LOOE SAILING CLUB

A large crowd of sailing members and friends gathered on Looe Seafront to witness the launch of two newcomers to the club’s Redwing fleet.

It was the first time in living memory that two boats had been launched at the same time.

Both were lovingly built by local master builder Clifford Adams, one being given the royal seal of approval during Prince Charles’ visit to the port last year when he called into Clifford’s workshop.

The Redwing is a true classic wooden boat designed by Uffa Fox in the late 1930s for Looe Bay, its traditional home. Since then fleets have been established in Tenby, Fishguard and the Isles of Scilly, but Looe has remained the one place to sail them all the time.

Proud owners of the newcomers are Paul Dunn with R252 Red Kite and Mike Foulkes with R253 Wight Falcon, who have been busy varnishing and attaching a large array of fittings to reach Saturday’s launch in time.

Paul is a newcomer to the Redwing fleet, having sailed for several years in an Enterprise, while Mike has been a member of the Redwing fleet for the last few years, sailing R221 Discretion with his regular crew Antoine Jones.

They are joining the fleet just in time for the National Championships that are being held on home waters for the first time since 2011 with visiting entries from Tenby, the Isles Of Scilly, North Devon, Oxford and Brittany.