Southwest Winter Series Standings after the Starcross Steamer

28th Exe Sails Starcross Steamer © Heather Davies

Following the Starcross Steamer, held last weekend in 10-20 knot winds from the East, the leader board is shuffling quite a bit.

With just 3 round remaining Ben Flower in his Laser has taken the lead following a strong performance at Starcross to finish 4th. He was pipped at the finish line by the two Merlins of Jon Gorringe / Matt Currall of Parkstone SC and Chris Gould / Caroline Croft of Blithfield SC with Chris Camp in his International Canoe in 3rd.

In second place for the series lies Tim and Sarah Parsons following a tough Steamer dropping them from 1st overall. Also rising the ranks are Sam and Lianne Thompson in their Merlin in 3rd overall following a strong 13th at the Streamer.

Rising to 4th is Simon Hawkes in his Phantom, discarding a 10th at Starcross, and Chris Hamp also now in 5th with the Fireball of Chris and John Gill in 6th. Down from 4th to 7th is Hugh Kingdon in a Blaze and the Horlocks dropping 2 places to 8th. With just 11 points splitting the top 8 places it is tight at the top.

So far the SSW winter series has seen 229 competitors from 52 different clubs with 58 different classes represented. The series has an average 52 entries with average 29 visitors per event. This is a great success for the series in its first year demonstrating the strength of sailing in the South West. Roll on Sutton Bingham on the 10th March. Hope to catch up with as many of you as possible at the London Dinghy Show this weekend.

A full Starcross Steamer race report will be released on Friday.

Southwest Winter Series Standings: (after Round 7)