| | Event type
8 metres, Open
| Date | 27 – 29 July 1908 | |
|---|---|---|
| Status | Olympic | |
| Location | Ryde Pier, Ryde, Isle of Wight | |
| Participants | 25 from 3 countries | |
| Format | Placement by number of wins, followed by points awarded as 3-2-1 for first three places in each race. Three races, each over two circuits of a course in the Solent. Total distance, 16 miles | |
The British boat Cobweb won the first two races, clinching the gold medal. Some controversy concerns the make-up of the 3rd-place crew of the boat Sorais, owned by the Duchess of Westminster. Some sources indicate that she was a passenger on the boat during the races, while in his report on the yacht races, published 27 February 1909, Charles Newton-Robinson, the Yachting Racing Association representative on the British Olympic Council, refers to the Duchess as “the pilot.”
| Pos | Competitors | NOC | Wins | Points | Race #1 | Race #2 | Race #3 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cobweb |  GBR | 2 | 6 | 4-01:41 (1) | 4-35:56 (1) | 4-57:46 (4) | Gold | |||||
| Blair Cochrane • Arthur Wood • Henry Sutton • John Rhodes • Charles Campbell | |||||||||||||
| 2 | Vinga |  SWE | 1 | 3 | 4-55:56 (5) | 5-16:21 (4) | 4-52-31 (1) | Silver | |||||
| Carl Hellström • Edmund Thormählen • Erik Wallerius • Erik Sandberg • Harald Wallin | |||||||||||||
| 3 | Sorais | GBR | 0 | 5 | 4-02:14 (2) | 4-39:15 (3) | 4-56:29 (2) | Bronze | |||||
| Philip Hunloke • Collingwood Hughes • Frederick Hughes • George Ratsey • William Ward | |||||||||||||
| 4 | Fram |  NOR | 0 | 4 | 4-07:30 (3) | 4-35:15 (2) | 4-57:10 (3) | ||||||
| Johan Anker • Einar Hvoslef • Hagbart Steffens • Magnus Konow • Eilert Falch-Lund | |||||||||||||
| 5 | Saga | SWE | 0 | 0 | 4-46:11 (4) | – ( | 5-00:45 (5) | ||||||
| John Carlsson • Edvin Hagberg • Hjalmar Lönnroth • Karl Ljungberg • August Olsson | |||||||||||||