LOCKHEED MARTIN UK COMPETES IN THE ANNUAL ROYALIST REGATTA

Lockheed Martin UK entered the annual Royalist Regatta yacht race for the first time this year and helped raise more than £40,000 for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.

The event saw 16 eight-strong crews take to the Solent in Sunsail Sun Fast 37 yachts for a half day of practice on 9th May, followed by a full day of racing on 10th.

Despite being a mixture of the very experienced and the rank amateur, the Lockheed Martin team worked well during the practise session and expectations for the four races the following day were high.

On race day the crew was joined by teams from a huge variety of organisations, including one yacht skippered by HRH The Earl of Wessex, who was clearly the one to beat!

The first race went almost according to plan, the team worked well despite a few minor panics and Lockheed Martin came in a respectable sixth place behind the Royal Navy, who stormed to victory in emphatic style.

Sadly the wind then dropped off dramatically meaning three of out the scheduled four races had to be cancelled and the winner’s trophy was duly awarded to the Royal Navy. All was not lost though as the expert piping of our very own Nathan Colbern saw him presented with the Bowson’s Telescope Trophy by HRH the Earl of Wessex, although no-one was quite sure why! Still it’s a trophy that needs to be defended, so an incentive for the team to return again next year!

The crew was skippered by Andy Head and included Roger Belton, Rob Noble, John Fyall, Theresa Avey, John Sadler, Nathan Colbern and Gary Davis.

Lockheed Martin UK is involved with The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is as a Charter Member of the Charter for Business. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Charter for Business was launched by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh in 1992 and has been very successful in engaging British-based companies in support of the Award to provide. Its aim is to encourage leading British-based companies to support the Award in providing, for young people, an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding programme of personal development which is of the highest quality and the widest reach. In 1992 there were ten Charter Founder Members, and now, some twelve years later, there are over two hundred business supporters.