Hamble River Sailing Club held their annual equivalent of a "how many people can you get in a telephone box" competition on Saturday evening, when their club-house was bursting at the seams as usual for the Winter Series prize-giving.

Commodore Peggy Dorothy opened proceedings with thanks to the sponsors of the Winter Series, Garmin (Europe) Ltd, and then went on to present mementos to the eight local companies who acted as day sponsors. Cheques were handed to the Hamble Inshore Lifeboat, the John Merricks Trust and Sail-for-Cancer, from the funds raised by the annual charity pursuit race.

Then it was time to distribute a vast amount of beautifully engraved glassware to the prize winners of the Big Boat Series and the overall Winter Series - a task undertaken on this occasion by Yngling sailor and national match racing champion Lucy Macgregor.

Race Director Jamie Wilkinson then disclosed the winners of the 'Yacht of the Year' and 'Sports Boat of the Year' trophies, and explained the factors that were taken into consideration in the judging of these competitions. Colin Byrne's efforts in winning the IRC 3 class sailing the X-34 'Xtravagant' brought him the YOTY trophy, and Liz Savage won the SBOTY trophy for her resounding win in the J/80 class sailing 'Savage Racing Team'.

The final presentation was made by Commodore Peggy when she gave the largest piece of glassware of all, roughly the size of a carboy, to Garmin's popular UK Marine Technical & OEM Sales Manager, Rich Thoroughgood.

It had been a most convivial evening, once again courtesy of Garmin, and everyone left looking forward to the twenty seventh Winter Series next year.

9:46am Monday 10th December 2007

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