Duke of Edinburgh falls for Cowes Week magic as City seafarers set sail

It's that time of year again, when the City’s yachting enthusiasts get to spend the week brushing sea spray out of their windswept locks instead of sweating it out in the Big Smoke. Yes, it’s Cowes Week.

 

King of the City seafarers Martin Gilbert, chief executive of lead sponsor Aberdeen Asset Management held not just court, but royal court at the Aberdeen hospitality tent, as the Duke of Edinburgh swung around for a spot of lunch. HRH even showed up early. 

 

“He was great fun, very engaged – he has a remarkable knowledge about Cowes and obviously feels very comfortable here,” Gilbert told The Capitalist.

 

“He was instrumental in setting up the Cowes Combined Club and was telling us the first time he took part in Cowes was in the 1940s. He’s actually great company.” 

 

Aberdeen Asset Management uses the week at Cowes wisely, bringing staff and their families down for the weekend (some 300 made this trip last weekend) and then inviting clients to come and enjoy the water during the week. But it certainly isn’t the only firm to take advantage of the festival of sailing – today sees the inaugural Finance Challenge, in which City stars battle it out on the waves. 

 

Of those signed up to take part are Deloitte, Allianz, BNP Paribas, Lloyds Bank and Cazenove Capital – many of whom The Capitalist spotted practising. 

 

Also spotted yesterday was Aberdeen Asset Management’s global chief investment officer Anne Richards alongside Martin Gilbert. As one of Aberdeen’s leading ladies, Richards was keen to point out how sailing levels the playing fields. “When we first started sponsoring it, I didn’t realise how inclusive it was – it’s one of the few sports men and women can compete against each other in,” she told us.  

 

No sporting event would be complete without a bit of charity-raising fun and this year UKSA, the youth charity, is throwing the gauntlet down for bosses. Boss Up A Mast, aims to have chief execs climb a 100ft mast of a Farr 65 (ocean-going yacht) – so far it seems the financial bigwigs have shied away from the tall pole shimmy. 

 

“The chief exec of sporting brand Gill has been up,” UKSA’s Will Myles told us. “We’ve tried to persuade the Aberdeen Asset Management team to have a go but Martin hasn’t been able to  …yet.”

 

https://twitter.com/cowes_week/status/496328489000509440

 

■ Never let anyone say six years in the mayor’s office has left Boris Johnson with a taste for only the finest things in life – it turns out old Bozzer is also a fan of bog standard British comfort food. In fact, he’s something of a connoisseur. Boris joins celebs such as Pippa Middleton, Gwyneth Paltrow and One Direction in contributing a recipe to a charity cookbook. Boris’s contribution? Cheese on toast. “In a bold twist to the classic recipe, Boris includes a layer of chutney underneath the cheese,” say the spinners. Boris has certainly made some bold moves in his career, suggesting someone puts chutney under some cheese certainly isn’t one of them. Nice to see him doing a Rarebit for charity though, arf, arf.

 

■ PWC’s chief economist and ex-Bank of England-er Andrew Sentance loves a good economics debate on Twitter, but on Sunday he managed to have his usual social media cogitation live, in his backyard. “It was more a gathering of economics Twitter commentators than just people from the City,” he told The Capitalist of his summer garden party. “Among the guests were @dsmitheconomics, @drgerardlyons, @frances_coppola and of course @jedieconomist.” The Twitterati didn’t end there however, Sentance’s bandmates from RockintheCity @academyofrock and @_haydn_jones_ were also present (and playing, naturally). We wonder if they just communicated in hashtags?