Five overboard as Solent gales wreak havoc

Five men had to be rescued overboard as Cowes Weeksuffered "Wild Wednesday" at the hands of a south-westerly gale yesterday.

Five men had to be rescued overboard as Cowes Weeksuffered "Wild Wednesday" at the hands of a south-westerly gale yesterday.

Out of the chaos that also saw three sinkings, at least 12 dismastings and the Solent Coastguard answering a May Day call after two yachts clashed rigs, the conditionsbecame tougher and the tough hung on grimly.

A Melges 24, Stuart Simpson's Barbarians At The Gate, was sunk but recovered, and a Sunbeam - Argosy, owned by David Bevan-Thomas - and Fiona's Jackson's X-Boat, Elicia also sank.

In a collision between a Class 3 yacht, the Dutch-registered Blue Wave, and Philip Tolhurst's Farr 40 Warlord, the Dutch boat lost the top 10 feet of its mast and Tolhurst's forestay was ripped out.

Stuart Childerley managed not only to drop a spinnaker and turn his 47ft Kirribilli round to recover a man overboard, but still finish third in his class.

The Britannia Cup went to Tony de Mulder in Victric 5, one of a clutch of Farr 40s which have become the focus of the more serious racing fraternity. "It was a day for keeping the boat on its feet," he said. "It was very pleasing - extremely pleasing. We were achieving over 18 knots and these boats are a dream in these conditions."

One man's dream is another's nightmare but Stuart Quarrie, the director of Cowes Combined Clubs which organises the regatta, said: "It was not a cancel regatta day. It was 20 to 25 knots with gusts up to 30. Some of the lesser experienced people in smaller boats needed to think about whether they should go out. But the more experienced would have been severely upset if we had cancelled because they would not have been able to prove that their experience counts."