Craftinsure Silver Scorpion End of Season Championship at Rutland Sailing Club

20 Scorpions were welcomed to sunny Rutland Water with very little breeze. Briefing shortly confirmed our predictions with a couple of hours of postponement. The race officer and team heading out onto the water to assess the situation, leaving the competitors onshore eagerly waiting for the wind to fill.

Tom Gilllard and Rachael Gray showed the fleet how it's done in all three races closely followed by Pete Gray and Rich Peperdine. Positions changing between the following boats with every manoeuvre. Third place going to Andy McKee & Charlotte Graham (R1), AJ & Chris Eaton (R2) and Sam Watson & Michelle Evans (R3).

The race officer did a fantastic job to get all three planned races completed in the light and shifty conditions. With the wind dying off throughout the late afternoon. It became apparent that boats were going to have to paddle back in to shore, as the remaining daylight was disappearing quickly.

Sunday morning dawned with a chill in the air but to the competitors relief, more wind as forecast! Some very late arrivals were met by their worried looking helms, waiting with boats rigged on the slipway. Suggesting that some sailors had overindulged on the rum the night before. The fuzzy heads soon cleared as the race 4 started without Sam and Michelle due to boat damage.

Once again Tom and Rach sailed three perfect races to take a clean sweep of bullets for the weekend. Rich and Pete kept consistent with another two seconds in race 4 and 5. Tom and Emily took third in race 4, Andy and Charlotte third in race 5.

The wind was up and down all day with a big squall right at the end of race 5. Catching out a few boats on the gybe mark to the finish, causing a commotion with boats trying to avoid collision with those in the water.

Andy and Charlotte pushing through to second in the last race and Christian Smart and Stuart Turnbull Improving throughout the day to take a convincing third in the last race.

Well done to Tom and Rachael for another impressive win, flawless except for the snapped main halyard on the sail home which saw Rach swimming to the top of the mast.

Big thank you to Rutland for hosting the event and to the race team for six competitive races in mixed conditions.

The overall Craftinsure Silver Scorpion Travellers Series was also won by Tom Gillard and Rachael Gray to end their successful season in the class.

As always, a huge thank you for all of the time and effort that goes into planning and booking the events that we enjoy throughout the season and to Craftinsure for sponsoring the travellers series. We look forward to seeing the calendar for next year's racing and cannot wait to see you all out on the water soon.

End of Season Championship at Rutland:

1st Tom Gillard, Rachael Gray (5)
2nd Rich Pepperdine, Pete Gray (10)
3rd Tom Lonsdale, Emily Cole-Evans (20)
4th Andy McKee, Charlotte Graham (21)
5th Barry Woofenden, Amy Clay (25)
6th AJ Eaton, Chris Eaton (26)

Craftinsure Silver Scorpion Travellers Series - Helms:

1st Tom Gillard
2nd Peter Gray
3rd Tom Jeffcote

Craftinsure Silver Scorpion Travellers Series - Crews:

1st Rachael Gray
2nd Richard Pepperdine
3rd Andy Shandy Thompson

First Silver Fleet Helm - Kev Nicholls
First Silver Fleet Crew - Dave Barker
Bronze Scorpion (Under 21) - Chloe Willars and John Tailby