Volkswagen Touareg King Of Cowes 2008

Class winners from Skandia Cowes Week 2007 invited to Compete Head to Head to win the prestigious tital and a brand new Volkswagen Touareg

LaserPerformance (Europe) Ltd and Volkswagen are delighted to announce that 2008 will see the return of the Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes at Skandia Cowes Week. With the question being, who will be crowned King this year?

On Friday 1st August the class winners from Skandia Cowes Week 2007 will race in identical Laser SB3s off Cowes in a one-day, three race regatta. Following on from the hard-fought inaugural event held last year, some 32 leading national and international helms will have the opportunity to pitch their skills on the water against each other, to compete for the coveted 'Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes' title. Competition is expected to again be fierce, with prizes of a Volkswagen Touareg, Laser XD and Laser BUG up for grabs. Plus a fantastic holiday to Mark Warner for the owner of the winning boat.

A Diverse Entry List

With winning helms from classes as diverse as the historic XOD day boats and the high tech IRC Class Zero maxis this event draws together the very best sailors from Skandia Cowes Week 2007 to promise a truly exceptional competition.

As in 2007, the winning helms will be drawn at random through an independent draw to ascertain which SB3 owner they will be paired with. The class winners must helm their boat with the SB3 owner as principle crew member. The SB3 class winner will not be permitted to sail his own boat but will also be allocated to an SB3 through the independent draw to prevent any unfair advantage.

With so much at stake, Principle Race Officer Tony Lovell and his team from Total Race Control, will ensure a series of challenging races are set to test the skills and tactics of the invited helms and an International Jury will be on hand to ensure fair play.

The Skandia Cowes Week 2007 class winners invited to compete in this year's Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes competition are:

Three races are scheduled with no discard ensuring that the teams are given the most rigorous test. For 2008 the course format is revised slightly to include a Skandia Cowes Week style "round the cans" course in addition to the "windward leeward" format which was used exclusively at the inaugural event. The "round the cans" format gives a greater test of navigational skills and was introduced in response to the competitor's request for a competition that offered the broadest possible test of skills.

Each competitor will receive an exclusive Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes event T-Shirt and every participating boat owner will have receive a new branded jib, they will also receive a new Volkswagen sponsored spinnaker. All crews of the winning boats will also receive a trophy. There will also be a one-off 'special' award presented by the navigation instrument specialists Nexus Marine AB.

The racing will be tight, as they will be battling it out for:

Michelle Warner, Sales & Marketing Director of Cowes Week Ltd. commented; "The inaugural Volkswagen Touareg King of Cowes event at Skandia Cowes Week last year provided an exciting prelude to a great week of racing. We are delighted that this event will once again bring together the champions of Skandia Cowes Week for some exciting pre-event racing; setting the tone for what promises to be another great Week."

The independent draw to match class winners with SB3s will take place in May and further information about the location and timing of the draw will be published shortly.