Scorpions at the Weymouth Dinghy Regatta

15 Scorpions join in the Weymouth Dinghy Regatta 2014 © Richard White

15 Scorpions join in the Weymouth Dinghy Regatta 2014 © Richard White

131 boats race in Weymouth Dinghy Regatta 2014 © Richard White

As various reports come online from the big Yacht Clubs of Weymouth multi-class/fleet Regatta they are mostly mentioning the champagne conditions with sun and 15-20knts, so no need to be different! What a great delivery of weather to order for the 15 Scorps joining the masses.

Really tight racing as usual was the order of the weekend for the quality fleet, which were happy to be in-harbour, on an interesting outer loop rhombus course shared with Slow/Fast Handicap and Contenders (all doing different variants). As well as a bit of mark finding (thanks to nearby windsurfer event adding a few others for confusion), minds were tested in re-setting Tackticks/watches for the 3min sequence!

It initially looked like the local team of Jock & Andrea would capitalize on harbour knowledge, only to have the dread silence of OCS when finishing in race 1, but they threw in enough decent scores to really push the eventual top wooden (looking) boat of 'experienced' Sidmouth dream team Kev Gosling & Andy Hayman.

There were other local boats and sailors spread right through the fleet, from Emily White and Cara Jones who battled round their first open together to finish all but one race, to returning legends John Mursell & Nick Keast – and in-between Sandra Smith with Kate Gurner/Linda Wolfenden crew combo putting the oldest (but arguably smartest) 'Popsy' in the thick of it against old rivals like Fast Eddie with Dave Elson as front man.

At the end of a Saturday which had seen stamina tested with a steadily rising breeze through the day, Barry Wolfenden and Rachel Rhodes' string of 2nds was showing them top of the page, a point ahead of Pete Gray & Rich Peppardine with their 1,5,1.

After paella from two jellyfish sized dishes, the fleet split for the evening with Lady Helen's team remaining at club for the drinks, games and talking rubbish, while some may say the 'youngsters' went to town for probably the same combination – just with any 'games' being unplanned! Cara helped keep our average age down and game performance up, Rob hit the left corner hard on the broom game, Johnny M & Bazza had very different experiences in the press-up wrestling, but both eclipsed by Andrea's delicate/lengthy win in the girl-v-girl finale. The town team excelled itself on early morning accommodation choices, all leaving Rich to enjoy his own large space. Hope the solid hallway floor bruises have subsided guys?!

Sundays increased breeze (W 17-22knts) brought even more lumps at the bottom of the course, a start line as close to the breakwater as PRO Bill Barker could squeeze it, and some more fast reaches. Pete & Rich set their marker with 1st race bullet, with Bazza & Rachel clocking a 3rd, however that order was switched for race 2. Meanwhile John & Nick's 2 x 2nds kept them in the hunt with a day 1 win in their scoreline, however as the gust reading went up in the final race so did their placing, with 5th putting them firmly 3rd overall. Bazza & Rachel's 2nd in the final race took the result to the wire and gave them another excellent result, but Pete & Rich's still remain the pair to catch with their final race bullet adding to their earlier 3 wins to secure the open victory for the Staunton Harold team.

Overall Results: