Scorpion Welsh Championship at Llandudno Sailing Club

Scorpions Welsh Championship at Llandudno © Gareth Roberts

Scorpions Welsh Championship at Llandudno © Gareth Roberts

Scorpions Welsh Championship at Llandudno © Gareth Roberts

With the whole of the British Isles forecast to have a miserable wet weekend, the Welsh Championship in Llandudno were, to everyone's amazement, held in bright sunny conditions with blue sky and force 2 winds the feature for the weekend.

New launching facilities in the form of a wide concrete slipway had just been completed to allow easy access to the bay directly outside the sailing club rather than at the opposite end of the town, and this event was the first one to test these out – they passed with flying colours.

Race format was for 5 races over 2 days – 2 races Saturday and 3 Sunday. Race 1 saw A breakaway lead taken by Pete Gray & Rachel Rhodes in 2022 with Andy McKee & Chris Massey in 2026. These 2 fought out a close battle with Gray & Rhodes taking line honours from McKee & Massey.

Race 2 saw a breakaway of 3 boats from the rest of the fleet, this time the original 2 being joined by 2033 sailed by Steve Walker & Jerry Hannabuss. This time victory was taken by McKee & Massey in a tight finish from Gray & Rhodes.

Saturday night saw the club put on a beer and curry evening which went down well on the sunny veranda overlooking Lllandudno Bay. This was followed up by the hardier types in the town with live music and more beer (for those who were not there at the end of the evening, as it was getting a little late, Jerry and Steve would like Pete and Rachel know that the last song was 'Alright now' (by Free).

Sunday Morning saw lots of bacon butties and coffee before sailing 3 back to back races, with wind and sun similar to previous day but a bigger swell to make downwind surfing a key to the days success.

All 3 races followed a similar pattern with McKee & Massey, Gray & Rhodes and Walker & Hannabuss leading, with position exchanges throughout the day between these 3. The fight for 4th was closely contested between Richard Jones & John Purdie 1947 and Anne Whitfield & Paul Newman 1979.

At the front, overall victory was being fought out between Pete & Rachel and Andy & Chris, with Steve & Jerry in 3rd. All went down to last race, which was lead by 2033, but showing fast downwind speed it was Pete and Rachel who overhauled them to take both Race and overall honours as Welsh Champions.

Overall Results:

Special Prizes:

• Lady Helm – Anne Whitfied (1979)
• Best dessed Boat – Carl and Shellie Jones (2029)
• Furthest Traveller – Jo Mahey (2015)