shorts ideally suited to the demands of keelboat sailing. A team favourite is the Gill Race Jacket, which is perfect for summer sailing and racing.”

Perfect for sailing active keelboats like the J70, Gill’s latest generation Race Collection includes ultra-lightweight waterproof outer layers, wind resistant softshell mid layers, and UV protective garments, giving complete protection from wind, waves, rain and sun – pretty much everything the Cowes Week competitors experienced this year.

For hiking designs the full length Race Stretch Tights are a must. Made from a quick-drying breathable elastane fabric, the tights feature abdominal, hip, seat and knee targeted impact protection zones enabling you to hike harder for longer on the rail.

In more favourable weather conditions the Race Sailing Trousers bring added comfort, made from a quick-dry durable stretch fabric, which is UV 50+, water repellent and has reinforcement to the seat and knees with excellent abrasion resistance. This style also is designed to be integrated with our 1643 Pads offering additional seat impact protection and cushioned support. Designed to be fully compatible with our 1644_Performance Sailing Shorts, 4362_Waterproof Sailing Trousers and 4361_Waterproof Sailing Shorts, the 1643 Pads are flexible enough to contour against your body to ensure day long comfort.

For really wet days the fully waterproof, breathable KB1 Race Suit simply offers uncompromised and unbeatable protection. Using a High performance 4Dot™ 3-layer fabric combined with an ergonomic fit, the KB1 allows the competitive Keel boat racer the flexibility to manoeuvre quickly and easily around the boat ensuring maximum performance on the water.

Another essential item at this year’s Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week were a good pair of sunglasses – and with the long Solent courses often requiring crews to dig out Sailing Instructions or read navigation charts, Gill’s new floating bifocal sunglasses proved an ideal solution for sailors who use reading glasses. Available in +1.5 and +2.5 diopter strengths the polarised lenses protect against UVA, UVB and UVC radiation, are shatter resistant and scratch resistant, and feature A hydrophobic and oleophobic technology to prevent a build up of water, salt, sunscreen or sticky fingerprints.

#GILLMOSTWANTED

Back by popular demand, the #GILLMOSTWANTED mystery sailor was out and about around Cowes, wearing head to toe Gill wet weather gear for the entire week. Everyone who spotted him and tweeted a selfie with the hooded stranger, tagged #GILLMOSTWANTED, was entered into a competition to win hundreds of pounds worth of Gill kit, while Gill donated £1 for each tweet to the UKSA.

Over 200 people entered the competition with sailors, spectators, some giant parrots and even Jem, the star of CBeebies show ‘Swashbuckle’, grabbing a selfie around Cowes! The #GILLMOSTWANTED campaign raised £221 for the UKSA. The winner of the fantastic Gill gear is Daisy Black, who tweeted her entry (@DB_DaisyBlack) from Cowes Yacht Haven.

There was plenty of other fundraising activity for UKSA during the week, with the popular ‘Boss up the Mast’ challenge sending willing volunteers up to the top of a 100ft mast on the UKSA’s Farr 65 yachts. Gill sales director Bryan Stewart took on the challenge, along with TV and radio presenters and other company executives, to don a harness and get winched 100ft up into the air. Once up there, Bryan and every participant had to take a selfie and tweet it to their contacts to raise money for the UKSA – before they were allowed to be winched back down to deck level!

Gill’s relationship with UKSA extends right around the year, including supplying the sailing centre with technical clothing at a reduced price. During Cowes Week company founder Nick Gill also held an inspirational talk about being an entrepreneur to a group of 16–18 year olds at the UKSA on the evening of Wednesday August 12.

Nick explains: “Gill has been a leading supplier and supporter of UKSA for the last three years. Having visited UKSA many times, I am always amazed at the activity taking place and everything they do based around the idea of the ‘power of the sea and water to change peoples lives’. It is truly an amazing organisation.

“This year I gave a talk to the National Citizen Programme they were running for year 16 and 17-year-olds from Isle of Wight. The programme helps young people bridge the gap between school and the big world beyond. I talked about growing the brand Gill from scratch in 1975 to the present day.”

Richard Thornton, the CEO of UKSA, was delighted to work closely with Gill during AAM Cowes Week, when the centre’s fundraising efforts come to the fore. He commented: “We would like to thank Gill for their continued support. They have shown some innovative and fun ways to fundraise, helping us reach more young people and to deliver training and inspirational experiences which really do change lives.”

Dancing shoes

The Gill Stage in Cowes Yacht Haven played host to some fantastic acts over the week, with live music every day from 2.00 until 11.45pm. Highlights included ‘X Factor’ finalist Ray Quinn. The Liverpudlian singer-songwriter, who was runner-up to Leona Lewis on the talent show, performed a classic set with hits from the Rat Pack era getting the crowd on their feet. There were more sing-along moments from popular Queen tribute band ‘The Bohemians’, while the ‘AllStars’ got everyone dancing to some of the biggest rock hits of recent years. Local bands, acoustic acts, folk musicians and DJs kept the party going right through the week, next to the Gill pop-up shop.