As well as all the excitement nearer to shore at Dittisham Regatta, further out on the estuary no fewer than 19 traditional gaffers put on a spectacle.

This was the South West Gaffers having their River Dart Rally with the race being run by a team from Ditti­sham Sailing Club in the expert hands of race officer Mike Webster.

This event was a noticeably more laid-back affair than the usual Sunday morning dinghy racing and entirely in keeping with the spirit of this wonderful Association.

The Gaffer way of doing things is very relaxed, which was a good thing because although the weather was glorious the breeze did not appear until an hour after the scheduled start time.

Set a square course, all within sight of the village, and after what the race officer des­cribed as a “Polite Start” the Gaffers were away.

Line honours went to the current president Gil Hayward but on handicap Jo Welland in Bridget was first with Tad Urbanowicz in Maria second and local hero John Wynn in Swallow completing the top three.

After the racing the Gaffers obliged with a sail-past as near to the shore-bound festivities as prudent so that the landlubbers could enjoy a closer view of the fleet.

Sunday held the threat of rain but none appeared until after the event and the excellent turn-out of 25 dinghies were rewarded with a goodly breeze causing some to plane and one or two to fall over.

The format was a one-hour pursuit race followed by lunch and then mass handicap start. A pursuit race is one where the slower boats start first and the faster ones have to catch them up, the intervals between starts being calculated on their RYA handicaps.

This makes for an exciting finish because the fleet should all be together at the end. It also means that you can see how you are doing on the water, instead of having to wait for the maths to be worked out after the race.

John Phillips set an excellent figure-of-eight course and although he had explained at the briefing how the start sequence worked, the multiple start times involved confused the veteran Solo fleet, some of whom contrived to start twice and some after all the others had gone.

At the first gybe Patrick Bromley did his customary capsize but was quickly back on board and at the end was in contention with some of the other Solos.

John Clarke quickly took the lead among the early starters, hotly pursued by Sue Tho­mas in her Laser Rad­ial.

Then, charging through the fleet and getting luffed occasionally for his trouble, was James Dodd in the fastest boat, the Phan­tom.

At the end John held off James by a matter of just a few yards, making them first and second with Sue a close third.

Back for lunch and to discover that a keg of Doombar had been liberated from (donated by?) the Gaffers party of the previous day, which quickly disappeared and emboldened the spirits in good time for the last battle, a straight handicap race for the whole fleet.

Using a slightly mo­dified course and a good wide start line, John Phillips got the fleet away to a clean start all except for Mike Bennett who was over the line, stormed off to round the first mark in the lead and looked for all the world like a winner in his Devon Yawl, but alas, alas…

While James Dodd quickly took the lead on the water and John Clarke was showing the Solos how to tackle the beat, Sue Thomas was flying again, overtaking and threatening to cut in half several Solos and skilfully diving into tiny gaps at the windward mark just ahead of starboard boats.

At the end the same three shared the podium with John Clarke first, and this time Sue Thomas second and James Dodd third.

As things turned out John Clarke could have saved himself the trouble of returning both trophies that he had won at the previous year’s race.