Don’t expect to arrive at Setley Pond on a Boxing Day and try out that Ready-to-Run Perkasa MTB that Father Christmas brought “for the children”! Each year the pond is crowded with participants in the Royal Lymington Yacht Club Boxing Day races for the Setley Cup and Seahorse Trophy. There are so many people that all the car parks are full and cars are parked all along the nearby road. The only recent exception was 2010 when Setley Pond was frozen over!
Most yachts are home made, often from plastic bottles and the like and it’s a free sailing event – radio control is definitely not allowed! The person launching the yacht “must” be under 16 years old. Separate races in both directions across the pond are held for mono-hulls and multi-hulls. A row boat is on hand to collect the wrecks! Here are some photo albums showing the action in recent years…