SITE WELCOME LETTER PAGE

Click picture of Contessa "bashing through rough water" to enter our site!!!

5 May 2008
We are planning a SPRING RALLY on the late May Bank Holiday weekend (24 -26th May) and a 'CRUISE IN COMPANY' across the channel in the week 31st May - 6th June. The various flyers and entry forms are ..

8 April 2008
For all you keen racers, the changes to the Solent Racing marks for 2008 are posted here.

7 April 2008
Our valiant Race Entry Secretary has secured us a really good berthing deal at E Cowes marina. See his e-mail below ...

COWES WEEK BERTHING

As most of you are probably aware, for Cowes Week this year we have arranged for the race fleet (and any other Contessa 32`s who wish to join in) to berth together at East Cowes Marina.

To qualify for the special discounted rate of Ł495.00 from Friday August 1st until Sunday August 10th (9 full days) please tell the Marina that you are booking as part of the Contessa 32 Fleet. For advance bookings they are asking for a deposit of Ł75.00 and it would be advisable to book early as they will almost certainly fill up nearer the time. Although entries are not yet being taken by the regatta organizers (they open on April 16th), I would certainly advise booking your berth beforehand if you intend to enter.

Please contact marina manager Mike Townshend at sales@eastcowesmarina.co.uk or telephone 01983 293983 making it clear that you are booking as part of the Contessa 32 fleet.

We are hoping that the inclusion of the last Saturday night in the berthing arrangements will enable more starters to compete in the last day's racing and we are intending soon to send you a bulletin giving details of the social program for the week - some of which will take advantage of our being berthed together.

Kind regards,

Mark Oliver

Race entry Secretary

CO32 Class Association

29 March 2008
You may have heard that we were trying to organise a 'fitting out/crewing' party for early April. Regrettably, we have been unable to make suitable arrangements and, with great reluctance, have decide not to run the event this year.

16 March 2008
The APRIL issue of Yachting Monthly has a smashing article about Tristan Gooley who has crossed the Atlantic in his Contessa 32 "GOLDEN EYE" ... (out of respect to YM's commercial copyright I will not actually put the content on the site until the issue is well past its sell by date and I have approval from the editor).

ALONE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
DOUBLE ATLANTIC
Having crossed the Atlantic solo, flying a single-engined plane,Tristan Gooley set sails solo in a Contessa 32

Unfortunately our printer has gone out of business and publication of the Handbook will be delayed by a few weeks. WE NEED TO GET OUR RACE ENTRIES IN BY 11 APRIL 2008 IN ORDER TO GET ALL THE ARRANGEMENTS DONE FOR THE FIRST RACE IN EARLY MAY.

CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW TO DOWNLOAD THE 2008 SOLENT RACING GUIDELINES AND ENTRY FORMS!

PLEASE NOTE THAT FOR LEGAL REASONS (AND TO SAVE YOU SIGNING A DIFFERENT DECLARATION WITH EACH HOST CLUB), WE MUST HAVE A PHYSICALLY 'SIGNED' ENTRY FORM.
YOU NEED TO PRINT IT OFF AND SEND IT TO THE RACE ENTRY SECRETARY.

14 February 2008
The pressures of the day job have delayed me doing it, but I have at long last edited all the video I took while racing on Contessa LUNACY whilst I was in Sydney (Australia). The results are of course a little amateurish and you may have to adjust the sound to hear my 'naff' commentary ... and there is a bit of camera wobble. However, the movie seems to capture the spirit of the event and Contessas are very photogenic!

For years, the Contessa 32 fleet has been a major part of the Cowes Week experience. For all sorts of reasons, some of our own making; some due to the changing nature of the event over the years, our attendance at Cowes has fallen from 30+ boats ten years ago to about 11-12 last year. We are in danger of loosing our 'own start' and being forced to race in a much larger handicap fleet. This is a great pity because it is probably the GREATEST SAILING REGATTA in the world and we should be right up there at the forefront of the One Design classes.

This year, we have decided to really put a lot of effort into re-building our presence. Mark Oliver, our Race Entry Sec. (who happens to live in Cowes) has being discussing things with the organising authorities and they are absolutely clear that they want the Contessa 32s there and recognise them as part of the core spirit of the event. However, we need to show them that we are managing to get the numbers rising again.

We have a hard core of boats who race regularly who will naturally attend - it would be really encouraging if some new boats would consider participating in what is a FANTASTIC WEEK of sailing and socialising. If you are uncertain, contact us. We have a number of experienced skippers who no longer take their own boats to the event, but would love to help and coach new comers.

Please take the time to read Mark's COWES WEEK Newsletter - here - you will get a feel for all the new stuff we are doing to make the event truly memorable.

CONTESSA 32 NORTHERN DINNER - 2nd FEB 2008
If anyone else wishes to attend the above dinner on 2nd February to be held at:

Contact Liz and Mark Wisdish. Please phone 01357 523530 before Friday 25th January to book a place. All cruising and racing sailors welcome.
Twenty people have already agreed to attend Fiona Rogers will also be there.

19 January 2008
We had a very successful AGM last night at the Royal Albert YC. I have now reached the end of my 2 year term as Class Captain and have handed over the reins to Zoe McKEee. She has put so much into the Class over the last few years arranging all our social events; I wish her well. I will be staying on the Committee and will now devote more time to updating and developing our web site. Your new committee is now:

Class Captain	Zoe McKee
Vice Captain	John McCann
Secretary	Keith Feltham
Treasurer/Membership Sec.	Rupert Parson
Official Measurer	John McCann
Sailing Secretary.	Richard Vanner
Race Entry Secretary.	Mark Oliver
Social Secretary	David Feltham
Offshore Rep.	Ian Coglin
Crew Rep.	Katie McDonald
Cruising Rep	Anthony Burdall
Magazine Editor	Ann Jennings
Publicity Officer	George Istead
Committee Members	Robin Holland (web site)

We were particularly pleased to welcome Christophe Declercq and his brother from Belgium. Our Contessa friends in Benelux have formed a very active Contessa 32 organisation, with 42 owners already signed up. They have a really excellent web site at www.contessazeilers.nl. Over the next year I have agreed to work with them to build a single site, reflecting the best of the two efforts and portraying a common Contessa 32 'brand image'. I am now off to start editing my LUNACY video!

14 January 2008
I am now back from Australia where I had a fantastic time .. including 4 days sailing and racing on LUNACY with Tom Moult. I have managed to get a lot of excellent video in Sydney Harbour. I will create a film of the best 10-15 minutes as soon as I have got back on top of the day job and have some time. Meanwhile, here is a small 'low resolution' trailer ......

Anthony Burdall has put together a really ambitious and interesting 'cruising' programme for 2008. The details are still to be arranged - but the broad framework is here.

Also our congratulations to Tristan Gooley who arrived at Marigot Bay, St Lucia, on the afternoon of the 1st of January after crossing the Atlantic in his Contessa 32 (GOLDEN EYE) after 26 days at sea. He is using it as part of his campaign to raise awareness of the Prostate Cancer. The full story is here.

FLYER FOR SPRING RALLY	HERE
ENTRY FORM FOR SPRING RALLY	HERE
'CinC' FLYER & FORM COMBINED	HERE