Sail World (Enlarge photo)

The 2008 Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes at Skandia Cowes Week exploded into life today with three glorious races sailed in conditions ranging from eighteen up to twenty five knots. As the wind whistled around the Cowes Yacht Haven, there were lots of nervous faces amongst the twenty nine teams who gathered at eight o'clock this morning for the official briefing from race officer Tony Lovell.

The racecourse was set in the lee of the land in Osborne Bay to provide the competitors with some shelter from the forecasted steadily increasing breeze and the fleets' sleigh ride journey down there gave several of the 2007 Cowes Week class winning helms their first true experience of the SB3 downwind at speed.

As the fleet hit the line for the start of race one, first to show at the pin end were... // Sail World

Sail World (Enlarge photo)

The 2008 Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes at Skandia Cowes Week exploded into life today with three glorious races sailed in conditions ranging from eighteen up to twenty five knots.

As the wind whistled around the Cowes Yacht Haven, there were lots of nervous faces amongst the twenty nine teams who gathered at eight o'clock this morning for the official briefing from race officer Tony Lovell.

The racecourse was set in the lee of the land in Osborne Bay to provide the competitors with some shelter from the forecasted steadily increasing breeze and the fleets' sleigh ride journey down there gave several of the 2007 Cowes Week class winning helms their first true experience of the Laser SB3 downwind at speed.

As the fleet hit the line for the start of race one, first to show at the pin... // Sail World