The 13th Skipton Waterway Festival was far from unlucky – in fact it was hailed as one of the best to date.

Thousands of visitors flocked to the town over the bank holiday weekend for some nautical fun.

“The festival has been a huge success and we are extremely pleased with how everything has gone,” said Zoe Clarke from organisers Pennine Cruisers. “We have received lots of positive feedback, with a number of people saying that this year’s festival has been the best yet.”

The three-day event saw boaters from across the country arrive with Tour de France-themed decorated craft. The prize for the best dressed boat was shared between Jupiter, owned by David and Ruth Crane, and Titus, owned by Dave and Bev Grice.

And this year’s raft race was keenly contested with a record ten entrants.

The winner of the £100 first prize was Rubber Dubbers, with Yorkshire Rose runners-up and Skipton Working Men’s Club in third place.

Another highlight was the illuminated boat cruise.

Among the participants was the Tour de Cut pedalo, created by Pennine Cruisers’ Ian Clarke and featured in last week’s Craven Herald.

“It was loved by the public,” said Zoe The best illuminated boat was Rainbow Spirit, owned by Mr and Mrs Jowitt.

In addition to the boats, families were able to enjoy live bands, morris dancing, craft stalls, birds of prey and children’s rides.

There was also competition for the best hand-crafted item, which was won by Mr and Mrs Peel, from Alice No1, with a big narrowboat shaped cake.

A free park and ride scheme again operated and the vintage buses ferrying people into town were a hit with visitors.

Zoe added: “Skipton Waterway Festival is a fun family event, organised by local people with the interests of Skipton and its community at heart, so we feel it’s important to get the local schools, charities, cadets and scouts all involved. They exceeded our expectations and we cannot thank them enough.”

She made special mention of Skipton Air Cadets and South Craven Explorer Scouts, who, she said, did an amazing job helping out, while at the same time raising funds and awareness for their groups.

“We would also like to thank Skipton Town Council for help with staffing the event as we couldn't do it without them, Craven District Council for letting us use the car park and Skipton BID for giving us some extra funding towards the cost of the vintage buses used to operate the park and ride scheme.

“Assuming that funding can be secured, we are looking forward another hugely successful festival in 2015.”