Cherub UK National Championship at Castle Cove Sailing Club

Elenor during the Cherub UK Nationals at Castle Cove © Aiden Alderson

Cherub UK Nationals at Castle Cove © Aiden Alderson

Congratulations to Paul Croote and Andy Whapshott (Marmite) on winning the 2026 Cherub Nationals, sailed alongside the International Canoes at Castle Cove Sailing Club, Weymouth, from 6th–9th August.

Seventeen Cherubs headed for Portland Harbour this year, sharing the water and the bar with the International Canoe fleet for a joint IC & Cherub Nationals. Castle Cove turned on its usual reliable Weymouth breeze often building during the day giving different conditions every race.

Day 1 — Thursday 6th August (Races 1–3)

It was solid wind and bright sunshine for the first day, fully twin wire and a bit of depowering which gave testing conditions for most. Marmite made the perfect start to the championship, taking the opening race win ahead of A&E. Green Banana's also began strongly with third, while Poppy and Dan’s Boat followed them across the line. Usagi Yojimbo, Eleanor and Natural Born Skiffeurs were further back but all secured useful finishing positions. Zero Gravitas. Phil and Carol Alderson had a disappointing start to the series retiring from the race with a broken centreboard. The port tack flyer in race 1 by Captain Chaos (Merryn Attridge and Toby Smith) sort of worked so they tried again in Race 2 but were caught over the line then capsized sewing chaos everywhere.

Marmite continued their opening form with another victory in Race 2. The strongest response came from Zero Gravitas, who having gone ashore to replace their broken board bounced back to finish second. A&E remained firmly in contention with third, while Poppy again produced a strong result in fourth. Usagi Yojimbo improved to fifth, and Green Banana's followed in sixth.

In the final race the wind continued to build and in the challenging conditions Marmite completed a remarkable hat-trick of victories. Zero Gravitas continued their form from Race 2 finishing second, Poppy followed them across the line in third, while Green Banana's secured fourth followed by Dan’s Boat in fifth. Eleanor finished in sixth followed by Captain Chaos who improved to seventh. Unfortunately A&E's centreboard snapped as they flew downwind forcing them to retire. Usagi Yojimbo and Sweet Dreams also retired. Back ashore the sailors were treated to a welcome bowl of pasta before an excellent buffet for the Commodores welcome.

Day 2 — Friday 7th August (Races 4–6)

The day started a little light initially but built to perfect conditions by the second race of the day sunshine and twin wire blasting and a few waves to add to the fun. Race 4 represented another commanding performance from Marmite, which recorded its fourth consecutive victory. A&E returned to the sharp end of the fleet with second, immediately demonstrating that its Race 3 retirement had not damaged its pace. “Dans Boat” boat produced one of its best results of the championship so far with a third, while Zero Gravitas continued its recovery with fourth. Green Banana's finished fifth and Poppy sixth, maintaining their positions as consistent front-half contenders.

Popy during the Cherub UK Nationals at Castle Cove - photo © Aiden Alderson

Race 5 finally ended Marmite's winning streak, with A&E taking its first victory of the championship. Jonny O'Connor and Alex Harris beating Marmite by one place.

Green Banana's continued its strong run with third, while Poppy finished fourth. The lighter winds gave Will and Edward Lee in ‘Antidote for panel games’ a chance to settle into the racing in a boat that Will has just been reunited with after a few years out of the class.

Marmite returned immediately to winning form in Race 6. The championship leaders responded to A&E's Race 5 victory in exactly the right fashion, taking another race win.

Zero Gravitas was second once again, while A&E took third. The three leading teams therefore occupied the top three places, giving the race a clear indication of the competitive hierarchy developing at the front.

Lucy Street and Charlie Cotter in EJ put in a good audition for the Davey trophy for best capsize by swimming several times near to the photo boat, this let us all watch a big screen replay in the bar in the evening. However they weren’t able to beat the performance of Captain Chaos with the previous days attempted port flyer and capsizing in spectacular fashion. At the front Marmite switched the speed on to take Race 6 stretching their series lead further. Back on shore there was another welcome bowl of pasta before the Curry night and sampling some more of the half price beer from Cerne Abbas Brewery.

Marmite during the Cherub UK Nationals at Castle Cove - photo © Aiden Alderson

Day 3 — Saturday 8th August (Races 7–9)

The lighter winds of Race 7 shook the results up a bit with 2700 Dan’s boat taking it’s first race victory with Zero Gravitas again finishing second, continuing an impressive run of podium-level results. A&E was third, while Marmite finished fourth, which ended up being Marmite’s worst result..

