RYA Female Scorpion Project 2025 - Camp 2 at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy
by Nick Lightbody 9 Jul 2025 00:47 PDT
1-5 July 2025
Arwen Fflur and Hatty Connolly - RYA Female Scorpion Project 2025 - Camp 2 at Weymouth © RYA-FSP
The RYA Female Scorpion Project Camp 2 at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy in Dorset was fortunate to sail in a full range of light, moderate and breezy conditions, testing both the boats and the sailors.
Arwen Fflur (420), Hatty Connolly (ILCA) and Lucy Street (GP14) were joined by Adam Aziz and sailor coaches Joe Warwicker and triple World Champion Andy Service.
With the loan of three 35 year old wooden Scorpions and one newer foam sandwich boat and with generous support from the Scorpion Foundation, Allen Brothers, P&B, Harken, Marlow Ropes and CFbyLandL this RYA project aims to boost female sailors' technical knowledge with skills readily transferable to other classes.
The core focus is on learning how to achieve boat speed through understanding the physics of sailing and how to ensure the boat has the best possible chance of turning that speed into a result through exemplary preparation.
Each day started with intensive boat work as systems were improved and refined based on the previous days experience.
Sailors learned how to use epoxy, how to taper, splice and whip their Marlow Ropes and how to fasten fittings correctly.
Joe Warwicker explained how to balance the rig's energy against the lateral resistance of the hull and foils in order to optimise boat speed.
On Day 2 Andy Service introduced the Chinese Gold Medalist Lily Lijia Xu who described her path to success, shared her passion for our sport and sailed the whole session in the fresh breeze with different sailors in different boats, her first time out in a Scorpion.
Camp 3 starts on July 11th followed by a trip to the Lymington Town SC Regatta before heading west to Penzance for five days pre-Nationals training on Mounts Bay.