The National Scorpion Association organises racing events and events to promote the class every year. The Silver Scorpion Travellers' series of Open Meetings sponsored by CraftInsure are spread over the season and over the country. The annual highlight is the National Championships, which are hosted in 2023 by Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club in Sussex.
Notts County SC - End of Season Open
Sponsored by Paintcraft & Rooster Sailing
The Grays dominate as Gillard & Gray win from Gray & Pepperdine
The Paintcraft Scorpion open at Notts County Sailing Club attracted an excellent entry of over 30 boats, no doubt helped by the promise of good winds, sunshine and of course the evening social. Entries came from far and wide, from Sidmouth in the South west to Pennine in the North.
Ken Twemlow and team started the racing soon after noon, with a series of 3 short sharp races, setting a course of double beat, broad reaches and runs. The fleet came in for a quick break then back out for two more races.
There were a few spills, and with the wind gusting up to 30 mph at times – it was a good job the water still retained some of its summer temperature.
The evening saw a meal cooked by Pauline and social enjoyed by all.
Sunday saw lighter winds sunshine and an early10am start. Three races were held back to back allowing prize giving by early afternoon.
Results over the two days were closer on the water than the numbers show, with the two leading Staunton Harold SC Scorpions swapping places in many races.
Tom Gillard and Rachel Gray took six firsts out of the 8 races, winning overall by 4 points, Peter Gray and Richard Pepperdine winning the two other races, and with a string of seconds. Third place was Dan Henderson and Amy Clay (ex Nott’s County) on equal points with Steve Graham and Jerry Hannabuss fourth, with Ian Cadwalader and Ellie Devereux fifth.
We also had four juniors competing in the open. The junior combo of Cillian Dyne and Georgia Ridell, sailing 1920 and Freddie Pascaul sailing in his first open with Jeff Peters 2007, also Samantha Mason, sailing with father Richard 1997 from Nott’s County, who took the shield for first placed junior.
A big thank you to the event sponsors Paintcraft and Rooster Sailing.
Report & photos by David Eberlin
Although scheduled as the last event of the season this race weekend precedes the Inland Championships originally scheduled for Pennine SC in September but rescheduled to Northampton SC in early November because of the low water levels at Pennine. The details for the Inlands are here.
2022 Silver Scorpion series was sponsored by Craftinsure and included six open meetings and the 61st Nationals Championships held at Looe SC 24 – 29 July.
2023 Eastbourne Sovereign SC, Sussex Sunday 6th August to Friday 11th August 2023
You can pre-enter for these future nationals on WebCollect today - secure your places for 2023 & 2024! Please use the WebCollect links at the top of this page.
Extract from Mark Jardine’s interview with Tom Gillard re his (together variously with Rachel Gray & Andy Thompson) remarkable success in multi-classes this year …
"A good time off the water is just as important as the sailing, so I asked Tom which class, in his opinion, has the best social activities:
I would say the Scorpion. It's a chilled-out vibe, a nice bunch of people, with newcomers to the fleet alongside old hands, and everybody's very open about what they do to make the boat go fast. It's a real community. The class is going from strength to strength; whether you've got a wooden boat or a fibreglass boat, there's help everywhere, and no-one feels at a disadvantage."
