Tasar National Championship at Paignton Sailing Club

Tasar UK Nationals at Paignton © Tom Wild

Our happy sailing story must begin with the sad tale of the storm, the south easterly and the smashing rollers; a combination of chaos which rampaged along our southwest coastline last January culminating in the total obliteration of the slipway at Porthpean SC.

Not the most auspicious start to the club's 75th birthday year and not at all helpful for their role as hosts of the 2026 Tasar Nationals. But as we know, the sailing community is a wonderful place and so it was that the generous and ever friendly Paignton SC heroically stepped in to save the day and offered to host the event in their place. Thank you. And what an event it turned out to be!

With some sailors caught by the change of date and venue, the numbers were lower than usual for a National Championship, but that did not affect the level of sailling on display. Much to the Roving Reporters 'amusement', shall we say, the start line was made up of a bevvy of current and past European and National Champions. No challenge then...

Day one was every sailors' dream, (well not every sailor... Clare). Still under the sticky warmth of the heat dome smothering most of Europe, we were set 3 races on P-course, all played out beneath blue skies and 15-20 knots of wind. When I tell you the reaches were extra-ordinary, read flying spray fests of speed and twitchy hulls. Epic. The initial plan was for 2 races on day 1, but with such great sailing conditions, the race team, headed by Nick Ripley, took the solid decision to get an extra race in while the going was this good. Up at the front, where the Roving Reporter was not, PSC's Jeremy & Suzanne Hawkins were experiencing some "serious concentration" in tight battles with Paul & Bronwyn Ridgway and Steve & Sarah Cockerill.

Across the entire fleet, the beats demanded full hiking power, every boat trying to capitalise on the lifts and the gusts to ensure they got the inside track round the marks in preparation for those breathtaking reaching legs. The amount of spray coming off these stretches must have looked like speed boats in action. We were flying. So tight was the racing that positions were even won and lost in the rounding of the final mark as we all hardened up toward the super tight finish line.

In the end Paul & Bronwyn got the first bullet, with Jer & Suzanne taking second place. The next 2 races didn't disappoint, the wind stayed steady and strong, the fast bits were still a blast and it remained hard work on the beats. Race 2 ended with first and second placed boats changing positions giving Jer & Suzanne a win which they then backed up with a further win in Race 3.

Sadly for HISC's Ian Swann & Spike Daniels, they were forced to retire for the day with some serious rudder problems, but huge thank you to Mandy & Geoff Stock of Signal Locker who got a new rudder built and sent in record time so Ian & Spike could continue their campaign. Shout out, also, after day 1, to PSC's Shaun Welsh, new to the Tasar class he managed to post 2 tenth positions in his first Nationals. Great going Shaun.

Day 2 brought slightly different conditions, and in the spirit of giving the sailors every flavour racing, the Race Committee laid on 3 sausage-triangle races. Race 4 was a messy affair, the wind wasn't settled, and virtually died on the second beat as it tried to recalibrate into something more interesting. The moody morning wind split the fleet as it dwindled, carrying the front half into a sizeable lead leaving the rest to wonder what they'd done wrong. Race 4 saw a new winner in the mix as HISCs Alex & Anthony Butler took the top spot, pushing Jer & Suzanne into second.

Tasar UK Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wild

After a 30 degree wind shift and some course shuffling to the left, a lovely 10-14 knots rocked up and race 5 got going with big wins and losses on the beat as we all tried to work out where this wind was going finally to settle. Over in the Roving Reporter's boat, with both bodies in full hike, a loud bang sent the boat rock and rolling. Annoyingly the end of the boom had chewed through the outhaul knot. After few minutes of noisy sail flapping and a quick jury rig, we were back on track and playing catch up as the rest of the fleet had now put some distance between themselves and us. Race 5 was taken by the increasingly unbeatable Jer & Suzanne combo, with Alex & Anthony still up there in second place.

For race 6, the wind was still moving left and the course had to be tweaked once more. In the Roving Reporter's boat there was discussion afoot over quite how much further the wind was going to back and so the decision to start at the pin end and head out was taken. Well that paid off, in an unusual turn of events we found ourselves second to the windward mark. It is scary at the front, never have we concentrated so hard. The second beat seemed to pay off by going the opposite direction and so there was some position switching behind us by the time we hit the reaches. But team Roving Reporter was still up there. Those 2 reaches for home with Steve & Sarah Cockerilll on our transom were the longest few minutes of breath holding, main balancing and jib setting we have ever enjoyed/experienced/survived but we made it. Race 6 went to Jer & Suzanne, with Paddy & Sarah in second. Oooh, it felt nice writing that.

Day 3, and once more the wind was having a think before it settled in. With 6 races already in the bag, and only one course type left to test, the Race Organisers gave us 2 trapezoid races for the last day. Race 7 was one for the lift whisperers, and again with such tight racing, positions changed place rapidly up the beat. With enough wins already, Jer & Suzanne were the new National Champions, but that didn't mean their competitive edge was on hold, and up at the front they arrived at the windward mark on port with little/no space to squeak themselves into. Now, from where the Roving Reporter was sitting, it looked like a lot of dipping, tacking, then dipping again from our new champions, however, it could simply have been the winner's prerogative to give lots of space to other sailors and not a small error in judgement:-). Whatever happened, Jer & Suzanne showed just how good they are by turning their tenth place round the first windward mark into a fourth place by the end. Race 7 saw another new face at the top with Malcolm Davies & Chris Tillbrook taking the win with Steve & Sarah in second place.

Constantijn Udo & WV Binnenmaas - our lovely Dutch friends - Tijn has been coming to the Tasar UK Nationals since 1977! - photo © Tom Wild

Then, like the perfect ending, the last race of the championship started as beautifully as it had begun, under blue skies and a cracking 15 knots of wind. Looking at David & Fiona Sayce's boat, we wondered whether they had had enough of all this hiking effort and had decided to reef their main, but, alas, they too had to race under a jury rig as their main had started to fall down in the middle of the beat. Good effort though, we couldn't get past them and we weren't even hampered! Near the back there was some shouting at the wing mark, with Shaun & Steve flying into the mark towards a startled Alex & Clare who ended up in a crash gybe. The Roving Reporter will leave that there, the overheard facts of the incident are somewhat varied....

The last race of a most fantastic championship went to the winners of the first race, as Paul & Bronwyn wrapped up a most excellent weekend.

Jeremy and Suzanne Hawkins win the Tasar UK Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wild

Paul and Bronwyn Ridgway finish 2nd in the Tasar UK Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wild

Steve and Sarah Cockerill finish 3rd in the Tasar UK Nationals at Paignton - photo © Tom Wild

Huge thanks to Nick Ripley and the brilliant race team of Paignton SC, we could not have asked for more. Thank you to Si for heading up the safety, to Ness on galley, to the water team and top mark layers Rob Banham & Morag and to Becky, Julie & Angela for all the bacon sandwiches and a wonderful curry night on Saturday. Thank you to Paignton SC as a whole, you were consummate hosts. Last big thank you to Tom Wild, master photographer, for all his incredible photos.

Finally well done to Jeremy & Suzanne Hawkins who come home to Porthpean SC as the new Tasar National Champions. Congratulations!

Now the slipway is all fixed, and the storm but a memory, Porthpean look forward to hosting the Tasar Nationals in 2027. Hope you can make it. See you all soon.

Overall Results: