Club Championships at Gurnard Sailing Club
by Luke Bradley 2 Jul 19:20 BST
27-28 June 2026
Gurnard Sailing Club hosted its annual Club Championships last weekend, which incorporated an RS500 Open Meeting.
Saturday dawned with no wind, so Race Officer Steve Cole held the fleet of 50 boats ashore, hopeful that a sea breeze would appear later in the day. Eventually, a westerly crept down the Solent and, by mid-afternoon, there was enough pressure to get a couple of short races in. Race 1 was held on the last of the ebb, but by Race 2 the flood tide had properly kicked in, forcing the sailors to short-tack up the shore. Happy to get some races on the board, the sailors retired ashore for a BBQ to fuel up in preparation for a breezier forecast on Day 2.
Sunday saw Gurnard's conditions at their best, with champagne sailing in 18 knots of wind-against-tide, providing lively racing for all fleets.
Catamaran Fleet
Pete Newlands and Orion Shuttleworth won the opening races. Ash Holmes and James Gadsby enjoyed the windier conditions on Day 2 and posted two bullets; however, gear failure ruled them out of the final race. This was won by Martin Scott, securing him first overall in the fleet.
Fast Handicap Fleet
Mark Harrison and Tony Burton sailing with Jack Slaughter, won individual races, but it was consistency—and the determination to finish the final race—that paid dividends, giving Mike Acton and Tanya Fedorenko the overall win in an RS400.
RS500 Fleet (part of the Rooster National Tour)
Five local RS500s were joined by four visiting boats for some very close racing, with plenty of place-changing throughout. Luke and Will Bradley took the opening race, with Tim and Heather Wilkins taking Race 2. Hugh and Luke Watson won Race 3, leaving it wide open with three races to go. Tim and Heather then stepped up a gear and posted back-to-back wins but even they couldn't hold back Thomas and Samuel Leather, who stormed to victory in the final race. First overall went to the Wilkins', with the Leather's just pipping the Watson's to second overall on countback.
Medium Handicap Fleet
James Dower, Ben Symons and Ben Pickering all won two races apiece. However, Dower's better overall scoreline across the six races gave him the overall win from Symons and then Pickering.
Slow Handicap
This was the biggest class, with 14 entries, and included the youngest sailors, Joey Aarons and Albie George who made debut appearances crewing in their Mirrors. Hannah Yates and Fallon Day won Races 1 and 2, while Harry O'Callaghan and Cass Day responded with wins in Races 3 and 4. Rafe Bradley won the final race, but a second place for Harry and Cass was enough to secure the overall class win.
A big thank you to Spinlock and North Sails for supporting the event with the prizes.