Yacht racing – Helford River Sailing Club

Keel Boat Racing 2026.

This season, in addition to our usual Wednesday Evening Series races, we are introducing a series of Sunday Pursuit Races. All racing, both on Wednesday evenings and on Sundays is based on handicaps using RYA YTC ratings.

Wednesday Evening’s Racing is sometimes referred to as ‘sailing with a purpose’. Courses are set within the estuary or just out into the bay, depending upon the wind and sea conditions. Keel boats of any size can enter and an Entry Form can be found on the HRSC webpage. Only one Entry Form needs to be completed for the whole season and there is no Entry Fee. (Entry is open to all HRSC and POSFA members.) Wednesday Series races are programmed to start between17:45 and18:30 (BST) depending upon the time of year (check the Sailing Instructions for correct time) and the start line will be within the estuary.

Wednesday evening’s racing season starts on 1st April with a short practice Pursuit Race for those boats already in the water with Series racing starting the following week.

We intend to run four Series, of six races per Series, this season. The Spring Series commences on 8th April, the Early Summer Series will commence on 20th May, (the race on Wednesday 24th June will be for the Dorothy Winfrey Cup) and the late Summer Series will start on 1st July and end on 5th August.

After a short break for Falmouth Week, we start the Autumn Series on Wednesday 17th August which will take us through to the end of September. We will finish off the Wednesday Evening racing with Mini Winter Series of four Pursuit Races.

Regular Sunday Pursuit Racing will kick-off on Sunday 12th April and there will be two series of races during the season, one series of six races with a duration 90 minutes (one and a half hours) and a second series of three longer races with a duration of 150 minutes (2hr 30 mins). Check the Schedule of races (on this page) for dates. Courses and Start times will depend upon the tide and weather conditions and will be published, in advance, on the Helford Yacht Racing WhatsApp group page and on the HRSC Facebook page. The Entry Forms is on this website page.

HRSC hosts the Annual L’Aber Wrac’h race at the end of June. For further details see the dedicated page on this website. HRSC also hosts the first Sunday of racing in Falmouth Sailing Week in August.

We like to think that the HRSC sailing crews are friendly and welcoming to new sailors be they skippers or crew. To get involved check out the Helford Yacht Racing WhatsApp group or the HRSC Yacht Racing Facebook page. If you have any questions please contact our Captain Yachts, Chris Hosken ([email protected], 07974 751764).