Sidmouth sailors busy in Lyme

Sidmouth Sailing Club held its popular Scorpion Open Championship with 24 boats taking part.

Some had travelled long distances to compete and we were able to give them some good sailing on the Sunday when the wind returned.

The Championship was won by Chris Turner and his crew Ben Rayner who may represent Lyme Regis Sailing Club, but Chris lives in Newcastle which is a fair distance to travel towing a boat!

If that was not enough, Chris was back on the south coast last weekend when Lyme held their championships and two of our boats travelled over to represent Sidmouth.

James Salter and Hope Brodie had a frustrating weekend getting to grips with a new boat and Alex Hayman and Sam Gosling broke their rudder, amongst other things. Not a good weekend.

They should have stayed in Sidmouth where the club sailing was competitive, but good- natured with 17 boats on the water.

It has been rare to have seven Lasers out together, which made for some good close racing in very changeable conditions.

The light south easterly changed through the afternoon to become a very strong south westerly which meant changing the course to keep the sailors happy.

It was also good to see six Toppers out which meant that they were also able to have their own race.

Both of the fleets saw club members who have not been available, compete for the first time this season and they were straight into the points, finishing well up the fleet.

In the Lasers Gerald Woodley took the wins in both races holding off Bob Vine who was a very close second. Andy Swain was third in the first race but beaten into that position in the second race by Ian Holten who had not sailed this year.

Josie Robb took the two wins in the Toppers with Saphire Smith second in the first race and third in the next reversing positions with Alice Rea.

In the Mirror fleet, Nick Jennings and Scott Tobin, who usually sail together in a Scorpion, took their respective children out for a sail and gave Graeme Robb some competition, but not enough to stop him winning. It was good to see the next generation of Sidmouth sailors out with their fathers though.

This Sunday, the club hosts its Mirror and Topper Open Championship with Club racing on Saturday.

l Alex Hayman has taken the lead in the quest for this years ‘Wreckers Trophy’. Whilst sailing back to shore at Lyme Regis at the weekend he accidentally rammed the boat into the Harbour Wall and is now trying to fix it in time for the National Championships in August. Whoops!