LYNMOUTH is the salty setting for an ambitious Regatta and Maritime Festival from tonight (July 19) and throughout tomorrow (July 20) when the harbour will be all at sea from midday to late evening with what the organisers claim will be a “right raucous event.” 

Following last year’s successful event, visitors are promised bigger and more ambitious events which will spread from Lynmouth to Lynton. The regatta and festival raises funds for local charities and not-for-profit organisations.

The nautical fun starts tonight with a half-mile swim starting from the harbour slipway at 6pm.

Tomorrow’s extravaganza will include pilot gig racing, historical re-enactments, trade stands, fancy dress, hot food, drinks, music and performances by three Morris dancing teams and six shanty crews - one from the Netherlands.

Armstrong’s Patent, making their first visit to Lynmouth, are a six-strong internationally-known group who sing an eclectic mix of folk and sea songs.

The mayor, Cllr Lewys Logan, and Lynmouth Shanty Crew, will launch Saturday’s festival at 12 noon from May Bridge before Borderline, Eynsham and Armaleggan Border Morris teams dance throughout the afternoon and evening in locations in Lynton and Lynmouth.

Armstrong Patent will join local crews the Steephomers, Barnacle Buoys, DZ Buoys, Lynmouth Shanty Crew and Cask to perform in Lynmouth and Lynton before a mass shanty event on the harbour at 3pm. 

This will be followed by a pilot gig race and demonstration at 5.15pm and the curiously-named “taxidermy seagull race” at 7pm starting at Lynmouth’s Ancient Mariner stage and then into Riverside Road where the organisers invite visitors to “watch the unfolding chaos.”

The festival ends with a prize-giving and Lynmouth Shanty Crew singalong at the Ancient Mariner stage

All event times are approximate, weather dependent, and may have the location changed at the last minute, to ensure participant safety.