Red Letter Days, the UK's leading experiences company, launched the inaugural Red Letter Days Challenge Cup on the 2nd June, with a day of yacht racing near Portsmouth Harbour.

In partnership with world renowned sailing partner Clipper yachts, five Red Letter Days clients were invited to nominate teams to take part in a fast paced, competitive day on the Solent, racing world class Beneteau 40.7 yachts. Competing teams were Abbey National, HBOS, Siemens, Hewlett Packard and Punch Taverns.

The day began with a briefing and training for the novice sailors, preparing them for the afternoon of rigorous competition. As yacht racing is a highly disciplined sport which demands strong communication and teamwork, the competitors had to learn a host of skills from learning to hoist the spinnaker to trimming the main sail. After two nail biting races and much debate over a photo finish the winner of this year's Cup was Punch Taverns. An evening champagne reception followed at the exclusive Spinnaker Tower, where the winning team were awarded the first ever Red Letter Days Cup.

Anthony York, Head of Reward and Recognition for Punch Taverns, said: "We have been working with Red Letter Days for over a year now and it was great to be part of the inaugural Challenge Cup. The event was perfectly organised and with individuals on our team having varying degrees of experience of sailing, no one felt out of the depth or left out with the excellent tuition we received. We all had so much fun and winning was the icing on the cake. We're looking forward to retaining our title next year!"

Heather Rogers, Director of Corporate Sales at Red Letter Days said: "It was a fantastic event and enjoyed by all. The teams were incredibly impressive and it was such a close finish. Looking to next year, we aim to organise something even bigger and better, and with new ties being developed across Europe, we may even take it to an international destination."

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Press Contact: Patrick McAleenan

Head of PR and Marketing

mobile: +44 (0) 7918 726027, email: patrick.mcaleenan@redletterdays.co.uk