The initial Cowes 2010 challenge was conceived in 2010, when two tiny Herefordshire hamlets teamed up to challenge the world’s sailing elite in the 2010 Cowes Week. Keith Watts from Monkhide, dreamed up the idea of recruiting and training a Monkhide and Yarkhill based racing crew from scratch whilst recovering from a back operation.

The plan was to race a high performance sailboat for the regatta was published in the village newsletter just before Christmas. This stimulated significant local interest, some from absolute beginners and a couple of informal, shorebased teaching sessions have already taken place. “The tasks involved in training an entire race crew from scratch are significant – but very possible,” said Keith. “Not only does the crew need to master sailing and safety techniques, we need to become very well coordinated. Training will include both theory and onboard sessions. The first theory evenings are locally based, then it’s aboard the race boat on the Solent to learn the practical skills”.

Yarkhill brought together 7 keen crew members, although for personal reasons one or two were unable to progress this through to the racing itself.

The crew was augmented by David Welford, a trainee barrister, who was able to bring additional experience having sailed a range of high performance dinghies and race boats.

The final challenge was the boat. A number of technical issues had been identified. Working late into the nights, one by one each was ticked off as being complete and the boat first sailed only a few weeks before racing commenced in early August 2010.

Sadly, reports Keith, the results were not spectacular. “A manufacturing error with the new mast meant that the spinnaker could not be used during Cowes Week. This put us at a significant disadvantage, which, as a keen racer, I found frustrating”. For the crew, however, the frustration was less, enjoying some challenging “white sail” racing in very mixed weather conditions.

As a result of the experience, almost half the crew have gone on to study for formal sailing qualifications.

In conclusion, Keith adds, “Despite being frustrated by the technical limitations, the crew did fantastically well and it’s a great delight that some continue to sail. Together, we’ll be participating in events for 2011”.