Scorpion Nationals at Lyme Regis Sailing Club - Overall

Gusting up to 30 knots on day 5 of the Scorpion nationals at Lyme Regis 2009 © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

Gusting up to 30 knots on day 5 of the Scorpion nationals at Lyme Regis © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

Scorpion Nationals Day 1

Cloud and a flat calm greeted the early risers for the first day of sailing at the Scorpion Nationals. Fortunately this was soon replaced with sunshine and a force 2 from the South West. With the wind backing in the run up to the first start there was a huge bunch gathered at the pin end and the inevitable general recall ensued. After 5 minutes to shift the course race 1 finally started under the black flag. With the wind backing further the leaders came out of the left. First to the windward mark was Tom Jeffcoate and Andy Smith in 2010, Gill Race Team, hotly pursued by John Mursell and Nick Keast in 1936, Bottyburp the Barbarian. John and Nick were overhauled by Tim Parsons and AJ Eaton in their brand new 2014, Intoxicated on the first reach and despite only a couple of boat lengths separating the 3 boats the positions remained this way to the finish. The race for 4th saw Steve Hall and Simon Haighton in 2008, Box Fresh slowly working their way through ahead of Kevin Gosling and Max Hayman 1970, Custard Tart.
Race 2 saw the same 3 leaders quickest out the blocks but this time it was Bottyburp the Barbarian leading at the windward mark from Intoxicated and Gill Race Team. In a tight leading bunch there were some fierce scraps on the first triangle and by the leeward mark Gill Race Team had moved up to 2nd followed by Custard Tart. Despite them breaking clear down the reaches a tight bunch of boats slowly reeled Bottyburp the Barbarian in over the next lap and the end of the run saw Gill Race Team surfing into the lead with Intoxicated, Box Fresh and Rob and Adrian Smith in 1939, Ice in Fire also closing fast. Unfortunately some close covering by all the top boats kept positions the same to the finish.
Overnight Gill Race Team lead on 2 points with Intoxicated and Bottyburp the Barbarian just behind on 5 and Box Fresh on 8. Special mention should be made of various special performances from the day, notably Dave and Mike Hannan in 1930, Optimus Prime. A lack of time in the boat this year meant they started the stopwatch as the postponement came down. Remembering timing was the key they promptly kept a close eye on the watch and accelerated perfectly in time to hit the line at speed on the gun. Looking around they were confused at the rest of the fleet still lining up carefully counting down the last minute! They tried to subtly reach back down below the line without anyone noticing their error but to no avail.

Scorpion Nationals – Day 2

1 race was scheduled for today, longer than the 2 yesterday but sailed in similar conditions. It also saw another outing for the black flag, this time with 9 casualties including Box Fresh and Custard Tart.
A much shyer fleet got away at the 3rd attempt with a noticeable split between which end people chose to start at. The starboard line bias was compensated for by stronger tide out to sea. The leading bunch of Gill Race Team, Bottyburp the Barbarian and Intoxicated all chose left and came out at the front of the fleet. They were joined by John and Jamie Clementson in 1984, Foen who were enjoying the lighter conditions and would eventually finish 4th. On the 1st run Catherine Putt in 2001, Zephyr, and sailing with a guest crew after her regular crew Simon Maguire suffered broken ribs last week pulled through to 3rd behind Gill RT and Bottyburp. Intoxicated pulled back through on the following beat and the top 3 remained the same until the end of the race. Behind this group Foen took 4th ahead of Zephyr 5th and Andy Mckee and Tarren Jones in 1951, Sidewinder 6th.

Scorpion Nationals - Day 3

Lyme Bay served up another beautiful day of sailing with 8 - 10 knots from the south / south-west and sunshine. 2 races were scheduled for the day and despite the black flag having to come out for the first start the fleet had learnt their lesson and no one got caught out.
In the first race of the day (race 4) Gill RT won the pin and led the race from start to finish. Behind them Sidewinder and Bottyburp the Barbarian had a close tussle for 2nd with Sidewinder only losing out when the breeze picked up for the tight reach. They did hold on for 4th behind Box Fresh. The second race of the day saw the leading boats all choosing the pin end only for a right hand shift to see the boats on the right favoured. Intoxicated worked their way back over to the right the best rounding in the lead ahead of Box Fresh and Optimus Prime. Intoxicated pulled out a good lead but Gill RT pulled through to 2nd and set about hunting them down. At the finish there was half a boat length in it but Intoxicated held on for the bullet. Box Fresh took another 3rd ahead of Ice on Fire.
Overall Gill RT are clear at the top with Intoxicated and Bottyburp the Barbarian ties for 2nd. Box Fresh are in 4th ahead of Ice on Fire.
Other special mentions should go to the Clementsons in Foen. Realising they had forgotten to tally on the way to the start John called over a rescue boat and deposited his son Jamie in it to get a ride back to shore to collect the tallies while he carried on to the start. Impressive quick thinking or pure laziness... you decide! The winners of the daily pecker prize were Martyn Denchfield and Ben Clark in 1925, Predator. Sailing in they failed to observe a line of buoys with rope between them, hitting them at speed they managed to split their rudder into 3!

