River Yealm Regatta

The Yealm Regatta is held on the river and the boating shared by the two villages of Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo, which face each other across the creek. The regatta is multigenerational and the grandads and dads and children are competing in the Shamrock Exhibition Pull. The Whalers Race is also a rowing competition held traditionally by yachting and rowing clubs to celebrate the skill of oarsmen. In the days of old whaling boats used to race back to port.

This film was taken by Claude Redvers Endicott of Newton Ferrers. The villages are in Devon's South Hams whose real estate commands some of the highest values in the region. At low tide the creek can be crossed by foot using a concrete causeway, the Voss. The Yealm rises on Dartmoor and flows through Cornwood, Lee Mill, Yealmpton, Newton Ferrers, Noss Mayo, Wembury and Brixton accesses it from Cofflete Creek. Three pubs and the Yealm Yacht Club are popular with locals and visitors alike. The area is surrounded by estates of the Bastard family of Kitley and the banking Baring family at Revelstoke whose family crest forms the Yealm Yacht Club burgee or flag. The Yealm is known locally for its oysterage.