Hornet Dinghy Exe Sails National Championship 2026 at Shoreham Sailing Club - Preview

Hornet Nationals at Stone © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

Newly converted 40-year old Red Streamliner, now sporting side tanks, will be sailing, having already won the Dinghy Show Concours D'Elegance in, er, 2013 © John Shelton

Saturday the 29th August sees the start of this year's 4-day Exe Sails Hornet Class National Championships at Shoreham-on Sea.

That's right the Hornet Dinghy; that boat that looks like a Scorpion, that boat that used to have sliding seat, that boat whose Dad used to have one, and many other tales of ye old days of dinghy sailing clichés. It is true that gone are the days of the class hosting 100 boat nationals and qualifiers for world championships, but a bunch of committed sailors are still not willing to give up on one of the original high-performance sailing dinghies about to enter its 75th anniversary in 2027.

Over the past few years, the class has seen boats previously lost for a generation in someone's garage or barn reappear. These have been converted (many by the Devon legend Tim Coombe) to a more traditional layout of side decks, front tank, thwart, centreboard case, lots of space for helm and crew to operate and some nice new blocks and strings.

New owners are impressed by the simplicity of the boat with no fancy raking rig systems on the Hornet; the boats ease of sailing in waves and the reward in boat speed when you master the high and low modes around the race course. This small influx of restored boats has seen the fleet continue it success at Starcross YC, and a fleet led by current National Champion Nathan Batchelor of Ovington Boats develop at Tynemouth SC. All of which are travelling to Shoreham and all stand a chance of winning.

Throw in among others, the ever-young Michael McNamara (McNamara Sails), the ever-committed Terry Curtis, Justin Jones of Robline ropes with a newly developed HD sails Jib (maybe I'm not meant to know that yet), International Moth guru Alex Adams, local hotshot John Shelton along with a challenging looking forecast on the Sussex coast; then suddenly this event is no longer a long weekend of reminiscing of days gone by, but a hotly contested meaningful championship with some major egos on the line.

There are still plenty of known boats stored away in barns across the UK, and the class has also recovered the last used mould and put it somewhere safe. So, if you want to learn more about the class, its history etc, or want to contact the association class chair and another event hopeful Sam Woolner of Exe Sails and covers, then please visit the website at www.hornet.org.uk

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