World renowned yachting journalist Bob Fisher will be hosting an exclusive book signing during Skandia Cowes Week of his new book "An Absorbing Interest: The America's Cup, a History 1851 - 2003."

The book signing will take place at the Henri Lloyd Cowes Sailing Store on Monday 6th August between 7 - 7.30pm. Henri Lloyd, Official Technical Clothing Sponsor to Skandia Cowes Week will be selling the book at all of their sailing stores.

This beautifully designed book published by Wiley Nautical charts the history of the world's oldest sporting contest in two volumes, from 1851 in Cowes to 2003 in Auckland. It is illustrated with photographs, cartoons, paintings and figures.

History, traditionally, is written by the victors and produces a one-sided view. The America's Cup had, for 132 years, only one victor and every major work on the subject was pointed towards success, but that success was achieved, at times, in heavily biased circumstances. Since 1983, however, the Cup's progress has been of a more international nature and this has only been recorded by the winning teams for their own glorification.

This work seeks to retrace the history of the longest continuously competed international sporting event from all aspects and correct those glaring errors that have arisen previously. It is carefully researched, using contemporary sources beyond those of the yacht clubs who have challenged for and defended the Cup in the 152 years since the schooner America won the Royal Yacht Squadron's Challenge Cup, valued at £100, and took it to the New York Yacht Club, where it became an icon of yachting.

The work contains full records of all races and is one of 32 Chapters - one for each of the 31 challenges and one for the race around the Isle of Wight in 1851 for the One Hundred Pound Cup, presented by the Royal Yacht Squadron as a prize for the regatta. In addition there are sidebar stories of the principal competitors and incidents that are part of the story of this international sporting event.

The beautiful illustrations for this book have been drawn from a wide variety of sources. There are charts of the courses for the early races, re-drawn from a variety of sources, line drawings, cartoons and caricatures, etchings, lithographs, paintings and a considerable number of photographs, both monochrome and coloured; all chosen to complement the text.