CWL continues support of Youth Sailing with Discounted Entry Fees for Lendy Cowes Week 2018

CWL continues support of Youth Sailing with Discounted Entry Fees for Lendy Cowes Week 2018 © Paul Wyeth

Cowes Week Limited, organisers of Lendy Cowes Week, the world's best-known sailing regatta, is delighted to announce that they will continue their youth initiative which offers discounted entry fees to boats with crews of under 25 year olds.

The Under 25 Youth initiative, which has been running since 2012, has succeeded in doing what it was originally designed for – inspiring and making it possible for young people to race at Lendy Cowes Week.

By offering an extremely attractive package to young sailors under the age of 25, numbers have, not surprisingly, increased over the last few years, with young crews enjoying both the exciting racing and the lively apres-sail scene on the shoreside.

This year Cowes Week Ltd is offering the first 25 crews to enter, who are all under age 25 at the time of the regatta, a 50% discount on the entry fee if they enter before the end of the Early Bird period. The sooner teams sign up the more chance there is of securing one of the highly desirable discounted places.

Kate Johnson, Commercial and Marketing Director at Cowes Week Ltd commented "We are committed to making racing at Lendy Cowes Week more attractive and cost-effective for the next-generation of sailors, and are delighted by the increase in youth entries over the past few years. Now going into the seventh year of the initiative we are very pleased to be able to offer the first 25 boats to enter with a full crew of under 25 year olds a 50% discount on their entry fee."

Competition for young sailors at the 2017 regatta was intense. Ed Nainby-Luxmoore's Redwing Snowgoose claimed the Under 25 Trophy, while White Group overall was won by 14 year-old Freddie Peters in his RS Elite Riff Raff. Freddie commented at the time of his win, "I am so, so excited, and it actually seems unreal, I think because it all happened so fast. I can't believe it is just one week ago since the first race, and now I am celebrating our win. I think I can put our win down to a combination of things. Getting a good start was crucial, and knowing where we were going on the course. The other thing, of course, was boatspeed."

Teams wishing to take advantage of discounted entry fees should make their entry as soon as possible by calling the Regatta Office on 01983 295744 or visiting the website. The deadline for discounted entries to be accepted is the end of the Early Bird period on Monday 7 May 2018