Pro Sailing Tour coming to Cowes

The Pro Sailing Tour, which claims to be offshore sailing’s most exciting new competition, is coming to the Isle of Wight. Cowes will host the event for the first time for a two-day rendezvous on 5-6 July.

The event brings together eight talented Ocean Fifty skippers racing foiling trimarans that are as long as they are wide (15.24m x 15m respectively), as agile as they are spectacular, and that can reach speeds of up to 42 knots (77km/h).

Brit Sam Goodchild onboard Leyton is the current defending champion, a position that is being hotly contested by his French rivals during the two-month competition that started in May in Bonifacio, Corsica. The tour will visit Brest and the Bay of Saint Brieuc in France before Cowes and finally Roscoff.

“For nearly 200 years, Cowes has been the centre of British yachting and is ready to receive this prestigious event. The Royal London Yacht Club, established in 1838, is delighted to host the Ocean Fifty sailors in the Solent,” says Royal London Yacht Club commodore Martin Thomas.

The start of the final offshore leg back to Roscoff (France) on Wednesday 6 July will take in some of the Solent’s most famous landmarks such as Osborne House, Norris Castle and the Needles. These will feature prominently in the Pro Sailing Tour TV docu-series, distributed by Sunset+Vine that will broadcast ahead of the third edition of the race.

During the two-day pitstop in Cowes, the 50 male and female professional sailors will give aspiring young racers from UKSA in Cowes and sailing charity Scaramouche Trust a glimpse into the world of high-end offshore competition at the team presentation.

“To bring the Pro Sailing Tour to Cowes, home of yacht racing, is an honour and a pleasure. The welcome here has been superb, and we are full of anticipation for some exciting racing on the Solent and some wonderful moments ashore,” says Tour CEO Julien Mauriat.

The Pro Sailing Tour for the Ocean Fifty trimarans was launched in 2021 and is the culmination of a determined development process by the teams and stakeholders that began in 2015 when the Class was professionalised, and continued in 2017 with the addition of foils.