Comets in 2025 Year in Review - Another Busy Year and Looking Forward to 2026
by Comet Class Association 21 Dec 2025 11:49 PST
Comets at Silver Wing © Phil Bergquist
2025 was another busy year for the Comet class, with events far and wide to attend. Our season started in April and ended in October. We planned 26 events comprising 24 opens and 2 championships.
The open meetings were held on a regional basis - North, South, East and West Aphelions. There were a total of 188 competitors from 45 different clubs attending our events in 2025, from a class with only just over 900 boats ever constructed!
Both championships were held in June. Firstly the 3 day National Championship at Gunfleet SC, with 29 entries. This proved to be a baptism of fire for our predominantly pond & river helms, due to open sea and big waves in strong current and strong winds. Conditions could best be described as “epic”. The deserved winner was Jack Daly from Hampton Pier YC, returning to a Comet event after a break of around 20 years. He had obviously learned a lot in the meantime! The club prize was won by Eyott SC, the youth prize by Adam Kedge (Gunfleet SC) and the ladies prize by Alex Gore (Up River YC).
Then we moved to our 2 day Association Championship Cransley SC with 19 entries. This was a big contrast with Gunfleet, being held on a small lake with reduced water levels. One similarity was the prevailing strong winds on day 1, which given the gusty and shifty nature of the wind resulted in a lot of capsizes. Dave Turtle from Shustoke SC sailed really consistently to win the event, demonstrating great skills on windy day 1 and nearly windless day 2. Meg Warren from Chipstead SC was a very popular winner of the ladies prize.
Unusually, 3 of our open meetings were cancelled, all for different reasons. A storm stopped Baltic Wharf SC, low water stopped Staunton Harold SC, and lack of wind and insufficient entries stopped Redditch SC. However, we had healthy entries at most opens, with Chipstead having 31 (a record for a Comet open in recent times) and Nottingham SC with 20 being the highest. There were 9 different event winners.
The Orbital trophy (national series) was awarded to Eddie Pope from Ogston SC, who won 8 opens. Chris Robinson from Burghfield SC won 5 opens and was 2nd. Of the 4 Aphelions (regional series) 3 were won by Eddie, and 1 by Ben Palmer from Baltic Wharf SC. Chris attended the most opens, showing great commitment. The 2025 club prize also went to Burghfield SC.
Looking forward, the 2026 calendar is now finalised and is on the Comet website. Once again there are 24 opens and 2 championships. One change is the return of the Central Aphelion, meaning we will have 5 regional series. We are also going to Tata Steel SC for the first time, which will be the opening event. We are holding our National Championship at Chipstead SC in August and our Association Championship at Nottingham SC in May. Given that both clubs have in excess of 20 Comets and they hosted the most popular opens in 2025, bumper entries are expected. So 2026 should be another great year for the Comet.