Shirley stars in Red Funnel event

This year's sailing season will be a busy one with the Admiral's Cup and Rolex Fastnet Race in addition to the regular fixtures. Many of the boats competing in these regattas took to the water over the Easter weekend for the Red Funnel Easter Challenge, run by the Royal Ocean Racing Club.

The event is billed as a training regatta with top RYA instructors on hand to give on-the-water tuition while racing, as well as video debriefs in Cowes afterwards for a more in-depth analysis.

Conditions in the Solent were, for the most part, light. The final day was bright and sunny, with high pressure providing tricky conditions for the competitors to hone their skills.

Although starts are important in any race, they proved especially so here where the wind speed and direction was very variable. Boats that could spot and use these shifts to advantage came out on top.

The IRC Super Zero class was won by Patches - Team Tonic, a Farr 52 chartered for the event by the Irish Admiral's Cup team, while their brand new Transpac 52 is being completed.

Shirley Robertson provided the local knowledge on board as tactician and helm. "A lot of the Irish guys haven't sailed in a yacht of this size," she said.

"There were tricky weather conditions and the competition with Bear of Britain, the other Farr 52, flagged up some areas for us to work on. Eamon Conneely has not been intimidated by the power, even though he has not sailed anything over 35 feet."

Shirley's husband Jamie Boag acted as tactician on Keith Miller's Swan 45 Crackerjack.

Hamble yachtsman Kevin Sproul helmed Peter Morton's Mumm 30 Salvo to victory in IRC1. This crew have their eyes fixed on the Mumm 30 World Championships and the Easter Challenge gave an opportunity to ascertain particularly what sails needed to be replaced or changed.

Ex-RORC Commodore Peter Rutter won IRC2 in his Elan 37 Quokka, using the event to improve his downwind trimming with help from seasoned trainer Jim Saltonstall.