Scorpion Open at Rock Sailing and Waterski Club

Scorpion Open at Rock Sailing and Waterski Club © Roger Deane

Scorpion Open at Rock Sailing and Waterski Club © Roger Deane

Scorpion Open at Rock Sailing and Waterski Club © Roger Deane

I'm going to start by saying... if you weren't there you missed out - that was the best Scorpion open meeting I've even been to.

Anyway, the details...

The Lark class goes to Rock every early May Bank Holiday - so we thought we'd find out what all the fuss was about. A strong fleet of 13 Scorps decended on Rock Sailing and water ski club in preparation for 8 races over 3 days. The sun was out on Friday night and there was some catching up with friends to do over a beer.

By the time the fleets launched for the 1pm start on Saturday the cold northerly wind had built to around 20 knots and the sea state was looking 'lumpy'. And now the racing; I apologise if this recollection is a bit hazy - I'm writing it on the drive home and I'm really tired. Flatteners went on and rigs were raked back for the start of racing. It was very windy and very wavy, there was lots of swimming and some phenomenal downwind legs. Pete and Rach won, we came second and Tom and Emily came 3rd. 2 interesting things happened in this race that are worth mentioning. Firstly - a massive shout out to team Necromancer (Chris Bateman and Lucy Loughton) who were sailing their boat for the first time and showed some phenomenal speed during their baptism of fire - they were only slowed down by their rudder leaving company with the boat down the final reach whilst they were in a podium position! The other significant thing was Waders and Ben's forestay strop snapping on the sail out - they managed to get in, replace it with dyneema, get back out (just missing the start) and still managed to climb to 4th (Tom Lonsdale was proud of his sail making skills as the luff of the jib held 2061s mast up as they sailed in.

Race 2: more wind, more waves, more chaos. On lap 1 Pete and Rach took a dip at the gybe mark, putting Dave and Ben as clear leaders followed by Chris and myself then Jerry and Nigel, lap 2 came and went - I can't really remember what happened. Then at the final gybe mark Dave and Ben dropped their kite for the gybe (we discussed this decision in our boat and thought it seemed a very sensible decision) what was more puzzling was why hadn't they rehoisted down the last reach? As it turned out in the chaos the kite sheet had gone under the bow- and in that swell going onto the bow seemed an unwise choice for anyone who valued their life. As a result of this calamity Chris and myself were able to fly our kite down the last run to take the win with Dave and Ben just holding off the chasing Jerry and Nigel.

My recollection of race 3 is very poor - other than that everything hurt and we joined the swimming club by going over on a tack up the last beat. Pete and Rach took the win to give a second bullet of the day, Waders and Ben were second and AJ and Chris put together a great race to come in 3rd.

The fleet then headed ashore for pizza at the club and to share tales (and excuses) of the days escapades.

Day 2 dawned to blistered hands and aching backs, and legs, and arms and donning of wet wetsuits. Out on the race track conditions were lighter than the previous day but still windy enough for some amazing fast reaches. Race 4 got away cleanly and was won by Pete and Rach, Chris and Lucy brought all the learning from the day before to nail a 2nd - lots of heads were turned - a pairing to watch at Penzance.... Dave and Ben completed the podium to come 3rd.

Race 5 most certainly did not get off cleanly with the fleet getting general recalled on the pin biased line (not that many boats were at that end...) the Larks were next in sequence and the cat was then very much out of the bag with Guy and Sam Brearey going off the pin and comfortably port tacking the fleet. After the Scorps got general recalled again the race officer had had enough and utilised his black flag for the 3rd start. With this new threat the fleet behaved themselves and got off cleanly - however the larks were coming to the bottom of their first triangle lap as we were starting so both fleets had to be extra vigilant. Dave and Ben decided that they'd had enough of team Gray winning and went onto win races 5 and 6 with Pete and Rach taking 2nd in both. AJ and Chris had another good racing coming in 3rd. In race 6 Nigel and Jerry showed a dominant performance to come 3rd. Black flag was kept up for this race as the race officer clearly wanted to get in for a beer before it got dark.... Unfortunately there was some chaos at the favoured committee boat end leading Yatsey and Dave getting black flagged (although I can't imagine they were complaining too much as it meant early access to the bar).

I can imagine I wasn't the only one groaning when the 7am alarm went off in order to make the earlier 10am race start - but everyone made the start on time with varying levels of enthusiasm. The conditions were similar to the day before but the breeze had gone right a bit so instead of beating out to sea there was some interference from the surrounding cliffs, allowing massive gains and losses in what turned out to be a day of snakes and ladders. In Race 7 Tom and Emily went hard left (in contrary to the right favoured race courses of the 2 previous days) and steamed in to round the windward mark in first. There was more position changing down the reaches (we sailed too high down the second reach and ended up in 8th after lap one) however there was always a comeback to be made on this shifty race course and those who went left again up the beat made gains. We went left again up the final beat and were pleasantly surprised to pop out I'm first at the last windward mark Pete and Rach were in hot pursuit and their superior technique in the swell down the second (broader) reach closed the gap to just over a boat length but Chris and myself managed to fend them off just long enough to take the win with team Gray 2nd then Dave and Ben in 3rd.

Scorpion Open at Rock Sailing and Waterski Club - photo © Roger Deane

In the final race of the series Tom and Emily once again sailed a blinder up the first beat to round in first. The next reach was tight and a properly good battle with all boats struggling for height and trying to avoid being rolled. After the first set of reaches Pete and Rach and Dave and Ben broke free to battle it out. This race was trickier as the left side was far less dominant than the previous race with gains to be made all the way across the race track. There was lots of position changing in the chasing fleet with Chris and Lucy coming out best to come 3rd. The 2057 vs 2061 battle came down to the final reach with Pete and Rach just taking the win.

This concluded a brilliant 3 days of racing in which boats and sailors had been tested to their limit! A massive thank you to Rock Sailing and waterski club who managed to hold races in conditions in which other clubs would have cancelled racing.

The entire fleet loved the event so much we'd booked in for next year before close of play on Sunday! So if you've got FOMO from this weekend (which if you didn't go you definitely do) then keep the early May Bank Holiday in 2026 free - there's also rumours of a Scorps vs Larks games night...

And with that I'm off to bed! (It's 18:30).

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