Race programme - 6th to 12th August

Falmouth Week Regatta aims to provide top-level competitive racing in a fun atmosphere, using a variety of courses during the week, followed by enjoyable teas, presentation of prizes and entertainment at a different host club every day. Many of the competitors combine the racing with their annual family holiday! There are many viewing points on the banks of the River Fal to see the Carrick Road fleet racing such as the coastal walks around the estuary. Another good vantage point looking out to the Bay and also looking down on Carrick Roads is Pendennis headland, especially the ramparts of Henry VIII’s Pendennis Castle.

Regatta

Following the race briefing on the evening of Saturday 5th, racing will begin on Sunday and continue until the following Saturday. 
The main regatta is a series of races over seven days, with courses laid in Falmouth Bay and the Carrick Roads. All levels of sailor – expert or beginner – are catered for.

The  Bay Fleet
The Bay Fleet races in 15 square miles of open water outside the harbour.  The area has been the venue for many prestigious events over the years ranging from iconic J-Class superyachts to the Finn World Championship won by Falmouth’s own Ben Ainslie shortly before winning Olympic Gold in 2012. 
The Bay Fleet comprises Firebird catamaran, IRC and FAY (Falmouth Area Yardstick) yachts, Marieholm and FAY Cruising (No spinnaker) yachts. The FAY Cruising class is aimed at the less ultra-competitive and family crews. There will be both Regatta (“round-the-cans”) and Windward-Leeward racing for most classes.
Bay Fleet competitors will race on Wednesday in the Champagne Race, sponsored in 2016 by Ancasta. The Champagne Race is a longer, coastal race in Falmouth Bay and adjacent water to the NE.

Carrick Fleet
Falmouth Harbour is the 3rd largest deep-water harbour in the world, after Sydney and Rio de Janeiro. The Carrick Fleet races in the lower estuary - an area some 2 miles long by 1 mile wide - and, weather permitting, may also venture a short distance outside the harbour mouth, beyond Black Rock. The fleet includes classes for Flying Fifteen, Ajax (sponsored in 2016 by Cream Cornwall), Cornish Shrimper (sponsored in 2016 by Hayes Parsons), Sunbeam (sponsored in 2016 by The Marine Team), Falmouth Working Boat (sponsored in 2016 by Freeman's Wharf), Falmouth Gaffer, St Mawes One Design, Cabin Yachts, and Dayboats. On Wednesday the Carrick Fleet compete for prize bottles of champagne, sponsored in 2016 by Ancasta.

Skippers' Briefing
There will be a briefing for competitors on the evening of Saturday 5th August.

Presentation of Prizes
Each day, except Wednesday, one of the clubs will host teas and other refreshments followed by presentation of prizes.  Family and friends of competitors will be most welcome at the club while racing is in progress.

The host clubs are:
Sunday, Helford River Sailing Club & Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (Carrick Fleet)
Monday, Mylor Yacht Club
Tuesday, Restronguet Sailing Club
Thursday, Royal Cornwall Yacht Club (including prizes for Champagne Day)
Friday, St Mawes Sailing Club
Saturday, Flushing Sailing Club

The presentation of overall series prizes will take place at Flushing Sailing Club on Saturday evening. A complimentary launch service will be available during the evening to take participants to Flushing Sailing Club from Falmouth, and back again.

Champagne Race - Wednesday 9th August

For some 60 years Falmouth Week has included a long coastal race on Wednesday for offshore yachts, with prize bottles of champagne - the prestigious Champagne Race!  The tradition commemorates an occasion back in 1951 when friends Lord Shawcross and H. A. J. (Jack) Silley, owner of Falmouth Docks, were competing in a yacht race off Falmouth. The spirit of competition was so keen that the friends broke away from the main race in which they were taking part, in order informally to settle the result between themselves. The loser, in good grace, presented a case of champagne to the winner, and so the legend of the Champagne Race was born.

In 1955 Philip Fox, the then chairman of GC Fox & Co, started the first official Champagne Race, to be sailed under the auspices of the Falmouth Town Regatta Committee, by donating a case of champagne as first prize. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, all classes racing in Falmouth Week now get their chance to win champagne prizes under the banner of Champagne Day.  

The club associated with Champagne Day is Falmouth Town Sailing Club which has stepped into the shoes of the disbanded Falmouth Town Regatta Committee.

For the Bay Fleet the Champagne Race for each class is a one-off race that does not count for the overall series.  Consequently, Wednesday is a good day for a daily entry.  Long courses, in keeping with the tradition of the event, are set to suit the conditions and the boats taking part.  The course area will encompass the whole Bay and extend up the coast in the direction of Gull Rock.  The finish is usually to the west side of Pendennis headland.

The Carrick Fleet races normally but with champagne prizes.

Because of the excitement surrounding the customary display by the Red Arrows on Wednesday evening, and the associated congestion in and around Falmouth, there are no teas after racing that afternoon and no presentation of prizes.  Instead the prizes are presented after tea at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club on the following evening.

TO RECEIVE THEIR CHAMPAGNE, WINNERS MUST ATTEND THIS PRIZEGIVING