Royal send-off for sailors of the British Olympic and Paralympic teams

British Olympic and Paralympic teams with HRH the Princess Royal at the RYA Sail for Gold Ball © onEdition

With one month to go until the 2016 Rio Games, the sailors of the British Olympic and Paralympic teams received a send-off to remember at the seventh quadrennial RYA Sail for Gold Ball on Monday.

More than 500 guests showed their support to the 21 Olympic and Paralympic sailors who will compete in Rio this summer, and Britain's up-and-coming stars of tomorrow, by packing out the London Hilton on Park Lane.

In the presence of Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal, President of the RYA, the guests, including some of the biggest names in sailing as well as many from the worlds of commerce, politics, the arts and media, were treated to a feast of entertainment as the Ball once again raised significant funds to help support the development of World Class sailing in Great Britain.

Introduced by double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson OBE and BBC presenter Chris Hollins, the fundraising effort offered a fantastic array of raffle prizes while the Sail for Gold auction, with master auctioneer Nick Bonham, was a massive success. Once again reputed sports artist Brian West's exclusive Sailing for Gold painting attracted many bids, as did the pieces which were hand painted and signed by past and present Olympians.

Speaking on behalf of the sailors, Laser World Champion Nick Thompson said: "This evening is not only a fantastic opportunity to say thank you to people who have supported us so far but it also really feels like the closing to all the hard work and the training we have done preparing for the actual Olympics.

"Nights like this our fantastic they give us an opportunity to meet sponsors and people that put in the hard work behind our team and support us to our goal."

For the fifth consecutive time, Peter Harrison CBE was the Principal Patron of the 2016 Sail for Gold Ball.

Stephen Park, RYA Olympic Manager, commented: "The Sail for Gold Ball is a massive event in the four year cycle and hopefully it's a big event for everyone that has an interest in Olympic sailing, but it's really particularly important for the sailors.

"It's a huge send off for the sailors and hopefully allows them to feel like they are on the final leg of the journey and they are really pushing their boat out onto Rio and what we really hope is going to be one of our best Games ever.

"The Ball of course wouldn't happen without the major sponsors, we've obviously got Peter Harrison here with the Peter Harrison Foundation as our primary sponsor and all the individual patrons that have supported the Ball, it just wouldn't happen without them. It's vitally important that they continue to support it, it's greatly appreciated by all the sailors and everyone involved at the RYA," concluded Park.

Over 4,500 guests have attended the previous Sail for Gold Balls, which have been held in each Olympic year since 1992. Its predecessor, the British Olympic Yachting Ball, has been held quadrennially since 1968.