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TCL Scorpion National Championship 2024 at Castle Cove Sailing Club - Preview

by Dave Elston 19 Jul 2024 08:44 BST 28 July - 2 August 2024
2022 Scorpion Nationals at Looe day 2 © Lee Whitehead / www.photolounge.co.uk

The weekend of Saturday July 27th sees the start of the TCL Scorpion Nationals in association with Craftinsure, hosted by Castle Cove Sailing Club, with 76 boats entered.

We are returning for our fourth Nationals at Castle Cove, not just a popular choice for the class but one with a long association and history with the Scorpion class. It's both a superb venue for racing and a great club for all our social activities. The club is one of the friendliest on the circuit, with a very healthy Scorpion fleet- indeed there are 16 boats from Castle Cove competing this year, bigger than some classes overall nationals!

Class Chair Chris Yates said, "The Scorpion fleet is delighted to be once again sailing at Castle Cove for its 2024 National Championships. Castle Cove has a special provenance in the heritage of the Scorpion Class, not only being one of the original early adopters of the class in the early 60s but also being the home club of nine times national champion, John Mursell.

"Without stating the obvious Castle Cove sails on probably the best sailing water in the UK, but it's the warmth of the welcome and the incredible programme on and off the water that will make 2024 so special. Not surprisingly, that's why 76 Scorpions have entered! Anyone that is inspired to come along, there's still time to enter on www.sailscorpion.co.uk

"We're going to have an awesome week's sailing, fun and being with friends- its just a fab week's holiday."

The Nationals has a super competitive fleet as ever, with five past Scorpion National Champions in the fleet plus a number of National, European and World Champions from other classes in there. The top ten is going to be tough!

The racing is being managed by K1, Phantom and Osprey sailor Simon Hawkes, stepping in after Castle Cove legend Bill Barker unfortunately became seriously ill and is unable to be RO for the week. Bill has leukaemia and we encourage people to donate to Blood Cancer UK. We send Bill and his family all our best and hope to see him during the week.

We have ten races planned plus the practice race and crews race from the Sunday to the Thursday, with Friday as our lay day only to be used if less than six races completed. Let's hope we get them all in and everybody is able to push the boat out on the Thursday night at the long awaited and much enjoyed fancy dress party. The other major highlight of the social programme is a talk from legendary Round the World Sailor, Pete Goss, on the Sunday night which will be fascinating.

The class is very grateful to our sponsors: TCL, a leading global tech brand in display panels, TV's, home comfort and mobile devices; Craftinsure, boat insurance made easy; ribs.auction, the only RIB & Outboard dedicated on line auction site; AJE Asset Management Ltd, specialists in domestic retrofit, decarbonisation and asset management services for housing providers; and local brewery Cerne Abbas Brewery, the modest brewery with giant integrity.

Richard Bowers, Castle Cove Commodore, said "The club is excited about 76 Scorpions descending on them for the week, all our volunteers are in place and ready to give the fleet a fantastic week's sailing and fun socials."

The class is looking forward to a fabulous week in Weybiza - bring on the sun and wind.

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