Sidmouth Sailing Club hosted the southern area championships for the Scorpion class two person dinghies which is open to competitors nationwide.

Sidmouth Sailing Club hosted the southern area championships for the Scorpion class two person dinghies which is open to competitors nationwide. A strong fleet of 22 boats took part with the top sailors from the class including the current national champion. There was a full range of weather from a strong force 4-5 wind down and rough sea to a drifting force 0 making it difficult for race officer John Keast and his team. Due to the conditions only five of the eight planned races were sailed and the clear winners were Dave Wade crewed by Ben Rayner from Northampton with three firsts, a second and third. Second were Andy Smith and Steve Graham from Notts County SC. The highest-placed boat with a local connection was in third and sailed by John Mursell from Castle Cove Weymouth and Nick Keast from Sidmouth. Kevin Gosling, another local helm and boat builder, finished in ninth place. The other Sidmouth competitors all sailed well in the high class fleet to finish as follows: 13, various combinations of Hayman, Andy, Max and Alex; 15, Oliver Salter and Heather Martin; 17, Chris Clapp and Erin Pyle-Gray; 18, Miles Hapgood and Joe Snowdon; 19, Nick Jennings and Scott Tobin; 20, Simon Price and Imogen Dinham-Price; 21, Hamish and Christina Spence. Thanks go to all the club members that helped to make the event such a success both on and off the water.Club racing has also seen a rapid upturn with the boat numbers increasing with the temperature and seeing the less hardy becoming more active. There have been around 15 sailing regularly on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons. Last Wednesday, in a steady south easterly force 2-3 there was some very close racing from start to finish with the light weights Alex Hayman and Tom Francis taking the Scorpion honours. David Martin just held off David Yeo by a matter of a couple of metres to win the Laser race and I understand that Paul Wilson was the leading Mirror and Josie Robb the first Topper. Thanks to the race control team, rescue boat crews and Liz and Andy Hayman for feeding the sailors.