A number of Helensburgh sailors performed well with the local competitors dominating the dinghy and catamaran classes, with Burgh members winning the catamarans, fast handicap dinghies, slow handicap class and the Topper class.

Near-gale-force winds greeted sailors arriving at Helensburgh, nevertheless, race officer Donald McLaren urged the fleet of dinghies, catamarans and small keelboats from as far afield as Manchester, to assemble off Helensburgh Pier for a 1pm start as planned.

26 boats answered the call, and with winds touching almost 30 knots, the first race got underway. However, the waves quickly built up with the southerly wind and overwhelmed most of the competitors.

Out of 16 dinghies and catamarans only four survived to complete the course. The remainder suffered damage or spent most the time upturned and swimming. The keelboats fared better with seven out of 10 completing the race. Wisely, racing was abandoned for the day.

The forecast for Sunday was for more strong winds, but from a slightly different direction giving some shelter behind the Rosneath Peninsula.

A depleted fleet of seven keelboats and 13 dinghies arrived at the start line for an 11am race. Three challenging races were completed, with winds rising to over 25 knots at times. It was an exhausted but happy group of sailors that returned to shore at about 3pm.

When the results were worked out, David and Sally Mckee, the well travelled visitors from Manchester, were rewarded with a win in the Flying Fifteen class. Graham Campbell and Graeme Galbraith from Helensburgh came second.

Amongst the other keelboat classes, Royal and Northern Yacht Club teams took the prizes with Ewan and Jackie MacKay, Brian Storar and Mark Greenhalgh winning the Sonar class, and John Readman's team second.

The RNYC team of Euan Aitken, Andy Clegg, Jonny Cross and Patrick Candy took the Sonata class, with the Flatman family - Tim, Ewan and Chris - in second place for Helensburgh SC.

However, the dinghy and catamaran classes belonged to Helensburgh Sailing Club.

The catamarans produced some spectacular capsizes during the two days of racing, but Nigel Lynn and Alan Nesbitt survived to win in grand style, with Iain McGregor in second place.

The fast handicap dinghies were a family affair with Alastair and Charles Milton taking the prize in their 505, and Oliver Milton second in his Contender.

The slow handicap class was won by new club members Ally and Amanda Paton in their RS200, with brothers David and Calum Rosie taking second in an RS Feva.

Star of the show was young Jake Miller in the Topper class - the only sailor to win all four races in his class and the only single handed sailor to complete all four races. Brothers James and Adam Forsyth took second and third places in the Toppers.

Mike Heath, of Helensburgh Sailing Club, was delighted with how the event went and said: "For all the sailing crews, it was an extremely exhausting but very exciting weekend.

"A huge thanks must go to the organisation team, led by Kevin Lynch, and especially to the rescue boat crews who were kept exceptionally busy on Saturday."