THIS wedding proposal would be enough to knock the wind out of the sails of most people.

It certainly did to 27-year-old yachtswoman Clare Straker.

She gasped in delight when husband-to-be Greg Hoar popped the time-honoured question to her via a written message on the spinnaker of a yacht, appropriately called Harmony, they were racing on at the time.

The Hampshire businessman, 33, who owns Wet & Wild Graphics at Hamble Point Marina, near Southampton, was given an emphatic "yes" by his girlfriend of five years.

Clare, who runs crew kit and nautical fashion firm Clothing Room, an offshoot of Wet & Wild, and Greg then cracked open the bubbly to celebrate tying the knot next summer.

The couple and their crew had been taking part in the Round the Island Race in the Solent, arriving 18th out of 43 in their boat class.

Clare said: "We crossed the line celebrating with a huge bottle of champagne and a big cheer from the committee boat when the skipper, Martin Hoar, shouted 'She said yes!' It was a very joyous occasion."

Wet & Wild was established in 1995 and is making inroads into the commercial sector after first specialising in the yachting world market.

It employs 20 people, while the Clothing Room has six.