THE dinghy racing in Salcombe Town Regatta Week emphasises the fun side with four days of fleet races followed by a fancy dress Pursuit Race.

Although the Salcombe Yacht Club lends its facilities and race management volunteers to organise the event, all proceeds from entry fees go directly to the Salcombe Town Regatta and the local charities it supports. Generous sponsorship from headline sponsors Salcombe Rigging, as well as Yeoward Boatyards and Salcombe Brewery meant that the cost of running the event are fully met by them, allowing more funds to flow through to the Town Regatta.

Sunshine shone throughout the week so the 80 boats enjoyed sunny skies and light winds, but competition was as intense as ever and high levels of skill were required to make the most of the breeze.

In the single-hander fleets, Paul Rayson proved unbeatable in the Solos with three firsts, Ivy Hart stepped up from last year’s win in the ILCA 4s to win the ILCA 6 class whilst Karen Ballentine managed a clean sweep of victories in the ILCA 4s.

The Fast Handicap fleet came down to a final race battle between the Phantom of Simon Heusen, the 505 of Peter Colclough and Phil Brown and the Laser Stratos of John Driver. Heusen won the race by 30 seconds from the 505 to claim victory.

Salcombe Yawls provided the largest class, 32 boats in total divided between Red (modern) and Blue (classic) fleets. The Red fleet was dominated early on by Will and Mandy Henderson in Storm who won the first two races, but a poor result in race three opened the door to Robin Hodges and Fran Gifford in Pas Encore and John and Frankie Burn in Guillemot.

In the final race, a third place for the Hendersons was enough to claim first overall ahead of Robin and Fran and Dan and Gail Bridger, who pipped the Burn’s for third place.

The Blue fleet looked to be going the way of Rob and Charlotte Smith in Kenavo after an impressive first three races but a disastrous premature start in the final race offered a chance to James Wells and Nicola Bass in Albatross. Albatross needed to finish fourth or better which they just managed to do to steal victory from a disappointed Kenavo. Michael Knowles and Kevin Anderson were third.

In the Junior fleets, Freddie Gage in his RS Tera won the week with a day to spare from Freya Clatworthy in her Topper 4.2 and George Nute in a full rig Topper. The Family Fleet of parents/grandparents sailing with kids/grandkids was confidently won by Grandpa Greening and Noah Dayment in their Mirror dinghy.

The final day saw the Fancy Dress Pursuit Races, enthusiastically embraced by both adults and juniors alike.

In the adult race, a wide range of colourful characters took to the start line, amongst them a pair of clowns, some French onion sellers, Super Mario and Luigi, 007 and Where’s Wally.

Meanwhile, in the race itself, light winds at the start held back most of the early starters, favouring the faster boats starting later. One ILCA 6 helmed by Freddie Smithers did get away but it could not hold off the fast-charging 505 of Peter Colclough and Phil Brown.

In the junior race, a bunch of bananas, a lobster, an octopus and some Hawaiian girls battled light winds and a strong adverse tide. A late surge by the Topaz of Howard and Ben Davies secured victory ahead of the Topper of Isabella Wilson.

Thanks again to the sponsors and the team of volunteers for putting on a great week.