EVENT SPONSORS

The Joint Regatta Committee gratefully acknowledges the support of all sponsors ensuring the success of the 70th West Highland Yachting Week.

TUNNOCK’S

World renowned biscuit makers, Tunnock’s is the major sponsor of WHYW and the 70th anniversary year of the event marks a decade of support from Tunnock’s for this special regatta. The unique range of Tunnock’s products complements what is internationally recognised as a ‘unique moving’ regatta. When the yachts race in separate fleets, the spinnaker classes are known as the Tunnock’s fleet. Tunnock’s also sponsor the Tobermory to Oban passage race on the final day of the event and award the Thomas Tunnock Trophy for the winner in IRC Class 3 on Friday.

The Lemarac Cup is also awarded on Thursday in recognition of the support given by Thomas Tunnock Ltd. The famous Tunnock’s survival boxes will be given out to each boat to mark WHYW 70 and many yachts do not set sail without a healthy supply of teacakes and caramel wafers! Boyd Tunnock CBE, managing director and grandson of the founder of Thomas Tunnock Ltd, has been a regular competitor at West Highland Yachting Week in his aptly named Moody Lemara’ (caramel spelled backwards).

ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL

The restricted sail classes are known as the Argyll fleet on the days the yacht fleets race separately pointing up the many years of support Argyll and Bute Council has given to the event. This is in recognition of the economic and community benefit the regatta brings to Oban, Craobh and Tobermory. WHYW is a community event as well as a racing regatta with social events open to the public. The regatta, or yacht week as it is known, is a real attraction for locals and visitors with businesses recognising the economic input to the area over the week. WHYW welcomes the generous support from Argyll and Bute Council to keep WHYW on a winning course.

MALIN WATERS

MalinWaters.com is delighted to support WHYW, one of Scotland’s most celebrated sailing events and in particular in its 70th anniversary year. WHYW has introduced many people to the unforgettable beauty of the Scottish Malin Waters region. Malin Waters support is in keeping with the commitment to nurturing the development of marine and coastal activity in particular sailing in the Malin Waters regions.

Malin Waters wish all those taking part the very best of luck and look forward to many more annual WHYW events. The event is a significant addition to the Malin Waters maritime calendar of events for 2017 and one which they are very pleased to support.

Malin Waters is funded by the Malin Waters partnership consortium covering the shared maritime waters of North West Ireland including Donegal & Sligo, the maritime counties of Northern Ireland and Western Scotland. Malin Waters promotes opportunities for sailing, surfing, diving, kayaking as well as other water based activities as well as providing innovation in the development of new marine tourism products and services. Visit www.malinwaters. com for more information.

TOBERMORY HARBOUR ASSOCIATION

The Tobermory Harbour Association (THA) looks forward to welcoming crews for West Highland Yachting Week 2017. The fleet has access to anchorage, moorings and pontoon berths with full facilities as well as fantastic onshore facilities in the Taigh Solais building, including showers, toilets and laundry room. In

the past few years, THA has installed several new moorings, including two in the beautiful Aros Bay, and is in the process of building a new extension to the pontoons. Ashore, the picnic benches next to a new shelter are well used by all and the aquarium inside the Taigh Solais building is now a major visitor attraction on the island being the first catch-and-release aquarium in Europe. THA has a friendly and expert team of staff, always happy and obliging to help and has been a supporter of WHYW for many years.

OWEN SAILS

Owen Sails, Scotland’s largest sail maker and one of the major players in the UK market, is famous not only for sails for racing and cruising but production of a wide range of covers and upholstery as well as repair and rigging services. Owen Sails is delighted to assist with prizes for this year’s event. Owen Sails is supporting West Highland Yachting Week throughout the event with repair services aimed at keeping all afloat for the duration.

GAEL FORCE MARINE EQUIPMENT

Gael Force Marine Equipment claims to be the fastest growing marine equipment supplier in the UK, stocking one of the widest ranges of leisure boating, commercial fishing and aquaculture products available anywhere in the land. Gael Force has marine outlets across the UK with their flagship Marine Megastore in Inverness, a Marine Centre in Glasgow serving leisure and commercial customers on the West of Scotland and a commercial outlet on the south coast in Plymouth. To add to this, they have a team of field representatives offering customer service and product expertise right across the UK. Gael Force is delighted to be supporting West Highland Yachting Week with many of its customer base involved in taking part in the event. Gael Force looks forward to a continuing strong partnership with one of Scotland’s premier yachting events.

DUNSTAFFNAGE MARINA

Dunstaffnage Marina is hugely excited to be part of the 70th anniversary of West Highland Yachting Week. The marina has a discounted competitors’ berthing rate for the duration of the week, coupled with a range of discounted Dubarry items within the chandlery. With the recently completed berthing extension there will be plenty space for all involved. Dunstaffnage also has an engineering department to assist with any last-minute repairs. The marina team look forward to meeting everyone involved!

WEST COAST MOTORS

West Coast Motors is again providing a special transport service between Dunstaffnage and Oban to link up with après sail events when the fleet is in town. West Coast Motors has been bringing people together via their transport system since 1923 much as WHYW has been attracting sailors for 70 years. A bus and ferry timetable is included in competitors’ packs.

WEBCRAFT UK LTD

Webcraft UK Ltd has been in the web design business in Scotland for more than 20 years. Originally based in Aberdeenshire, they moved to Oban in 2003 largely because of the owner’s interest in sailing. They have seen the internet go from dial-up to fibre, from Front Page to WordPress and from HTML to CSS, javascript and PHP. Working almost exclusively with WordPress now, the world’s most widely used content management system, they offer attractive search engine friendly sites hosted on UK servers with rapid response, personal support and back-up you can rely on. Webcraft is delighted to support this prestigious yachting event by providing web hosting, email facilities and technical support.

SCOTTISH CANALS

Scottish Canals is supporting the 70th anniversary event with a 10 per cent canal discount in each direction for those taking part in the Clyde feeder race from Largs to Ardrishaig. Scottish Canals is offering a free return passage to the winner of this race.

BIRLINN LIMITED

Birlinn Limited is an independent publishing house based in Edinburgh. Established in 1992 by managing director Hugh Andrew, Birlinn Limited is composed of a number of imprints, including: Birlinn, which publishes Scottish and general UK interest books, from biography to history, military history, and Scottish Gaelic; Polygon, publishes literary fiction and poetry, both classic and modern; BC Books is dedicated to publishing children’s books; Arena Sport is a sport imprint and is designed for the general trade; and John Donald publishes academic books. Birlinn has kindly donated a number of copies of

which will be presented within the special trophies category for the week. – Mapping the Islands, Scotland