The Father Son team in Loco Perro made its first appearance on the race course getting to grips with the iconic boat.

Race 8 saw Zero Gravitas achieve its first victory of the championship. Marmite finished second, once again avoiding a damaging result. Usagi Yojimbo produced an excellent third, its best result of the championship to that point as the .

A&E finished fourth, with Green Banana's fifth and Dan’s Boat 2700 sixth. Natural Born Skiffeurs recorded seventh, while Riot Van continued its steady progression with eighth.

Zero Gravitas during the Cherub UK Nationals at Castle Cove - photo © Aiden Alderson

Marmite returned to the top step of the podium in Race 9, increasing their hold on the championship. A&E followed in second, ensuring that the two leading boats once again occupied the first two positions. Usagi Yojimbo produced another strong performance in third, while Green Banana's finished fourth and Poppy fifth.

The major setback came for Zero Gravitas. After winning Race 8, the team were over the start line on a U flag and were disqualified. Riot Van achieved seventh, continuing its strong improvement through the second half of the championship. Eleanor was eighth. We were welcomed ashore by another bowl of pasta before the AGM and the Championship dinner

Day 4 — Sunday 9th August (Races 10–12)

Going into the last day there was not much wind in the morning but it filled in nicely by the time we launched helped by the bright sunshine. At this point in the championship Marmite held the lead with A&E chasing. Further down things were changing with more discards coming into play Zero Gravitas had potential to move up the standings, and with others finding pace in the lighter conditions there was a lot of uncertainty for 3rd to 5th.

A&E secured its second race victory of the championship in Race 10, again beating Marmite into second. Zero Gravitas finished third, closely followed by Green Banana's and Dan’s Boat. This time it was EJ that misjudged the start and were over the line.

Cherub UK Nationals at Castle Cove - photo © Aiden Alderson

At the start of Race 11 A&E were luffed into the committee boat by EJ which then drifted sideways and knocked Phil off the side of Zero Gravitas just before the start. This meant that both A&E and Zero Gravitas started well down the fleet and had to fight back through the fleet to finish fifth and sixth respectively. Green Bananas getting their first race win meaning the fight for the final podium place was down to the final race.

With the wind building for the final race everyone started cleanly in the final race of the championship A&E achieved their third bullet and secured second place. They were closely followed by Zero Gravatas in second securing the final podium position with third overall by a single point to Green Bananas who finished in third in Race 12. Marmite having already secured the championship finished forth followed by Dan’s boat in fifth. Overall A&E were closely matched in speed across the wind range but Marmite seemed to have an extra quick mode in marginal twin wiring conditions that both found hard to catch. Green Bananas showed improvement through the event as they got their new rig tuned up.

Away from the fight at the top there were some great stories in the fleet this year. Roland Trim (crewing Riot Van with Ellie Craig) drove four boats across from Monaco for the regatta, two of which — Captain Chaos (Merryn Attridge/Toby Smith & Patrick Hill) and Strangely Brown — were loaned out to local sailors for the week. Both crews got to grips with their borrowed boats as the regatta went on, and looked like they were having a great time whenever they shot past in a cloud of spray.

It was also great to see long-time class members Andy Lang and Will Lee back on the water, both now father son teams Andy Lang on Loco Perro and Lee on Antidote to Panel Games (crewed by Edward Lee) though other commitments meant both could only make short visits to the regatta. We look forward to seeing them again next year, when we're sure they'll start to be quite the competitive teams.

Natural Born Skiffers during the Cherub UK Nationals at Castle Cove - photo © Aiden Alderson

Elsewhere, Natural Born Skiffeurs is back in the UK after a spell in France, now sailed by a new father-and-son team in Stewart and Martin Walker.

Full credit to the whole fleet for the turnout and for keeping the racing close and fair all week, and to Castle Cove Sailing Club for once again putting on a superbly run event, sharing race management duties fairly between two very different classes without missing a beat. Making sure we were all fueled up with morning rolls before launching, the pasta once ashore and a great evening meal each night. Many thanks to Jill and Andy Peters and the rest of the Castle Cove team for putting in so much work in the background to get the championships running so smoothly.

No Cherub Nationals report would be complete without a word for the bar. Our thanks go to Cerne Abbas Brewery, who kept the fleet extremely well lubricated all week with half-price beer; a sponsorship the entire fleet agreed was one of the better decisions made by anyone all regatta, on or off the water.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Cherub nationals then enter your Gear Guide information