Salcombe harbour was at its most glorious last weekend, with locals making the best use of the harbour before the arrival of the hordes in a month's time. Over 50 Salcombe Yacht Club boats took to the water on Saturday. The joy of the racing largely depended on whether your race started before or after a strong flood tide set in, knocking any strength out of the wind. Race officer Simon Dobson set the traditional Salcombe course, to Blackstone and Gerston, followed by a rather optimistic lap of the harbour. First away was the junior handicap fleet, which did well to get to the first mark before the tide changed. Elodie Grennan and Molly Watson got away in their RS Feva, finishing over a quarter of an hour ahead of the series leader, Evie Booth. The wind held to allow the 10-strong medium handicap fleet to get away, with Peter Ballantine notching up yet another win in his Laser Radial, though Rosie Lloyd and Flossie Williams should be commended for sailing the club's RS Vision into second place. By the time of the fast handicap start the wind began to die as the flood tide set in, and the main tactical decision was which side to pass of the rather ugly gin palace that was moored immediately in front of the starting line. Norman and Karen Brown nearly got it right, to finish only 14 seconds on corrected time behind eventual winners Peter Cook and Janet Exelby in their Merlin Rocket. Seventeen Solos contested their start, and first away were Ed Stephens and Chis Cleaves, who demonstrated the relative merits of mass and Newton's Laws. This was fortuitous for them and the leading bunch, since the first few Solos were able to make progress against the foul tide at Biddle Head, whereas some of the back markers never made it to the first mark. Much the same could be said for the yawls, with eight boats on the starting line, Dan and Gail Bridger found momentum to keep moving all the way to the Blackstone buoy, while the other seven boats tried all routes to try and cheat the tide. Eventually Frank and Charlotte Rowsell came in from the Portlemouth side and Anthony Lofts from the Salcombe side to make it around. At this point the race officer decided to put the pursuing fleet out of its misery by shortening the race on the way home. There was a slightly better breeze on Sunday, when the Yacht Club held its now traditional Father's Day Pursuit Race for the Chris Millward Memorial Trophy. With staggered start times and the boats with the slowest handicaps going first, William Rew set of in his Topper, with everyone one else in pursuit of him. There were seven classes of boats out on a most glorious afternoon. As the minutes ticked down to the race finish, it was exciting to see which boats would be caught. Fittingly, it was the father and daughter combination of Stephen and Harriet Galvin who took the winner's gun in the yawl 'Spruce Goose'. Results Chris Millward Memorial Trophy 1st Yawl 177 Stephen and Harriet Galvin, 2nd Solo 5411 Stuart Cartwright, 3rd Solo 5306 Adrian Griffin

Junior Handicap 1st RS Feva 2789 Elodie Grennan and Molly Watson, 2nd RS Tera Pro 2146 Evie Booth, 3rd RS Tera Sport 1131 William Meek

Medium Handicap 1st Laser Radial 7 Peter Ballantine, 2nd RS Vision 2 Rosie Lloyd and Flossie Williams, 3rd Laser 140043 Henry Bright

Fast Handicap 1st Merlin Rocket 3616 Peter Cook and Janet Exelby, 2nd National 12 3480 Norman and Karen Brown, 3rd National 12 3534 Charlie Lloyd and Helen Lloyd

Solo 1st Solo 5295 Chris Cleaves, 2nd Solo 5194 Ed Stephens, 3rd Solo 5271 Peter Hammond