A MAN who grew up sailing the River Dart is the new chairman of the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta.

Army Major Ed Botterill, 44, says he has fond memories of spending time on his father’s boat at Kingswear.

A love of the area has seen him return to Dartmouth – along with his fiancée Melanie Taylor, who is also a regatta committee member. Mr Botterill says although his military life sees him based with the Royal Artillery in Andover, he very much sees Dartmouth as his home. ‘I have a house in town where we spend most weekends and I will be taking annual leave to devote all of August to regatta,’ he said.

Mr Botterill has played a behind the scenes role with the committee since 2011 and was vice chairman last year. Now he says it is a huge honour to take the lead position and something he is very excited about.

He reiterated a call for more volunteers but also apologised if he had offended some people with his remarks at Friday’s meeting where he questioned the suitability of some people wanting to join the committee.A group of more than a dozen regatta stalwarts, each with 20 years or so of experience, including former chairman and secretary Richard and Wendy Rendle, walked out after Mr Botterill asked what could they bring to the table.Afterwards Mr Botterill said: ‘I did not know who Richard Rendle was and apologise unreservedly. ‘We need all volunteers, especially those with a wealth of experience who can assist in putting on a regatta.’Mr Rendle said many of the dedicated regatta supporters had deserved to be treated better. He said: ‘We were not trying to take over and were happy to do jobs such as selling raffle tickets and shake the tins. ‘But being asked to explain what skills we could offer before being considered to be invited to join the committee was offensive.’He said he wished regatta well but it was ‘very sad’ and another example of the ‘Dartmouth disease’ of internal politics.