The annual Holms Race, for many a highlight of the Bristol Channel sailing calendar, was held on Saturday 6th September 2025. The course leaves Portishead, rounds Flat Holm to port, Steep Holm to port and then returns to Portishead. Featuring a choose your own start time, it pits skippers and crews against the wind and tides of the Bristol Channel with the aim of being between the islands at slack water ready to race back on the new flood tide.

This year, south-easterly winds changed the typical format of upwind down to the Holms and a spinnaker run back meaning many crews completed the race on a beam reach with only one tack in the whole race!

Starting with code zero’s in fluky conditions, the wind built during the race and Jaha attempted to fly a spinnaker on the return leg between Steep Holm and NW Elbow with disastrous consequences! From NW Elbow back up to the finish line, crews faced winds gusting 28 knots true.

The wind conditions made for a fast race which meant choosing the right time to start was a critical part of the tactics. With the fast boats favouring a departure from Portishead around 11h30, this meant they arrived behind the islands at slack water before the flood tide built to power the return.

Congratulations to FLY, Ruba Dub Dub and Kraken for finishing in 1st, 2nd and 3rd places respectively and to Ctrl-J for winning the IRC class. The Bristol Channel Yachting Association (BCYA) Rose Bowl, awarded to the club whose top three boats rank the highest, was awarded to Cardiff Bay Yacht Club. Full results can be found here and IRC Class results here.

If you missed it, always wondered what the race is like or just want to experience the conditions the crew’s faced from the safety of dry land, CBYC boat Sabriel recorded the adventure which can be watched below.

Once back in Portishead, the after party got into full swing ahead of the prize giving at Advance Marine. Sailing stories of the day were swapped over a pint and a burger by crews from across the Bristol Channel. This year entrants came from as far down channel as Bideford, from Thornbury up channel and all stations in between including Newport and Cardiff – providing one of the fullest representations from across the Bristol Channel ever!

PCC wishes to thank the Race Committee for managing another successful days racing, Boatfolk and Portishead Marina for their discounted berthing offer for visiting boats and Advance Marine for hosting the BBQ and sponsoring the prizes. A special thanks to the Race Control team who spent the day sat atop Portishead Point managing the race.

See you all next year!

Photo and video credits: Tim Pearson, Timothy Gifford and Nick Stone

The end of the Kind Road series means it’s time for the annual Racing Fleet prize giving!

And the last race of the King Road series didn’t disappoint. With a perfect sailing breeze under bright blue skies, the fleet enjoyed the first sunny race of the year.

The gap in the never ending winter storms and grey gloom was also seized upon to host this year’s prize giving al fresco on C pontoon at Portishead Marina.

Prizes were awarded to Hero, Assassin, Scrumpy J, Blue Lobster and Ctrl-J who scooped a number of the series wins. Congratulations to all the crews on another year’s tight racing. For all the results, head over to the club racing page.

The next race will be Spring 3 on 3rd April. This is due to the scheduled Portishead Marina lock closures from 3rd to 28th March which means we’re unable to run Spring 1 and Spring 2 unless the scheduled works finish sooner than planned. Please keep an eye on the racing WhatsApp as if we can run the races, we will.

The non-racing club prizes will be presented at the forthcoming dinner dance, jointly hosted this year with PYSC. For more details, visit our dedicated page here.

It was a very early start for this year’s Holms Race with 36 boats locking out from 06h30 before waiting for the right time to start their approach to the line. Wind conditions were predicted to be light and while the outbound upwind leg towards the islands had some stretches of solid breeze, as the fleet approached Flat Holm, the wind began to drop making for some testing conditions on the far side of the islands as spinnaker’s were hoisted to complete the rounding of Steep Holm.

On the spinnaker run back, the breeze filled in and the powered up fleet were fast approaching North West Elbow before once again a wind hole developed and bunched the fleet. With the wind absent and the new tide starting to run, crew skills were tested to ensure that when the breeze filled back in, they were in the right place (and facing the right direction!) from which to resume racing.

Approaching the line generated some more fluky conditions and of the 36 boats that started the race, 21 completed the full course. The skill of the Holms Race is to be between the islands at low water and for some of the fleet that had not factored in a dropping breeze, this meant that they could not round the islands before the tide turned.

After the usual lock scramble to get back into the marina (thanks to our friends at Boatfolk for once again perfecting the art of ‘lock Tetris’, it was off to Advance Marine who once again kindly hosted the post event BBQ and prize giving. This year, for the first time, a special award was made for the overall winner of the IRC boats and the BCYA rose bowl was once again awarded to the best placed club overall.

The winners were as follows:

• Holms Race Winner Overall – Barefoot, CBYC
• Holms Race IRC Winner – Just in Time, CBYC
• BCYA Rose Bowl for Top Club, PCC

Click on the links to access all the detail from the overall, IRC and PY fleets.

A big thanks to the Race Control team who were based at Battery Point from the early hours, everyone that competed from clubs across the Bristol Channel and to our sponsors Boatfolk and Advance Marine. We’ll see everyone next year!