Cowes Week Diary: Action switches from sea to sky as regatta reaches a conclusion
AS THE curtain comes down on another Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week this weekend, I was lucky enough to join the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation on board a racing yacht during the regatta’s Ladies Day yesterday.
The weather was glorious. So glorious, in fact, that we didn’t manage to do much racing due to lack of wind, but having sailed with Sir Robin Knox Johnston on my first visit to Cowes a few years back, I can’t complain.
With or without racing though, the atmosphere in the town and out at sea is electric. You don’t have any time to twiddle your thumbs, that’s for sure.
As an actor, I’m always in favour of a gripping ending, and from my earliest memories of Cowes Week I have always remembered the almighty fireworks display that the organisers put on here on the final Friday.
PRETENDERS
Throw in a Royal Air Force Typhoon display team and a handful of Red Arrows and it’s a more than fitting finale.
My brother James and I were just 14 years old when we auditioned for the roles of the Weasley twins in the Harry Potter films.
Luckily enough we were picked for the roles, but I’m sure if things had been different then being a pilot would have been high up on my list, especially as I had recently watched a television documentary on them.
Renowned throughout the world as ambassadors for both the RAF and the United Kingdom, they are treated like heroes.
And as the Hawk Jets look down over the Solent tonight, they will see a nautical playground where more than 8,000 sailors on board close to 1,000 boats have raced here this week.
Since my last visit to the regatta in 2012, the event has gone from strength to strength. It’s one of a kind and welcoming to the professional sailors and pretenders just like me. I’ll be back next year.
Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week 2015 takes place from 8-15 August.