The Solent Sunbeam fleet made its annual pilgrimage abroad to participate in some Solent racing during late July through to the world famous Cowes Week Regatta.
Fifteen boats set off on Friday July 22 in thunderstorms, sailing from Itchenor to Cowes participating in the Dainty Dish, an Amada Dish reputedly made out of captured Spanish Silver. The race was first introduced over 50 years ago and named after Dainty V1, the first Sunbeam built in 1923 and still being competitively raced today, participating in this Solent foray.
The trophy, presented by Paul Brauner, a refugee from the Second World War and owner of Dainty at the time, was to encourage the fleet to sail over to Cowes together and in line with the class ethos of camaraderie being as important as the racing hold a celebratory dinner on its successful completion. This was duly achieved with a fantastic dinner hosted at the Royal London Yacht Club that evening
A number of the fleet stayed to participate in a weekend of racing at the Household Division Regatta put on by the Royal Yacht Squadron.
The following weekend the fleet reconvened for a week of fantastic close one design racing around the Solent during Cowes Week with Royal Yacht Squadron starts and finishes, three different winners over the six race format, force five, gusting six, wind strength on one day, followed by three-hour postponements awaiting the sea breeze to fill in.
There were boats 99 years old racing competitively alongside others built in the last two years, grandfathers winning races with granddaughters, husbands and wives and parents and children competing - with some competitors having completed 50 Cowes Weeks and others their first experience of this wonderful event.
A class drink party and impromptu evening fish and chip picnics in balmy Mediterranean evening sunsets added to the occasion with a final ‘crew helming’ passage race back to Chichester Harbour last Saturday as the fleet made a safe return to the mainland.
Three gentlemen, FGT Dawson, Freddie Leith and Basil Lubbock sat in the Riverside Cottage on the River Hamble in 1922 and asked the renowned naval architect Alfred Westmacott to design an improved keel boat to race in the Solent, he having previously designed the X Boat, Mermaid, Yarmouth One-Design and Y Class.. He came up with what he regarded was his finest Solent Keel Boat, the Sunbeam.
Centenary celebrations start later in August with a dinner at the Royal Southern Yacht Club on the River Hamble to mark the inception followed by a rally to Bembridge Yacht Club in May 2023 where the first boats were built.
There follows a Centenary Regatta at Itchenor in June followed by a return to Cowes week in late July where it is hoped some of the sister class who race from Falmouth will join in, adding to a fleet of 25-plus on the start line.
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Images of Sunbeams and XODs who made their way from Itchenor to Cowes Week | Pictures: Chris Hatton
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Images of Sunbeams and XODs who made their way from Itchenor to Cowes Week | Pictures: Chris Hatton
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Images of Sunbeams and XODs who made their way from Itchenor to Cowes Week | Pictures: Chris Hatton
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Images of Sunbeams and XODs who made their way from Itchenor to Cowes Week | Pictures: Chris Hatton