After a busy few weeks and three more owners taking delivery of brand new Cape 31's 18 boats are entered to be on the Royal Yacht Squadron start line on Saturday. This will be the biggest fleet the class has seen anywhere in the world since the first boat was built in Cape Town in 2017.
Cowes Week will be Round Four of the 31 Race Circuit which is currently being led by Mike Bartholomew's Tokoloshe, in second place is Tony Dickin's Jubilee and third lies last years champions, Russell Peters' Squirt.
The class is the biggest high performance one design class that Cowes Week has seen since Mumm 30 days. Dave Swete one of the guy behind the growth said, "It's a fantastic bow up design boat that punches well above it's weight upwind. The size and budget of the boat is appealing too. We have a fantastic class structure set up in the UK/Ireland and are devleoping this around the world. Quite simply, the boat is right and it's a heap of fun."
Joining the fleet this week are Tilly Harrison with Jolt 4, branded up to match her father's TP52. Sandy Askew from Salt Lake City has added UK based Cape 31 Flying Jenny to her programme which already consists of an Melges 24, VX One and IC37 over in the states.
It will be the first event for David Cummins and his team on Flurg after moving on from his Ker 39. It will be Charlie Whelan's first Cape Event on his new Bodfather he's spent the last few years racing his SB20 so should be in good stead. Darren Wright is bringing his boat Adrenaline down from Ireland following Cork Week.
Last year's Cowes Week saw 5 different race winners for 7 days of racing. We're excited to see what this year brings. As well as the racing highlights for the week include the KMO/AIX Rosé sponsored Party at the Island Sailing Club and daily race winner's Champagne sponsored by Peter's & May.
Cape 31
The Cape 31 is an affordable high performance 31 foot race boat. The boat was masterminded by Lord Irvine Laidlaw, designed by Mark Mills and is now built by licensed boat builder Cape Performance Sail Ltd. Teams usually sail 7 up on this latest generation race boat. The class rule prefers owner-driver (always amateur) and a mixed crew of amateurs and professionals.
The key to this boat’s success already is that it has proven itself as not only a great one design boat, but also as a competitive boat under multiple handicap systems. The boat has had some impressive results over the last few years in a host of UK and European IRC events, Caribbean CSA events and US ORR/ORC Events including becoming 2022 UK IRC National Champion!
Stay tuned on instagram and Facebook during the week for awesome class updates. @cape31uk
Sales - www.31northyachting.com