More than 60 boats have entered the Uffa Fox 50 Celebration in Cowes, to be hosted by the Royal London Yacht Club 18 – 21 August. With boats ranging from his famous series of Atalanta cruising designs down to the humble Firefly, this promises to be a feast of nostalgia and some great sailing.

While the most numerous entry is from the Flying Fifteen class, whose European championships are the following week, some of the oldest boats are to be found amongst the vintage International 14s, with boats dating back to the 1930s. Other classes with entries in already include the Albacore, Firefly, National 12, National 18, National Redwing, a Pegasus and a very rare Flying 10.

Amongst the most recent entries is Vigilant, a 22 Square Metre, that Uffa designed and built in 1930 and then sailed to Sweden and back. The boat has recently been restored by the Elephant Boatyard and is now for sale.

One of the event originators Mark McNeill said: “We are thrilled at the number of entries. It has also been fabulous how the Cowes community has got behind this event, that celebrates an important part of their history.”

The Chairman for the event and Principal Race Officer is the Royal London Yacht Club’s Peter Taylor MBE, who has vast experience at running regattas for the club. As well as the sailing there is a full social programme spread around the Cowes clubs and other venues.

The opening reception for the event will be held at the Commodore’s House, on the shores of Cowes Harbour, the building where Uffa lived, had his design office and built a few boats. The dinghies taking part will be berthed on Cowes Parade when not sailing, so on view for the public to admire, while there is rumour that a very famous Flying Fifteen may also be on display.

The Sailing Regatta

Four races are scheduled and it is the intention of the race committee to run two races on Friday and two races on Saturday; however a maximum of three races per day may be sailed. The target time for each race will be 45 minutes for dinghies and 60 minutes for National 18s, keelboats and yachts.

For more details about what’s happening click here www.UF50.org

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