1929 - built by Gosling Dinghy Craft in 1989
Scorpion 1929 was commissioned by Graeme Bristow in 1989 and was the very first boat built by Kevin Gosling when he set up Gosling Dinghy Craft after working with Jon Turner for seven years.
She was a good boat who went through only a few owners before being acquired in early 2022. She had an initial full refit in Phil Morrison's garage in Exmouth and was raced over the 2022 season. Despite various mishaps she proved both her strength and her good performance - when sailed well - which justified a complete hull restoration in 2023.
Having spent about ten weeks with Kevin Gosling the hull had been stripped top and bottom, long boarded, and refinished. The case was extended to accommodate a new centreboard designed by Phil Morrison. The fittings layout was improved from the previous experimental season.
Back on the water at the Nationals in Eastbourne the breezy conditions proved challenging for the elderly crew but a helm swop on the final day of racing gave Joe Warwicker a couple of races skippering. This experience combined with the Association launching the Scorpion Foundation, to encourage younger racers to the join the class, opened the idea of working with some younger sailors who appreciated being offered the opportunity to race a well prepared fast Scorpion, albeit 34 years old.
Millie Irish & Szymon Mat sailed the Draycote Open with some initial success but had difficulty adjusting the rig as the breeze increased. Improvements were made. Jack Lewis & Fraser Hemmings sailed the Staunton Harold Open and finished 5th, counting an over the line. They had little difficulty in getting ahead of the pack in each race. Both Millie & Jack felt the boat was fast. Then Jack & Szymon sailed the Datchet Flyer in heavy weather. Nothing broke but they were unable to flatten the rig sufficiently to beat Dave Wade.
The next stage of development was to determine an objective: of getting a young racer to the front of the 100 boat Scorpion fleet at the 2024 Nationals in Weymouth.
A couple of engineering changes were made to front of the boat, an old Racing Sailboats colleague Mark Rushall was recruited to help build a new mast. The original mast was 34 years old. A Selden Zeta was selected, to be fitted with Jon Turner's neutral foot and lower then normal spreaders. Diamond wire shrouds for less windage and low stretch completed the job. Then a new Selden boom was built using the 2628 section. Tony Wetherell helped build the boom and improve the mainsheet system. Then Andy Davis at HD Sails in Birmingham was selected as the sailmaker with whom we would work in trying to develop a slightly faster Scorpion Rig.
The idea of working with young racing sailors in a well prepared old boat proved a popular idea with various dinghy businesses and so our thanks are given to the following:
The National Scorpion Association: for making it possible
Graeme Bristow: for having her built and showing she was still fast
Phil Morrison: for new centreboard design and much encouragement
Kevin Gosling: for much love given to the hull restoration
Jon Turner: for designing an amazingly good mast heel and foot
Mark Ormiston: for our diamond wire shrouds
Mark & Liz Rushall: for considerable time and enthusiasm supporting the project
Andy Service: for fascinating dialogues
Adam & Richard Bowers: for their encouragement, support and great ideas
Jim Thompson: for being Jim and providing the shed
Chips Howarth: for lending us Cyclops load cells
Ben Hazeldine: for showing us how to use the Cyclops kit
Richard Thoroughgood: for great help on the Selden spars front
Rob Henderson: for helping us re-rig with beautiful Marlow Ropes
Andy Davis: for agreeing to talk sail design at HD sails
Tony Wetherell: for wise counsel and spending three days helping with the re-rig
Tim Hampton: for the excellent photos from Staunton Harold
Deskspace Corp: for making it happen
Our thanks to the following young sailors who inspired this project:
Joe Warwicker: for opening our eyes to the possibilities of youth
Millie Irish: for finding she had speed to burn
Szymon Matyjaszczuk: for his unfailing enthusiasm for the project
Jack Lewis: for proving that we were getting there speed wise
Fraser Hemmings: for ensuring it was a great weekend
1929 was built by Kevin Gosling in 1989 for Graeme Bristow. Graeme picked her up from the National Scorpion Stand at the 1990 Dinghy Show and sailed her successfully for several years including winning the Northern Championship.
The boat was refitted in 2022 using mainly previously enjoyed fittings found on ebay. She was sailed at the 2022 Nationals at Looe by Mick Greenland & Nick Lightbody - powered by excellent Moat Sails, thank you Richard Bowers.
Twin poles were fitted in the autumn and Graeme Bristow & Nick Lightbody sailed three meetings again using the excellent Moat sails. At Easter she headed off south-west to her birthplace near the top of Hatway Hill, Sidbury for Kevin Gosling to start a major refurbishment and preservation project.
The entire hull was stripped and the bottom long boarded. The centreboard case was extended to accommodate the new Morrison designed centreboard built from cedar, epoxy & glass. The hull was then epoxied and repainted with a Durepox bottom and Jon Turner built a Neutral Mast Step based on his design for the Merlin Rocket.
The Scorpion has modest righting moment and a rig that is only marginally smaller than a 470. 1929 was rebuilt with a powerful centreboard with a higher aspect ratio than is the current fashion. The rules govern the size of the centreboard case. Ingenuity & good design inform what you fit into that case. So the Scorpion's ability to maintain balance and depower its rig using rake is an important element in the success of the class. Although it is a One Design the boat can be rigged and fitted out as you please, subject to a few prohibitions. As a result the class has a long history of innovation in fittings layout and control systems.
1929 was re-launched for the Practice Race of the 2023 Nationals at Eastbourne and initially sailed by Nick Lightbody and Mick Greenland with a combined age of 143 years. Later she was sailed by Joe Warwicker & Nick Lightbody enjoying single figure first mark roundings when steered by a talented young helm.
Millie Irish & Szymon Matyjaszczuk normally to be found in a 470 sailed 1929 successfully at Draycote in the autumn. Millie, having never stepped into a Scorpion before came second in her first race, narrowly beaten by Ollie Meadowcroft & Rachael Gray
Jack Lewis & Fraser Hemmings stepped into 1929 and sailed her successfully at Staunton Harold. They were in or lead the leading bunch through most of the event. However three over the lines meant that they had to count one DSQ putting them back to fifth but with impressive speed throughout the event. Jack & Szymon then sailed the Datchet Flyer in heavy conditions. They chased Dave Wade & Ben Rayner from P&B unsuccessfully over both days from which we concluded that the rig was a little too full for heavy weather.
A new Selden Zeta Mast rigged with Ormiston Diamond wire was built in Emsworth by Mark Rushall & Nick Lightbody supported by some old Racing Sailboats friends. This Yachts & Yachting article by Dougal Henshall explores the historical significance of Racing Sailboats in the developing British racing dinghy scene of the 1970s & 80s.
The Racing Sailboats Reunion included Jim Thompson, Colin Merritt, Mark & Liz Rushall, Ozzie Stewart, Andy Barker, Paul Brotherton, Guy Mayger, Dave Webster & Peter Robinson.
