There was a very light south westerly wind blowing to greet the skippers and crews of the luggers for the race on the final Monday of July, writes John Mortimer.

After much deliberation the decision was taken to proceed with the race which was for the Chine Cup.

Seven luggers launched from the beach to sail a very short course.

With the very light winds, it was more of a drifting match than sailing when trying to get away from the starting line.

Eventually, the Percy Mitchell, sailing towards the windward mark, was first to show.

They reached the buoy by some distance from Twilight and Puffin. A little draught of wind then appeared from the North and this made for both easier, and more intersting, sailing.

Percy Mitchell increased her lead whilst Puffin and Twilight had an altercation on the windward mark, resulting in the Puffin having to do a penalty turn.

As the race progressed, the Mary squeezed through the fleet to take over second place from Twilight.

Meanwhile, the Percy Mitchell was still ahead by a long way from the rest and crossed the finishing line in pole position.

Result of the Race: 1. Percy Mitchell sailed by A Green; 2. Mary sailed by D Boalch; 3. Twilight sailed by P Bagwell; 4. Puffin sailed by R Driver; 5. Scrumpy sailed by G Lockyer; 6. Katherine sailed by T Tolman. Little Wind retired. The winner of the Chine Cup by handicap was the Puffin.