Salcombe Yacht Club welcomed 160 boats to its week long regatta, an increase on the previous year. Winds were generally from the southern quadrant and tides were neapy, making for most enjoyable racing.

With Salcombe Gin coming on board as headline sponsors, competitors were able to enjoy cocktails on the terrace after racing, a Gin and Jazz Party on Thursday night and gin-based prizes throughout the week.

Racing is divided into morning and afternoon fleets, thereby ensuring that half the day can be spent watching others race or enjoying the beaches, cliff walks or hostelries of Salcombe.

The morning race officer John Wyllie had to contend with both very light and very windy conditions as the week progressed.

The junior handicap and Topper fleet had some outstanding young sailors who revelled in the windy conditions at the end of the week, where they demonstrated great boat skills. Etan Gerrell and Tom Barnes from Queen Mary Sailing Club dominated the junior handicap fleet in their Feva dinghy and Constantin Gerber (Tamesis Sailing Club) dominated the Toppers.

Among the Medium and Fast Handicap fleets was a strong presence by the RS400s, which were won by Peter and Sue Colclough, Merlin Rockets, won by Jon Gorringe and Nicki Bass and a very welcome return of a Firefly fleet, most of whom came from Plymouth University and was won by Michael Calvert and Sophie Harris.

The Salcombe Yawl gold fleet racing is a reasonably laid-back affair. This year saw an increased turnout and was dominated by Nigel Austin sailing the legend that is Taylor Maid to clock up another five wins to her esteemed history.

Race officer Geoff Gilson made the most of the conditions in the afternoons, which started with sea breezes in the early part of the week, had a wobble on Monday, when the wind died at Widegates, before returning with a vengeance for the last two days, concluding with winds in excess of 30 knots at the close of play on Friday.

The National 12 fleet had a good entry of 15 boats using the regatta as a warm up for their championships; Tom and Robert Stewart (RHYC) won overall in a closely contested battle from Graham and Zoe Camm, (Burghfield Sailing Club) and John and Ollie Meadowcroft (SYC).

Among the 32-strong competing Solo Class sailors, Godfrey Clarke (Fishers Green Sailing Club) is very well known for his light airs expertise and he dominated the first two days of racing. From day three onwards, however, Tim Law (SYC) showed his mastery in the ever increasing winds, winning the next three days races by very large margins.

Strong performances by two other SYC sailors, Phil King and Iain McGregor secured second and third overall places overall with Chris Mayhew from Royal Harwich Yacht Club (RHYC) fourth and also the victor of a windy Friday race.

23 Modern Salcombe Yawls competed for the Paris Points Cup, in what was to prove an extremely competitive fleet, and though the eventual winners were the ubiquitous Will Henderson and Jim Stone sailing Black Tern, there were five different race winners including Merlin and RS400 sailors Jon Gorringe and Nicki Bass and XOD stalwart John Tremlett sailing with Rob Adams.

The Auburn Cup, the Salcombe Yawl sailors POW, was won on an extremely windy Friday by Simon Gibbens and Andrew Reed.

The Salcombe Yawl Blue fleet aka Classic fleet saw Mike Knowles and Mark Waterhouse open up an early lead at the beginning of the week, but John Smithers and Pete Hughes got into their stride on Tuesday and Wednesday to control the series, with a late start by Anthony Lofts putting paid to his chances of stealing the series.

A highlight of the regatta was the Salcombe Gin Endeavour Trophy, which was a raced in Fireflies with representatives from each of the classes being sailed at the Regatta to find out who was the champion of champions.

Competition was intense; however, it was no surprise to many that the legendary duo of Will and Mandy Henderson (SYC) representing the Yawl Fleet secured a memorable victory.

The full results can be obtained on www.salcombe

yc.org.uk/results.

Fast Handicap

1 Merlin Rocket 3754 Jon Gorringe and Nicola Bass

2 Phantom 1357 Allister Morley

3 RS200 1331 Tom Ballantine and Maddy Anderson

RS 400

1 RS 400 1329 Peter and

Susan Colclough,

2 RS 400 922 Steve Conroy

and Patsy Vice,

3 RS 400 1421 John and

Annie McLaren

Medium Handicap

1 Streaker 1846 Mike Eggleston,

2 Enterprise 22756

Tim Brettell and crew,

3 Enterprise 20234

David Beaney and

Alison White

Firefly

1 Firefly 3799 Michael Calvert and Sophie Harris,

2 Firefly 3798 Andy Stickland and Becky Pearson,

3 Firefly 3800 Mike Jacot

and Becky Allen

Junior Handicap

1 RS Feva 6199 Etan Gerrell,

2 Laser Pico 6 Devon Perry,

3 Laser 4.7 Emily Janzen

Topper

1 37597 Constantine Gerber,

2 48167 Thomas Lawson,

3 47792 Oliver Randall-May

Laser Standard

1 209265 Mike Hicks,

2 195250 Edward Benz,

3 161391 Torrin Blazeby

Laser Radial

1 159343 Thomas Walker,

2 172161 Kathryn Ball,

3 181876 Esther McLarty

Solo

1 5743 Tim Law,

2 5568 Phil King,

3 5744 Iain McGregor

Salcombe Yawl Red Fleet

1 Y183 Will Henderson

and Jim Stone,

2 Y167 Simon Gibbens

and Andrew Reed,

3 Y173 Malcolm Squire

and Jonathan Britton

Salcombe Yawl Blue Fleet

1 Y19 John Smithers

and Pete Hughes,

2 Y132 Anthony

and Allyson Lofts,

3 Y15 Mike Knowles

and Mark Waterhouse

Salcombe Yawl Gold Fleet

1 Y61 Nigel Austin and crew,

2 Y62 Stephen and

Samuel Cooper,

3 Y152 Jane and

Darius Panahy