Osprey Southern Area Championships at Weymouth Dinghy Regatta

Shippy McShip-Face in the Osprey Southern Area Championships (Weymouth Dinghy Regatta) © Mike Millard

Over the weekend of the 8th and 9th of July the ever popular Weymouth Dinghy Regatta attracted some 16 Ospreys from the length and breadth of the UK. The top traveller award goes to Alan Henderson and Alastair Barrie coming all the way down from Prestwick, whilst runners up were the teams from Mounts Bay - Colin Stephens and Mikey Grieg and Doc Ellery with son Thomas - fantastic effort guys.

WindGuru did not lie and light shifty breezes would prevail throughout. New for this year was one start line and it was going to be busy with the Ospreys joined on their start by the Fireball class - lots of hesitant looks exchanged between helms. On the whole the starts were clean with a trapezoid and outer loop the course. Winds were slightly more on the first day and father and son Simon and Ben (Nemo) Hawkes soon showed that boat speed and good course judgment was in their favour, coupled with some slick boat handling they would prove the team to beat.

Others showing well were Alastair Ramsden and Rob Burdekin hailing from far away Carsington these boys are armed with a new Mk V boat and look to be pulling all of that string in the right order and to great effect. Basher Marshall and the ever placid Andy Edmonds also proved stiff competition and some entertainment when taking the poor old Fireballs way up to windward on the reach... which of course they appreciated fully.

The author of this article, and his long suffering crew Phil Male, also improved as the day wore on to clinch a win in the last of the three races before tea and beer in the clubhouse, and for some the annual pilgrimage to Weymouth's dark side till the early hours.

Sunday was as hot as Saturday and the wind lighter, barely raceable with a long postponement to see if the sea breeze would defeat the gradient, alas in the end neither really materialised and the Race Officer had few options so ran all three races as advertised.

Some new faces made welcome appearances at the front end especially the far travelled teams mentioned above getting right amongst the action, for Mikey Grieg and Colin Stephens it was the first time in Jurassic Waters for some years in the legendary Lethal Weapon 1116 looking spanking with new Carbon sticks and a lick of paint, when it pipes up this Cornish pairing will be a force to be reckoned with.

Also improved after a below par (for them) performance on the first day was Terry Curtis and Peter Grieg, a sail change seemingly making a marked difference along with having rehydrated at the Red Lion fully the previous evening being the true athletes that they are.

The racing was tight right down the fleet with Roger and Jamie Blake showing well in a final send off for 'Fish for Tea' before collecting a shiny new Mk V. Ken Brown and Chris Butters are getting ever closer to nailing an event, with just a touch more consistency required, some new faces on the scene included the Adler family who benefited from a day's free class training under the tuition of Adam Bowers the current Nationals Champion and Chris Childs and crew from Carsington mixing it up well.

In the end, the dominance of the Hawkes pairing delivered just rewards with them taking the event and the Southern Championship trophy.

All eyes now focus on the National Championships due at Poole Yacht Club from the 10th -13th August, with 30 entries registered already it is sure to be a hotly contested Championships.

Overall Results: