The British Classic Yacht Club Regatta finished in style on Saturday when over 50 yachts in 5 classes completed a week of racing and rallying in the Solent. The meaning of the word classic' in yachting has undergone some radical changes in recent years. All the yachts are IRC rated and race competitively in class, most completely restored to an immaculate and highly competitive level, only the perfect varnish work and bronze winches hinting at there being any other reason than winning, to own one.

Marc Busschots from Belgium secured the class 1 trophy in the Metre Class when his 1936-built 8 metre Ilderim gained two 1sts and two 2nds to beat Andy King's Gluckauf into second place. In the Spirit Yacht Class, whose incredibly elegant yet state of the art boats, are mostly only one or two years old, a fierce duel between two Spirit 46s, Sean Macmillan's Fight of Ufford and Tom Hill's Dido resulted in a 2 point difference, with Dido triumphing finally.

Class 3 was typified by the most characteristic of classic boats where the larger of the yachts were to be found. The likes of 78ft ketch Rona which was helmed by Ellen MacArthur on one particular day, was pitted against the 1960s Admiral's Cup legend Noryema made famous by Ron Amey then, and now in the hands of Patrice Vazeuze, while comedian Griff Rhys Jones's beloved Undina sparred with Tim Blackman's Infanta.. Brand new to classic racing was Sinbad of Abersoch, collected from her previous owners only a fortnight before by Adam Gosling, who scooped the silverware in class 4. Class 5 was won by Jonathan Dyke's Cereste, which also by the nature of having the lowest points, was the overall regatta winner.

The week kicked off with a clockwise race around the Isle of Wight which saw every type of weather from thunder and lightening with torrential rain to flat calm, the latter of which got the better of 50% of the fleet off Yarmouth, who ended up retiring. A handful managed to pull away including Stiren which achieved Line honours. A convincing lead held by Strega was dashed, when she hit Black Rock and finally had to resort to motoring offl In the Solent races winds ranged from extremely light to in excess of 30 knots.

Every class used their competitive spirit to the maximum as the race courses provided the yachts with testing decisions through the tides and areas of pressure - there was a lot to gain on the tactical decisions. Despite the conditions losses were minimum, perhaps the most lamentable being the loss of the top of a 100 year old mast by Corrie who despite this completed a race with a reefed main.

Yachts came from all over Europe and beyond, to represent a class which is growing at an incredible pace. The British Classic Yacht Club Regatta, now an annual event looks set to become even bigger next year.