To competitors who managed to finish many congratulations. You have had a tough race, coping with this frustrating high pressure system hanging over all of Biscay all this week.

Two years ago we had gales. This time, we have had no wind, almost from the beginning. Not for nothing have we branded this race as the Biscay Challenge!

Whilst I am delighted to see you here, I have a little sadness for those who did not make it. After weeks of preparation, to spend hours wallowing off Ushant, going more backwards than forwards, one can only feel for them. We have one of our former Commodores, Peter Whatley, here. Peter took over from me and I feared for a little while that we might have more ex Commodores than competitors at this Dinner, which could not be healthy for any club! Perhaps this is the time to drink a toast to our absent friends.

It is also an appropriate time to say thank you to those who have helped make this race possible. Firstly, our Chief Race Officer Dave Giddings and technical guru, Mike Short. Without the knowledge, experience and support of these guys over the past two years, my job would not have been possible. Thank you to Kirsteen Donaldson for helping us in Hondarribia, after her bitter disappointment at not being able to compete out on the water. I would also like to record my thanks to the extended support team back in Southampton, whose work has been invaluable.

Mother Ships: Peter & Guy and crews must have spent a pretty uneventful time this week, but I thank them for their time in giving us at least some notional comfort out there, if anything had gone wrong. At least Peter’s suntan is making him look almost Spanish!

Everywhere we have gone in Hondarribia, we have met nothing but friendly faces and a warm welcome. I would like to thank Regional Director Oriole and his colleagues at EKP, the marina, for being the first to extend that welcome and provide us with free berthing for the week. Sadly for us, Oriole is running a race from Bilbao to Bordeaux and as we speak, is up to his neck in claret and cannot be here. But we are grateful to him for making us welcome.

Next, the Club Nautico de Hondarribia. What can I say to express my appreciation for what this Club has done for us? Quite apart from the Barbecue on Thursday night, the whole Club from the top down – and especially including Marcela – have gone out of their way to help us and be welcoming, even to conscripting two volunteers to stay in the club all night for two nights, to help with boats arriving during the night. Simply fantastic!

The Spanish inscription for a gift I have brought reads: “To our friends at Club Nautico de Hondarribia, in appreciation of their generosity to the Biscay Challenge 2009. Royal Southampton Yacht Club”.

Now, the Mayor, councillors and staff, who organised an interesting walk around the old city and then gave us a reception.

To all these people, my sincere thanks.

We have silver cups for the Class winners, provided that there are more than three entries in the Class, but these are awarded at our Annual Prize Giving in December. We will be inviting the winners to that.

And now we come to the Unai Bazurko award for “Yacht of the Race”. We have thought hard and long about this, whether it should go to the last boat to finish, or perhaps Paradox, for sailing the whole way with a crew’s broken finger. In the end, we decided to award it to the boat who took line honours, the beautiful Class 40, Spliff.

For those who do not know him, Ander Echabe, our assistant Race Director, is a single handed Mini Transat sailor, but he was also a student on the world renowned Yacht Design course at Solent University in Southampton. We asked him almost two years ago whether he would help us with this race and although he had never done any race management before, he agreed. Asking him was probably the best decision we ever made – and possibly the worst he ever made in accepting!

Ander’s contribution to this race has been immense. Like any long term planning operation, we had set backs along the way. It may be a cliché to say this, but this race may well not have happened at all without Ander’s input. I happen to believe that it is true. What is beyond any question is that things would not have gone so smoothly in Spain without Ander’s working behind the scenes. Everything that we have all enjoyed over here has Ander’s finger prints all over them.

It was he who introduced Unai Bazurko to us and recommended Hondarribia, after we could not go to Getxo. It was he who established such warm relationships with the marina and yacht club and it was through him that we had the Town Hall reception.

Those of you who have had small problems with their boats after the race will testify to Ander’s willingness and ability to quietly help them if he can and he has been like this for the whole of the past two years, helping us with translations and sorting out our Spanish Race Management problems. In all that time, he has never sought any personal gain, or reward. If only our British MP’s could take lessons from him!

Our club made Ander an Honorary Member when he agreed to help us and with his polite and dignified personality, I believe that he has been an outstanding ambassador for the Royal Southampton Yacht Club.

Ander has now finished his degree in Southampton, but no matter what the world may hold in store, as a proud son of Euskadi, we are also proud to look upon him as one of us and there will always be a warm welcome for you at the Royal Southampton. He has been a joy to work with and I hope that we may have the opportunity to do so again.