Wall-to-wall sunshine and a generally good wind strength ensured a memorable and successful 2016 Henri Lloyd Yacht Club Regatta. Racing was divided into morning and afternoon fleets, thereby ensuring that half the day could be spent in holiday mode on the beach or ashore watching others race, or just mucking about. The morning fleet consisting of a strong junior fleet, and handicap boats had the better of the tides and were able to explore most of the estuary.

This year’s Junior Handicap and Topper fleet were particularly strong and very well sailed, resulting in morning race officer John Wyllie setting them for the last race of the week, an ambitious course using the full limits of the estuary.

Evie Booth in her little Terra dinghy proved mistress of the conditions, scoring a very narrow victory from a well-sailed visiting Feva sailed by Julia Barnes and Lauren Paton. In the Topper class, Harry Harris from Tamesis Sailing Club won from a seven-boat fleet.

Local sailing legends Jon Gorringe and Peter Colclough proved masters in the brisk breeze for the Fast Handicap and RS400 fleets respectively; however, Richard Harris and his crew of two in their monster National 18 pushed the Merlin of Jon Gorringe and Nickie Bass hard, both on the water and on handicap.

The blue-sailed Enterprise fleet was won by Wembley SC’s David Beaney and the Medium Handicap by Cotswold SC’s Ed Preseley in his impressive Supernova.

The Laser Radial and Laser Standard classes were dominated respectively by Lesley Hotchin from Oxford SC and Mike Hicks from the home club.

The Salcombe Yawl Gold fleet racing is a reasonably laid-back affair: it allows yawls of all ages, and sailors of all ­abilities, to compete over shorter courses without the pressure of the afternoon fleets. The father-and-son team of Hamish and Simon Stewart dominated proceedings in Yawl 100, starting a winning streak on Monday, with the only blot on a perfect scoresheet occurring on Thursday when their tiller extension broke.

Race officer Geoff Gilson made the most of the conditions in the afternoons, which were dominated by winds out of the west; but when the sun shone, a sea breeze allowed enjoyable beats toward Blackstone, whereas when the sun did not shine, the northern, more fluky element prevailed. There were neap tides throughout the week, which allowed competitors to chase pressure and pay slightly less attention to the classic Salcombe route.

The National Twelve fleet enjoyed their sailing and most boats got round the course, even on the days with a brisk breeze. Tom Stewart and his young son Robert won five of the six races, with John and Ollie Meadowcroft winning the first race of the week.

The 34-strong Solo class was very ­competitive and keen, with the inevitable black-flag starts having been introduced early in the week. Paul Rayson put in a very strong performance for the week by winning three races and discarding a fifth to win the week overall. Tim Law was unfortunate to be called on course side for one race, and this pushed him down to second place, just pipping an on-fire Iain McGregor, who came third.

Twenty modern Salcombe yawls made up a highly competitive Red fleet, with welcome newcomers Olympic 49er helmsman Stevie Morrison sailing with Frankie Rowsell and Chris Haworth and Stuart Aston borrowing Lobster.

The Sunday afternoon race promised to be the most breezy of the week, and race officer Geoff Gilson ensured that the fleet completed the whole course. Simon Gibbens and Andrew Reed sailed a ­blinder, starting on the line and 50 yards up the course from the rest of the fleet, a position they maintained to the finish, although by this time Will and Mandy Henderson had worked their way through to second place.

These positions were reversed on Monday, so by Tuesday Gibbens and Henderson were all square. Sadly for Gibbens, the breeze went northwest, and so the Hendersons nailed the start, with Clive Jacobs and Victoria Gibbens and the Savells in close pursuit, an order that remained to the finish.

Wednesday saw some sore heads ­following the 50th Salcombe Yawl Owner’s Association AGM, followed by a dinner and dancing to The Fab Beatles.

On the water there was more pressure out of the south and Malcolm Squire and Jonathan Britten saw a return to old times, winning the Blackaller Cup from the Hendersons.

On Thursday the fleet was divided as to whether to start in the tide with more wind pressure, or in less tide but with less wind.

The latter prevailed, which allowed Alistair Morley and Charles Thompson to grind out from the fleet to lead at Gerston. By then the Hendersons were on their tail and took the lead, only to allow Morley and Thompson back through. However, Will Henderson outsniddled Morley and Thompson on the return to the harbour, to take the race and the week.

Friday is Auburn Cup day, the yawl’s equivalent to the Prince of Wales Cup or the Sir William Burton Cup, both of which have sat on the Henderson ­mantelpiece. However, it was Paul Ellis and Martin Beck who built up a healthy lead after a difficult sail out to the Lambury mark in variable conditions, a position they maintained on the reach to Gerston. Upon their return to the ­harbour, a chasing pack of five boats closed in on the loop to Blackstone and Crossways, with Gibbens and Reed ­eventually prevailing from Morrison and Rowsell and Squire and Britton, who all finished within seconds of each other.

The Salcombe Yawl Blue fleet, aka the Classic fleet, was dominated by Andrew Wood’s Saraband, crewed by Tim Petit. They showed a consistency that has previously been missing, no doubt due to Tim’s ever-present toolbox in the boat park before racing.

The immaculate Heron was sailed by the owner’s sons, Russell and Freddie Smithers, who picked up bullets on Tuesday and Friday, while Kevin Anderson managed to keep Sea Thrift together on Wednesday to appropriately take the Salcombe Boatstore Jug.

Results

Fast Handicap: 1. Merlin Rocket 3754, Jon Gorringe and Nicola Bass;

2. National 18 400, Richard Harris and Jason Stokes; 3. Phantom 1357, Alister Morley.

RS 400: 1. RS 400 1329, Peter Colclough and Crews; 2. RS 400 922, Steve Conroy and Crews; 3. RS 400 1448, Paul and Katy Engelmann.

Medium Handicap: 1. Supernova 1110, Ed Presley; 2. Streaker 1846, Mike Eggleston; 3. 420 51773, James and Charles Le Couilliard.

Enterprise: 1. 20234, David Beaney, Caroline Evans and Julie Cronshaw; 2. 23142, Martin Brooking and Jane Anderson; 3. 22698, Adrian Davis and Sue Davis.

Junior Handicap: 1. RS Tera Pro 2146, Evie Booth; 2. RS Feva 5847, Julie Barnes and Lauren Paton; 3. Laser Pico 8, Devon Perry.

Topper: 1. 40070, Harry Harris; 2. 37597, Constantine Gerber; 3. 41091, Thomas Lawson.

Laser Standard: 1. 209265, Mike Hicks; 2. 195250, Edward Benz; 3. 161391, Torrin Blazeby.

Laser Radial: 1. 191426, Lesley Hotchin; 2. 180706, Toby Rew; 3. 172161, Kathryn Ball.

Solo: 1. 5181, Paul Rayson; 2. 5599, Tim Law; 3. 5665, Iain McGregor.

Salcombe Yawl Red fleet: 1. Y183, Will and Mandy Henderson; 2. Y167, Simon Gibbens and Andrew Reed; 3. Y184, Stevie Morrison and Frankie Rowsell.

Salcombe Yawl Blue fleet: 1. Y97, Andrew Wood and Tim Petit; 2. Y19, Russell and Freddie Smithers; 3. Y132, Anthony and Allyson Lofts.

Salcombe Yawl Gold fleet: 1. Y100, Hamish and Simon Stewart; 2. Y22, the Lowe family; 3. Y152, Jane and Darius Panahy.