Why do the Royal Navy’s dinghy sailors return to the stately surroundings of Dartmouth at the beginning of every season to hold the annual Holt Cup Inter-Command two-boat team racing?

Could it be for the consistent winds? Or maybe the non-tidal river conditions? The absence of other users on the waterway? Or is it just the fact that they love a challenge?

There is only one reason – and so it was that the intrepid competitors bowled into Dartmouth to battle out this early season kick-in.

And yes, the winds came from every direction at varying speeds, the spring tides caused many an embarrassing moment, and the young officers were out en masse practising their bumps and grinds in the crowded estuary. It was certainly a challenge.

Under the present operational climate it was good to see 15 teams arrive on the Saturday morning to test their skills in the well-presented BRNC fleet of RS 200s and Bosuns. As usual the River Staff of BRNC pulled out all the stops to provide safety boats, committee boats, young officers to help ... and challenging conditions.

Saturdays format was a league of eight and a league of seven sailing each other once, with the top three of each league at the end of the day going into a Gold Fleet on Sunday morning and the next three into a Silver Fleet.

Under the expert guidance of Race Officer Mr Tony Ayres, the races got under way round a triangle-and-sausage course with four fleets going in each start sequence. The windward mark was placed just north of the chain ferry, where converging winds made the rounding extremely interesting.

Tactics came into play – whether to beat the tide or take the clear route up the middle, hoping not to be set back by the raging tide.

In league A the ‘big guns’ were having an excellent battle, with Fleet, Portsmouth, Thunderer Squadron and some new talent from BRNC all showing good early form.

League B was just as exciting, with Scotland B trying to upset Naval Air Command B, C and D teams. Sailors from the B teams of BRNC and Thunderer, although enthusiastic, found the river rather taxing, especially when sailing the RS boats.

At the end of the day, with 48 individual races completed, it was time for the eliminations; out went NAC A, BRNC B and Plymouth. In the evening the college treated the sailors to a buffet meal in the newly-refurbished sports pavilion, where many a tale of near misses, bad windshifts and amazing capsizes were told.

Sunday dawned bright and breezy – and yes, challenging. Once again the race team got the competition into full swing promptly, knowing another 30 races had to be completed to produce a winner.

In the Gold Fleet it looked like it could go any way, with solid performances from all six teams. Fleet took an early lead with three out of three, but Portsmouth quickly equalled this feat with some excellent sailing from Dan Vincent and Penny Mountford.

The Silver Fleet, sailing the Bosuns, were having just as much fun in the testing conditions with Scotland, BRNC and the Royal Marines all sailing well.

Back in the Gold Fleet, the penultimate race was Fleet v Portsmouth A, which was to be the decider as both teams were undefeated in their previous five races.

Pre-start tactics commenced on the warning gun and a battle of wits ensued. Sam Mettam, sailing for Fleet, was soon covered by both Dan and Penny, leaving Diana Shanks, the other Fleet helm, to decide whether to come to the rescue.

Skilful sailing by all four boats led to an exciting race, which was finally won by the Portsmouth duo, thus confirming their title.

In the Silver Fleet Scotland A, BRNC and the Royals were still battling it out, beating the other three in their league, but all losing to one of the other contenders once. In the end the three teams could not be split, and it was a three-way tie for the Silver Fleet title.

A special thanks goes to Tony Ayres, Bill Searle and Bob Hater on the committee boat, who worked tirelessly to complete 78 races in the day and a half.

Wayne Shirley, Dusty Miller and Joel Whalley in the safety boats provided some much-needed support, and BRNC A were once again a wonderful host, providing the infrastructure to support, accommodate, victual and provide some real challenging racing.

The results were as follows:

Holt Cup 2003: 1st – Portsmouth (Dan Vincent/Will King, Penny Mountford/Charlie Fields)
2nd – Fleet (Sam Mettam/Les Hardy/Jason Shirley, Keri Harris/Diana Shanks/Roger Saynor)
Silver Fleet: Equal 1st – Royal Marines, Scotland A, BRNC A