Emma Richards will compete in the Around Alone Race

But Richards will miss out on any of the whirl of social activity that surrounds the annual sailing regatta off the Isle of Wight.

Instead, she embarked on a solo 4,000-mile passage to the United States as qualification for the Around Alone Race, a single-handed lap of the planet starting in New York on 15 September.

The 27-year-old - a member of Tracey Edwards' Royal and SunAlliance round-the-world catamaran crew in 1998 - is sailing her Open 60 Pindar.

Like Ellen MacArthur in the Vendee Globe, she will be the only female and youngest competitor in the 18-strong field.

Back in Cowes, more than 10,000 amateur and professional sailors on 900 boats in 34 classes raced in frustrating light-wind conditions.

In the showpiece Class 0 IRC, the day's feature race, the Queen's Cup, was won by Glynn Williams and Kevin Sproul on the IC45 Wolf.

The Cork Week winners were originally disqualfied before being reinstated to beat Kit Hobday's Bear of Britain into second and Peter Morton and Adam Gosling's 50-footer Mandrake in third.

Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, who recently won the Finn world title after switching from the Laser, helmed the Swan 70 Volvo for Life to third across the line, seventh on handicap.

Meanwhile, Peter Harrison's GBR Challenge unveiled their new America's Cup Class boat "Wight Magic", which will be flown to Auckland on Wednesday in time for trials before the start of the Louis Vuitton Cup in October.