A record £85k has been raised at this year’s Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta for charities Cure Parkinson’s and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

The weekend-long event, which took place from July 12 to 14, followed an exciting champagne reception and kicked off amidst thick, low clouds and a hazey, breezeless Saturday morning on the Isle of Wight.

This didn’t dampen the spirits of the 188 competing boats. The conditions took a turn around 11am when a westerly breeze swept across the Solent.

Notable participants included a crew from Folkboat Crackerjack, who’ve been racing together for around 30 years and seized victory earning them a luxurious holiday in the Alps.

many of the White Group classes developed north-south splits during the two races (Image: Tim Jeffreys)

Even more exciting was the performance of a father-and-son duo Michael and Sebastian Blair, and their highly-motivated crew on the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s King 40 Cobra.

A prominent feature of Sunday’s race was the ten knots of SW breeze keeping boats snug on the Mainland shore.

In the 17-boat IRC 4 fleet, Toby Gorman’s Sigma 33 Stan the Boat triumphed overall.

The event culminated in awarding Charles Wallrock the overall winner and a jeroboam of Champagne Taittinger.

The next regatta dates have been set from July 4 to 6 in 2025.

A prominent feature of Sunday’s race was the ten knots of south-westerly breeze (Image: Tim Jeffreys)

Mr Jones said: “If one of us can’t sail, we don’t sail. It’s extraordinary how conditions differ from the Mainland shore and the Island shore.

“We messed up on the start line on the second race. The Folkboat fleet is very competitive and you really can’t make mistakes, but we’ve had a lovely weekend.”

Sebastian Blair said: “There was some really tough opposition. We really enjoyed the regatta and this is a tremendous club.”

Michael Blair added: “Luna is extremely good, then there’s Sunrise and Dawn Treader which are both exceptional boats. We just used very clever tactics and we’ve managed to win just about everything this year.”