Isle of Wight sailor Ben Ainslie racing at Cowes Week

Helming Bertie Bicket's IC37 Fargo, in thee IRC Class Zero, Ainslie demonstrated just how seriously the top teams take their racing.

More brisk winds and warm weather provided a further day of excitement on the fourth day of Cowes Week yesterday (Tuesday).

At the end of an almost 30-mile race, mostly in the Eastern Solent, Christian Zugel's Fast 40 Tschuss took line honours, just ahead of Ian Atkin's GP42 Dark n Stormy.

However, the lower-rated Fargo pipped them both to win on corrected time, by a margin of 53 seconds.

Tim Ryan's Vamos was a worthy winner in the J/70 class. Photo; Paul Wyeth.

It was also Women's Day (the former Ladies' Day) at the regatta, which celebrated the contribution and achievements of women in sailing.

Female sailors are competing in classes across the board, including one in six helms. The most successful boat, with an all-female team, was Janet Dee's squib, Little Demon, which won the Mermaid Trophy for best female crew.

Among other smaller boats competing at the regatta, the J/70 and SB20 classes both finished their 12-race mini series — held across the first four days of the regatta.

Both classes saw decisive wins, with John Pollard's Xcellent enjoying an unbroken run of race wins to take victory in the SB20 Grand Slam, 13 points ahead of Phil Tiley's Tan Gwyllt. 

An all-female crew celebrate Women's Day at Cowes Week Photo: Paul Wyeth

The all-female crew on board Nightjar celebrate Women's Day at Cowes Week. Photo: Paul Wyeth

Results were more mixed in the J/70 class, but Australian visitor, Tim Ryan's Vamos, finally took overall victory — ten points clear of compatriot Sam Haynes' Celestial.

A big flood tide, combined with patchy wind close inshore, created challenges for competitors starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line, where there was a mix of big bullets of pressure and huge lulls.

The start sequence took place soon after low tide, creating a further complication in the form of Grantham rocks, just to west of the start, on which a number of competitors grounded in the early stages of their race.

With the wind forecast to build beyond 20 knots, with stronger gusts, a lot of boats carried reefed mainsails at the start.

Pip Hare, centre, won the Women's Day Trophy at Cowes Week. Photo: Martin Allen

However, this magnified their losses in the lulls, especially when offshore in the strongest adverse tide.

In IRC Class 6, the leading boat in the class after the first three races, Peter and Alison Morton's immaculately restored classic, Swan 36 Scherzo of Cowes, took a line further offshore and claimeed a third victory this week.

An important part of the magic of Cowes Week is that everyone, from recent newcomers, to sailing right up to the world's most accomplished professionals, race in the same conditions and on the same stretches of water.

Today the Sunsail 41.0 fleet, along with the two cruiser classes, had courses with relatively long legs that involved fewer complex manoeuvres than the boats in the more high performance fleets, with Deloitte taking a fourth successive victory.

In the Club Cruiser Blue start, Chris Morris' immaculate Morris 36 Chameleon of Cowes was well positioned at the gun, but Scandal took victory at the end of the two-hour 40-minute race.

The day concluded with a prize giving for Women's Day, along with a panel discussion with elite sailors, including Volvo Ocean Race veterans, Libby Greenhalgh and Emily Nagel, who discussed their career pathways and recent developments in women's racing opportunities at Grand Prix level.