ENGLAND won gold at the 2003 SALC Home Boat International Championship held at Weymouth, with Scotland taking silver, Ireland taking the bronze position and wales in fourth place. 

The England Team Manager, Neil Bryant, was delighted with the result, and praised his team, which comprised Steve Clements, Paul Hart, Glen Milligan, Colin Searles, Jim Whippy and Brett Lomas, for an excellent performance. The team was supported by Mike De-Bear, MD of YYS International, and this result has secured continuing support for the English Home Boat team.

Story of the match

On Thursday 22 May, each nation set sail for the official practice with England drawn on ‘Tiger Lily’ skippered by Chris Caines, Ireland on ‘Caracara’ skippered by Pat Carling, Wales on ‘One For The Nob’ skippered by Richard English and Scotland on ‘Predator’ skippered by Steve West. Although the weather was strong south-westerly winds, it remained dry and the fishing grounds to be used for the Championships were fished. In the evening, all those involved dined together at The Ship.

Friday 23 May saw the teams sail for the first day of competition on Tiger Lily with Colin Bond as steward, Caracara with David Rowe as steward and Predator with Andy Selby as steward. The fish caught, all measured and returned to the sea, were mainly dogfish and wrasse. Caracara had 192 fish, Tiger Lily 142, and Predator 104 (albeit with only four anglers, not eight). The order after Day One was England, Scotland, Ireland and then Wales. Boat winners on the day were Steve Clements, Glen Milligan and Colin Searles.

Saturday 24 May, the final day, saw improved weather conditions so the skippers decided to push farther out in an attempt to catch a greater variety of fish. However, plans were complicated when two of the boats had difficulty finding sufficient mackerel for bait!  The boats anchored and although dogfish were the main species caught, the odd conger, bull huss and tope was caught. When the tide increased, forcing the boats inshore, two went back onto the wrasse grounds and many fish were caught, whilst one of the boats stayed on the banks for the odd dogfish.  Scotland won day two, closely followed by England, Ireland and then Wales. The boat winners were Steve Clements, Peter Redshaw and Hugh Smith. 

The final percentages gave England an overwhelming lead, followed by Scotland, Ireland and then Wales.
The combined average catches for anglers over the two days gave Predator 41, Tiger Lily 43 and Caracara 44, so the skipper’s prize, a bottle of scotch, went to Pat Carling.

That evening, the Closing Ceremony and Presentation Banquet was held in The Sun Deck Lounge at The Pavilion. 
Mr Ted Tuckerman, NFSA Chairman attended and presented the medals, joined by guests Mike and Penny De-Bear of sponsors YYS.

 Next year the event is hosted by the Welsh Federation of Sea Anglers and will be held from Milford Haven, from 15th to 17^th July 2004.