Time Over Distance Volume 15: Michel Desjoyeaux 'Le Professeur'
The 15th edition of the RORC Time Over Distance Series will be with Michel Desjoyeaux, the only sailor to have won the Vendée Globe two times.
RORC Cowes Clubhouse Re-opening
RORC Cowes Clubhouse Re-opening
We are delighted to be opening the Clubhouse on 4th July. Our exciting new Clubhouse Menu using Isle of Wight produce where possible, and a revised wine list will also be available.
Time Over Distance - Luke Patience
For the 14th edition of the RORC Time Over Distance Series, Louay Habib interviews Olympic Silver Medallist Luke Patience with a deep dive into his two previous Olympic campaigns and a look forward to Tokyo and beyond.
Through the Lens - Paul Wyeth
Whilst he regularly shoots from helicopter and drone there is no doubt using a RIB is far and away Paul Wyeth's favourite place to shoot from. His ancient blue RIB is a common sight on the Solent and whilst not the most comfortable of rides, it gets him close to the action.
Race the Wight - RORC Race Around the Isle of Wight
A race around the Isle of Wight on Saturday 1st August will see the return to competitive racing at the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) - the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Time Over Distance Volume 13: Jason Carrington
The 13th edition of the RORC Time Over Distance Series will be with Jason Carrington, the world-renowned professional yachtsman and boat builder.
Through the Lens – James Mitchell
James Mitchell is an award winning, internationally published British photographer based in Lanzarote, Canary Islands. He specialises in photographing the world's leading sports brands and athletes, but also covers commercial, documentary, editorial, action, adventure & sport photography all over the globe.
Time Over Distance Volume 12: John Holt - Greig City Academy Scaramouche Sailing Trust
For the 12th edition of the RORC Time Over Distance Series we will be revealing the awe-inspiring work of the Scaramouche Sailing Trust.
Through the Lens – Beken of Cowes
Beken of Cowes Over 130 years of sailing photography - from 1880s to 2015
Kenneth Beken is the last in the line of three generations of Marine Photographers known as Beken of Cowes. His grandfather Frank arrived on the Isle of Wight in 1888 and was immediately captivated by the grand yachts that sailed the Solent waters outside his bedroom window. Frank readily admitted he couldn’t paint, so he set about using the cameras available at that time. He soon realised that they were not practical at sea, so he invented his own box camera using twin lenses and a shutter fired by a rubber ball held in his teeth! His sailing portraits were so good that yachtsmen, including King George V on Britannia would study his daily results to see where they were going wrong!
Frank Beken © Beken of Cowes
Frank’s son Keith followed on from the mid 1930s in time for the J-Class and Big Boat era. After a brief spell captaining an Air Sea Rescue boat during WWII, he saw the company through the post war years with the introduction of ocean racing & IOR. Not content with just Cowes and the Solent, he started travelling to international regattas on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean, increasing the scope of the Beken archives from traditional sepia monochrome studies into modern colour photography. He earned his ‘Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society’ in 1951 and the ‘Royal Warrant’ from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Keith’s son Kenneth started photographing afloat in 1970 and for over 45 years would be seen in his Boston Whaler capturing the sailing scene. Ken reckons the best of times were those earlier years of IOR when designers were more experimental, enabling him to capture some ‘interesting’ studies! It was a 7-days-a week job, very reliant on the weather. Black Solent skies meant you were frantically busy shooting before the inevitable rains came.
He travelled to worldwide regattas with his trusty Hasselblad cameras; from hanging out of helicopters shooting powerboats off Key West, to America’s Cup 12-metres off Perth, and swimming in shark-infested Hawaiian waters shooting windsurfers with underwater Nikonos. Although his own boat has never let him down, he hasn’t always been so lucky on other craft. A leaking speedboat very nearly sank underneath him in Sardinia (when he had to use his own camera bag as a makeshift bailer), and he survived a light aircraft crash landing in Antigua (when it lost all power over the water!)
He does remember though being struck by lightning during the Swan Europeans off Cowes in 2005: “On seeing ominous approaching black skies and bearing in mind I was standing on top of 50 gallons of high octane fuel, I made for a moored coaster and stopped in her lee thinking lightning would strike it first. It did, but the bolt shot through my boat too, up my arm, flinging my mobile phone to the deck!”
Dihard © Beken of Cowes
In 1991 I realised that 2001 would mark not only my 50th Birthday, but also the 150th Anniversary of the 1851 America’s Cup. I wrote to the Royal Yacht Squadron suggesting a re-run of the original £100 Round the Island Race. (Note it’s 100-Pounds. An RYS member told me “Guineas are for horses, Pounds are for yachts.”) The resulting regatta (and birthday treat) was truly memorable!
The magnificent J-Class yacht Velsheda was built in 1933 and rebuilt in 1996 © Beken of Cowes
Sadly, with the proliferation of digital cameras making everyone a ‘photographer’, the Solent and the commercial market had become so crowded that marine photography had, for the Bekens, become commercially untenable and they stopped photography afloat. However, with close-on 1 million images in their amazing historical archives, there’s plenty to keep them busy…
Beken of Cowes - web: www.beken.co.uk 16 Birmingham Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight PO31 7BH, UK. Tel: +44 (0)1983-297 311 - Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Time Over Distance Volume 11: Harold Cudmore
The 11th edition of the RORC Time Over Distance Series will be with the Harold Cudmore who hails from Cork, Ireland. In the 1970s Cudmore was one of the first sailors to travel the world to compete at international yachting events, especially match racing.
