Beneteau First 45 dominates Cowes Week
Cowes Week 2008 turned out to be a particularly successful week for the world's largest manufacturer of cruiser/racers, Beneteau Yachts.
Beneteau
John Deans' 'Poppy of Portland' a brand new First 45 followed up this design's very successful season so far by winning an extremely competitive Class 1 with the old war horse First 47.7 'Moana' taking 3rd place.
Peter Morton's 'Salvo', a Beneteau First 34.7 took honours in Class 4, which was another extremely competitive class.
Apart from the sunsail corporate fleet, the 40.7's were the largest black group one design class with no less than 42 boats competing. Tim Spalding and Gareth Lloyd - Jones 'Amey Love Shack' won this very competitive class.
Overall Black group saw Beneteau take 2nd and 5th out of a fleet of over 500 boats.
Ancasta's Richard Allen commented, 'Cowes week is very much about the cruiser/racer classes and to see these boats enjoying such success in arguably the most competitive IRC fleets in the world, is a fantastic testament to the product. We are delighted.
The Cowes-Dinard Race
The well-known Cowes-Dinard race took place over the weekend of 14 July, an event of some 164 miles. About a hundred boats from all over Europe were at the start. G?ry Trentesaux's First 45, Lady Courrier showed her superiority in her class as well as in the overall standing and returned with the Edward VII Cup.
According to G?ry Trentesaux, the boat was very fast and the tactics adopted had paid off. 'We decided to go to the west, which paid off for us as we found an excellent lay line for Les Hanois and were able to hold the spinnaker right up to the finishing line.'
www.beneteau.com/en/sailboats
by Beneteau Media Vicsail 
Stockton, NSW