Scorpion Nationals - Day 4

Lighter winds today with wind speeds ranging from 4 - 8 knots for the sole race. Off the start line the fleet split, half led by Bottyburp the Barbarian and Foen headed right while Gill RT, Sidewinder and Intoxicated went left. The left paid with Gill RT rounding first followed by Sidewinder, Foen and Box Fresh who were one of the few boats to go up the middle. Foen moved up to 2nd with Box Fresh also closing on Sidewinder. Despite getting yellow flagged for excessive body movement on the 2nd reach they did their turns and then pulled through to 2nd on the 2nd beat. Things stayed in this order until the 3rd lap on the top reach as 2008 received their 2nd yellow flag and were disqualified automatically. With the race shortened at the end of the lap Gill RT took the gun ahead of Foen and Sidewinder. Bottyburp the Barbarian and Intoxicated took 4th and 5th respectively.
With 3 races to go Gill RT just needs one top 5 result to secure victory while 1 point seperates the fight for 2nd. The race for 4th is even closer with 6 teams within 6 points!
Tomorrow sees 2 more races and the introduction of the 2nd discard after the 2nd. More wind is forecast so the results should see some new faces at the front...

Scorpion Nationals - Day 5

After the calm of yesterdays race, today was definitely the storm. Steady 20 knots gusting 25 and 6ft waves led to some very exciting sailing. Gill RT needed to finish top 5 in one of the races to guarantee overall victory but after being sandwiched between 2 flying Potter boats off the start they were forced to tack off and duck a few transoms on their way out right. Bottyburp also had to tack off but things soon got worse as they went swimming. Despite having under 20 stone in the boat Box Fresh sailed well up the middle of the course and led to the windward mark ahead of Intoxicated. A welcome shift at the top of the course brought Gill RT and Optimus Prime back from the right in 3rd and 4th.
Downwind was a game of chicken, who dared hoist and who could hold it. Optimus Prime showed the way and soon blasted into 2nd while Alex Knight and Mike Robbins, 1915, Highly Strung were also catching the leaders in 5th position. While Box Fresh pulled out a substantial lead Optimus Prime, Gill RT and Intoxicated had a close battle for 2nd with Gill RT taking the line (ad overall victory) ahead of Intoxicated. With Highly Strung suffering gear failure Nigel Potter and Simon Hibbert in 2012 enjoyed the conditions and finished 5th overall.
The wind at this stage had moderated to around 17 knots. However, with less than a minute to the 2nd start this quickly increased to 27 gusting 30 and with the tide about to turn so that it was into the wind the race officer quickly sent the fleet ashore.
Ashore the fancy dress party carried on well into the night with some very interesting outfits! Tom and Andy were in full celebration mode and helped entertain everyone too, much to their embarrassment the following morning!

Final day

The wind had moderated but the race still saw some great conditions under sunny skies. With Gill RT still ashore the race for 2nd was really on. Box Fresh needed to win and get others into the top 3 while Bottyburp needed to beat Intoxicated by 2 places. Box Fresh did all they could by winning the race but with Bottyburp in 2nd and Intoxicated sailing to a conservative 3rd in the race the overall standings saw no change. 4th in the race saw Optimus Prime take 5th overall ahead of Ice on Fire and Custard Tart.
Overall a fantastic weeks sailing was had by all. Thanks have to go to Lyme Regis for being such excellent hosts, Allan Tyler and his team for some great racing and everyone involved in making a memorable event.
Next year sees the class return to Looe for their 50th anniversary and it is sure to be another great event. All the details will be available soon at www.sailscorpion.co.uk as are full results and more pictures from Lyme '09.

Overall Results: