Nick Offord, 40, from Falmouth, was crowned RYA Yachtmaster of the Year 2008 at the London Boat Show which ended its run on Sunday.

RYA President, The Princess Royal, a regular visitor to Falmouth and a yachtswoman, presented him with the award on the RYA stand.

“It’s an absolute honour to be given this award especially by HRH. I’d been meaning to do my Yachtmaster exam for a while as it’s such a great qualification to have professionally but finally decided to get on with it last year! I’m really surprised - at no point did I ever think I would be given this title – I’m over the moon,” he said.

Nominated by his examiner and then selected as the winner by the RYA, Nick beat off stiff competition from candidates put forward by the RYA’s International team of over 420 Yachtmaster examiners.

Nick, managing director of Rustler Yachts, has been sailing all his life, starting off in dinghies on a reservoir in Wales and then cruising with his father at first, and now with his friends on his own boats. This year he hopes to take part in the Three Peaks Yacht Race. Along with this, Nick does a lot of sailing in his job delivering boats around the world. As well as receiving the coveted trophy donated by the Royal Institute of Navigation, Nick was also presented with a S10 camcorder.