Five young sailors from Salcombe Yacht Club travelled to the Weymouth and Port­land National Sailing Academy for the 2016 Regional Zone Champ­ionships last weekend.

This hotly contested event, set in the London 2012 Olympic sailing venue, drew over 180 sailors and their boats, all keen to compete for trophies and awards after honing their skills on the water through the summer.

With fine weather, but 25 knot winds, all sailors were tested to their limits. Against the backdrop of Port­land Harbour and Wey­mouth Bay the Sal­combe squad worked hard to secure some notable successes.

Competing in the RS Tera Regatta Fleet James Alexander achieved a third place overall, with Will Meek finding his form early in to the event taking a superb silver on the podium.

To make this achievement even more special, Will had his medal presented in person by Olympic gold medallist Giles Scott.

In the RS Tera race fleet Ben Meek found the level of competition high and did well to secure a mid-fleet position in the very gusty conditions.

Racing furthest out from the shelter of land, the RS Feva fleet consisted of 21 boats.

These performance dinghies, with asymmetric spinnakers, were in their element and some exhilarating sailing was experienced in between capsizes.

George Alexander and Ruari McColl sailed their RS Feva hard, showing great team spirit and physical determination which resulted in them achieving a commendable ninth position overall.

Racing from the home of the British Olympic sailing team was very exciting for the Salcombe squad and this was topped by meeting several members of the British Rio 2016 team who were at hand to gave coaching tips and sailing advice while recounting tales of Olympic glory.

It was a challenging event for the boys but the combination of exciting sailing, some podium places and meeting members of the Rio 2016 Team made for a very memorable weekend.

Meanwhile back in Salcombe, a forecast of gale-force gusts out of the south and with some of the juniors away at Weymouth, the turnout for race four of the Salcombe Yacht Club Autumn series was depleted.

However, the no-shows missed one of the most enjoyable races of the year.

Race officer Andrew Squire set the classic Blackstone Gerston Blackstone Crossways course to the satisfaction of those involved.

The largest turnout was for the Solos, with a lot of pressure to start on the Portlemouth shore to benefit from the pin end bias.

Graham Cranford-Smith showed excellent form to round Black­stone in first place, but the pursuing pack, led by Bill Jago, were close on his heels and headed to the Town shore, ensuring a nail-biting run through the harbour and Bag with nine boats vying for pole position.

Bill Jago judged the route past Tosnos Point perfectly and established a useful lead at Saltstone, while Cran­ford-Smith, the early leader had an unexpected capsize.

Cleaves, Gibbens, Dobson and Greening rounded Gerston close behind Jago, but the close racing between this quartet played into the hands of Jago, who built on his lead, with Cleaves in second, and Dobson snatching third place from Gibbens at the line.

Medium Handicap

1 Laser Radial 203307 Charlie Blazeby,

2 Aero 7 1505 Tim Fells,

3 Laser Radial 190664 Elodie Grenen

Fast Handicap

1 Phantom 1357

Alistair Morley,

2 RS400 1421 John and Annie McLaren,

3 Merlin Rocket 3621 Tristram and

Laura Squire

Solo

1 Solo 5598 Bill Jago,

2 Solo 5573

Chris Cleaves,

3 Solo 5678

Simon Dobson

Salcombe Yawl

1 Salcombe Yawl 97 Andrew Wood

and Ru McColl