Saturday 10th April dawned clear and still for the 2010 King & Queen Pursuit Race. With 25 local boats and crews entered across four different classes this race is always interesting, the monies raised by entry fees and the party later in the day back at the King & Queen pub with charity auction raising money for the Hamble Inshore Lifeboat.

The committee boat for the race was supplied by Tony Lovell a well renowned Race officer accompanied by Mike Penny and a number of other helpers onboard as well as another race officer in the Rib, Simon Hand.

Conditions leading up to the gun for the first class start were about as light as it gets. The start line was off “Coronation” buoy out in the Solent. Peter Delbridge of Boatshed Hamble onboard a class 1 boat crossed the line at about 3 knots of boat speed ! But luck was in for the race and within half an hour there was a bit of a steady sea breeze coming in and boat speeds picked up enough in the glorious sun shine to make for a great mornings racing.

Being a pursuit race it was very hard to judge our position as we crossed the line, we would just have to wait until the results back at the K&Q pub. After mooring up back at the RSnYC and putting the boat away it was onto the K&Q Pub in Hamble for a BBQ and cold beers.

With many prices donated by local businesses for the race and then the charity auction afterwards it made for a fun afternoon. 1st prize overall went to GBR52 an 18’ Skiff (The right tool for the conditions) 2nd place went to “Menace” a ¼ tonner and third was “High Note” a Sonata.

All in all a minimum of £1,500 was raised for the Hamble Inshore Lifeboat with more monies still to come in and pledged in the auction. A special mention should go to the smallest vessel in the race “Tenacious Mirror” a Mirror dinghy being sailed by Martin Moody and his young son.

If you fancy a fun few hours racing followed by a great party afterwards put your name down for next years K&Q Pursuit Race. See you there!!