More than 60 boats have now entered the Uffa Fox 50 Celebration Regatta which is taking place between the 18th – 21st August. With boats ranging from his famous series of Atalanta cruising designs down to the humble Firefly dinghy, this promises to be a feast of nostalgia and some great sailing.
A relaxed Uffa drawing out a new idea
While the most numerous entry is from the Flying Fifteen class, whose European championships are the following week, some of the oldest boats are to be found amongst the vintage International 14s, with boats dating back to the 1930s. Other classes with entries in already include the Albacore, Firefly, National 12, National 18, National Redwing, a Pegasus and a very rare Flying 10.
Amongst the most recent entries is Vigilant, a 22 Square Metre, that Uffa designed and built in 1930 and then sailed to Sweden and back. The boat has recently been restored by the Elephant Boatyard and is now for sale.
Mark McNeill Chair of The Classic Boat Museum said yesterday, “we are thrilled at the number of entries. It has also been fabulous how the Cowes community has got behind this event, that celebrates an important part of their history.”
The Chairman for the event and Principal Race Officer is the Royal London Yacht Club’s Peter Taylor MBE, who has vast experience at running regattas for the club. As well as the sailing there is a full social programme spread around the Cowes clubs and other venues.
The opening reception for the event will be held at the “Commodore’s House”, right on the shores of Cowes Harbour, the building where Uffa lived, had his design office and built a few boats. The dinghies taking part will be berthed on Cowes Parade when not sailing, so on view for the public to admire, while there is rumour that a very famous Flying Fifteen may also be on display. For more details about what’s happening click here www.UF50.org
Uffa Fox Airborne Lifeboat Mk1, designed to be dropped, using parachutes, from aircraft close to ditched aircrew from ca 1943