We are delighted to announce that Barton Marine's joint team with distributor Navimo were the victors in this year's 5th Marine Industry Sailing Regatta, which was held in the Solent on 15th July. The regatta is a regular annual fixture that has raised over £14,000 for the John Merricks Sailing Trust, which provides talented youngsters with financial support to help them make it to the top in sailing. Check out the website www.jmst.org.uk to see the difference the trust has made to some young people's lives.

This years team comprised of David Barrow, skipper, back for his 4th attempt at the title, Christian Brewer on mainsheet and tactics and Versadock's Scott Dawson, ace crew boss. Joining us from Navimo were Peter Legg, Dan Couchman, Paul David and Ben Hodgson-Kerry plus our regular front man, Neil Paramour from Force Four.

Dawn broke with 35 knot winds and heavy cloud cover - ominous! At the skippers briefing, it was decided to abandon spinnakers and sail with reefed mainsails, good call and many relieved faces!

Racing took place under the lee of the Island near Ryde, the flooding tide helping to keep the seas manageable in the steady Southerly 30 knot breeze. The race officer had a difficult job securing the committee boat at anchor but managed a perfect start line. The beats were quite tactical and challenging, cross tide with the wind off the Island shifting up to 15 degrees. David's excellent starting and some solid crew work resulted in two firsts and a third to lift the trophy from the IPC and Sunsail teams.

Commiserations to Skipper Andy Green whose team was pushing hard for the top spot with a second and a third to count going into the last race, a broken jib halyard up the first beat of the last race blew their chances of a possible victory overall - that's racing!