MORE than 300 sailors aged eight to 18, in 220 boats, took to the water over the weekend for the Poole Yacht Club Junior and Youth Regatta.

The regatta has become a must do for many young sailors each year, establishing it as one of the biggest junior and youth sailing events in the country.

Competitors travelled from as far afield as Jersey, Guernsey and Northumberland to compete and all agreed it was a huge success and a masterpiece of organisation.

The regatta, which incorporated the Mirror Junior and Youth Championships, was sponsored by Turbo Service International Ltd and Lexus of Poole with many other local companies donating prizes.

Racing took place on three courses, the main fleet of Optimists and Mirrors sailed a trapezoid course, whilst the Lasers, 420s, Cadets and Toppers sailed a traditional triangle/sausage course. The less experienced Optimist and Mirror sailors competed over a small inshore triangular course.

By far the biggest fleet was the Optimists with 80 sailors on the start line.

With light conditions forecast for the weekend, achieving the planned six races looked doubtful.

However, following a three-hour postponement while the wind filled in, the start sequence for race one on Saturday finally got underway in a light force 1-2 sea breeze.

The standard of sailing and competitiveness of the fleets were such that both the 'I' and black flags were in evidence for the first start.

Several Mirror sailors fell foul of the rule and were recorded as over the line in the first race.

The Optimist fleet finally got away after three general recalls.

The black flag resulted in number of sailors sitting the race out as they had sailed into the race area a minute before the start.

This set the pattern for races two and three.

The Cadet, Topper, Laser and 420 fleets also completed three races on the Saturday, their numbers being boosted by the support of Parkstone Yacht Club once again, with the Cadet fleet enjoying some close and competitive racing during the day.

The younger Mirror and Optimist sailors also completed three races on Saturday.

Sunday was another warm and sunny day but the shifty sea breeze filled in more quickly so racing was able to start at around 1200.

A wind shift during the start sequence of the second race for the Mirrors resulted in the start being abandoned and the course re-set.

Race six once again saw the use of the 'I' flag with five Mirrors recorded as over the line.

One of these, unfortunately, was the event favourite leaving local Poole sailors Jamie Knill and Lewis Rumbol to take the Mirror Youth Championship title.

Kate MacGregor and Emily Hunter, also from Poole, were the first Juniors.

A similar use of the black flag in race six for the Optimists resulted in the event leader missing out and 11-year-old local sailor Phil Sparks from Mudeford taking top honours.

The Cadet Class was won by Peter Lawrence and Chris Tierna from Parkstone and the Topper Class by clubmate Edward Lush.

The Laser fleet was won by James Pipe, whilst Poole's Nerissa Booth and Lucy Macgregor took top spot in the 420s.

The Silver Mirrors were won by Peter Morgan and Sam Clemance and the Regatta Optimists by Sophie Boyle with Poole sailor Kate Devereux, aged nine, finishing a very creditable 19th out of a total fleet of 40 sailors.

Results - 420: 1 Nerissa Booth/Lucy Macgregor (Poole YC), 2 Frances Peters/Clare Lasco (HISC/Bowmoor), 3 William Haen/Rob Hepburn.

Cadet: 1 Peter Lawrence/Christopher Tierna (Parkstone YC), 2 Miles Blaver-Mann (Parkstone), 3 Stephen Tierna/Hugo Pullen (Parkstone).

Laser 4.7: 1 Shane Terry (PYC), 2 Katie Sparks (Mudeford), 3 George Thomas.

Mirror Gold: 1 Jamie Knill/Lewis Rumbol (Poole), 2 Anna Mackenzie/Holly Scott (Royal Windermere SC), 3 Juliett/Richard Long (Plymouth YC).

Mirror Silver: 1 Peter Morgan/Sam Clemance (Poole), 2 Evie Clemance/Becky March (Poole), 3 Katy Keen/Peter Hamilton (Poole).

Optimist Main Fleet: 1 Philip Sparks (RLYC/Mudeford), 2 Ben Saxton (Grafham Water SC), 3 Imogen Stanley (Bowmoor SC).

Optimist Regatta Fleet: 1 Sophie Boyl, 2 Josh Sparks (Mudeford SC), 3 William Adam (Papercourt SC).

Laser Radial: 1 James Pipe (Parkstone), 2 Anthony Osman (Parkstone), 3 Scott Terry (Poole).

Topper: 1 Edward Lush (Parkstone), 2 Sarah Butterfield (Spinnaker SC), 3 Richard Keates (Parkstone YC).