Sailing race boost for festival

ONE OF the world’s largest sailing events has now been teamed with the Isle of Wight Festival of the Sea as a combined out of peak season tourist attraction. The week-long Festival of the Sea was created by Visit Isle of Wight — the Island’s tourism organisation — and has been moved this year to start on June 16 to coincide with the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race. Organised by the Island Sailing Club, the race features some of the country’s top sailors among the 17,000 participants, including Americas Cup winner and four time Olympic gold medallist, Sir Ben Ainslie. One of the weekend highlights will be the Race Village in Cowes Yacht Haven on June 21 and 22, featuring the Red Funnel Cowes Food Festival and Cookery Theatre. VIOW chief executive David Thornton said: "We are excited to be able to announce our second Festival of the Sea, an annual event which helps us promote the Island’s unique seafaring heritage to our visitor market and attract visitors outside the summer holiday period. "We are delighted that Cowes is getting behind this marketing initiative this year. We expect to announce additional events in Ventnor, Ryde and Yarmouth soon and hope that all the Island’s resorts will participate."