Saltash Sailing Club

Last weekend saw a somewhat depleted fleet of yachts at Saltash as five members took their boats and crews up to the Solent to compete in the epic Round the Island Race, which attracts fleets in excess of 1,000 entries annually and as such is the largest single yacht race in the world.

The Saltash fleet consisted of Neville Devonport in his X362 Sport Musk Ox along with Bill Brimble's Dehler 37 Evening Spirit, Ashley Davies' Feeling 850 Crazy Rhythm, Mark Hanley's Beneteau 33.7 Moonfish and Norman Curnow's J36 Jazz.

Conditions for the start were almost perfect with a good strong beat to the Needles followed by a blistering spinnaker run to St Catherine's Point and a wild run down to the far corner of the island with a few spectacular broaches to keep everyone on their toes.

This race attracts boats and sailors from across the world of the highest calibre and Saltash teams acquitted themselves admirably with Bill Brimble's Evening Spirit scoring a highly creditable sixth in class and 50th overall in a fleet of 1,584 entries followed by Musk Ox at 11th in a highly-competitive class and 101 overall.

All Saltash boats completed the race and returned home safely.