Skandia Life Cowes Week will close out on the final day with Force 3-4 breezes predominantly out of the north-west but shifty close to shore on courses in the central and western Solent.

Starts are well underway with all Black Group classes delayed by just 10-minutes and IRC Class 3 subject to a general recall. Eyes will be on Mike Bennett’s J 109 Waverider, the overnight leader of the Black Group. She is competing in the Class 10 IRC Bowsprit class and has made a safe start on the inshore end of the line. But she has effectively used her discard already to gain the Black Group lead of just one point over the Class 4 IRC HOD 35 Dog Tag, which has a discard in hand, and so a win is essential if her crew are to take podium on the Cowes Parade bandstand at 2030 tonight.

On a lighter note, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are both racing today. The Duke is onboard Richard Matthews’ Class 0 Corby 50 Flirt with Harold Cudmore on the wheel, a notable postscript to what have been disappointing debut weeks at Cork and Cowes for this yacht. The Duchess has joined the ‘all-girl’ crew onboard the Contessa 32 Roulette. Quite whether principal race officer Rodney Barton qualifies as ‘all-girl’ with a wig on his head, is open to doubt but the firm rumour is that he has crept aboard Roulette sporting a hair-do quite out of keeping with a key member of the regatta team. If we can find anything in the race rules regarding such behaviour, we’ll report on the matter later.