SOLENT courses and weather permitting, the 2001 Skandia Life Cowes Week, starting tomorrow, looks set to be one of the most glamorous and keenly-contested regattas in recent years.

The most spectacular class starts will be the big boats in Class 0.

Around 20 have been entered, including Australia II, the first non-American yacht to win the America's Cup which will use the event as a warm up to the America's Cup Jubilee starting on August 17.

She was shipped over specially from the Australian Maritime Museum, courtesy of a large donation from Eileen Bond, wife of Australia's most celebrated yachting champion, Alan.

Australia II will line up against Mike Slade's super smooth Skandia Life Leopard and Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli's 80-foot black racing yacht Stealth, which was built three years ago in Lymington and crewed by Hamble yachtsman Paul Standbridge, plus Peter Ogden's dazzling Swan 60, Spirit of Jethou.

The much anticipated J-class race, featuring Velsheda, Endeavour and Shamrock V, which was due to take place next Friday, has been cancelled after the owners backed out while they continue to fine tune their historic yachts for the Jubilee.

In Class 1, who share the same start as Class 0, Charles Dunstone's Nokia Communicator is favourite to take the title following their win in the Berthon Source regatta last month and impressive showings in the Hoya Round the Island Race and IRC Championships earlier this summer.

Helmed by Dave Bedford, the well-organised Nokia will be fighting hard to shake off challenges from Peter Morton's Mandrake, winner of the 2001 HRTIR, and the Farr 40s.

They will join the class after three days of racing in a dedicated class competition, and they will line-up alongside the much rated Jason Ker-designed boats - four of which compete in this year's regatta - which are currently the talk of the south coast's yacht racing fraternity.

More than ten ex-America's Cup 12 metre yachts will also compete in Class 1, including Don Wood's Italia and Richard Matthew's Crusader, who both took part last year.

These two classes will compete on Wednesday for the prestigious Britannia Cup and on Thursday for the New York Yacht Club Challenge Cup, the other main glitzy trophy on offer. For spectators, the battle for clear air as they approach the finish line off the Royal Yacht Squadron should be compelling.

A record 1,000 yachts have been entered in the 2001 event, compared to 900 last year, with the handicapped Class 3 attracting more than 55 entries, the one design X-yachts, traditionally the largest class at Cowes counting 73 competitors and the increasingly popular Hunter 707s registering 41 starters.

The two IRM classes were scrapped after the Round the Island race when owners worked out that they would have done better under IRC rules.

It led to a decision by Cowes Combined Club to allow IRM boats to race under both IRM and IRC certificates.