With 56 cadets, 50 volunteers, five days of sunshine and just one black eye, this year’s Junior Sailing Week at the Royal Dart Yacht Club was one of the most enjoyable and successful ever.

Lots of laughter, lots of smiling faces...and loads of lessons, hopefully learned for life, proved once again the value of the event and why it’s one the club’s most important training programmes.

As one grandparent put it: ‘The kids all had fantastic fun and behaved beautifully. They are all so lucky to be able to sail in one of the most stunningly beautiful places in the country.

‘I’m sure they’ll look back on their experiences on the river Dart with very fond memories.’

The course is run entirely by suitably qualified club members, who volunteer to pass on their sailing skills and also pitch in to teach, run safety boats, man pontoons, mend things, patch up the wounded, sort out the admin, barbecue bangers and generally help throughout the five days.

As well as the sailing tuition, the week’s highlight is the infamous Duck Race, masterminded by Club ‘Duckess’ Diana Doug­las every year, when several hundred brightly coloured plastic ducks are released on the river – and subsequently caught by the young sailors putting their newly-learned nautical skills to the test.

This year’s event was brought to a fitting finale with the annual River Dart Cup race, won this year in a closely-fought finish by 11-year-old Joe Cunliffe and 13-year-old Toby Jones.

The pair were presented with the coveted cup by none other than the BRNC’s commanding officer Captain Henry Duffy.

According to programme organiser Su­zanne Huddart, one of Junior Sailing Week’s previous winners was RDYC member Nick Hutton, currently racing with Sir Ben Ainslie in the  2015 America’s Cup.

As Suzanne added: ‘And who knows, perhaps our next Ame­rica’s Cup winner might be one of this year’s cadets!’