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.
Northampton SC 5th - 6th November 2022
Alan Krailing & Simon Forbes win the 2022 Scorpion Inland Championships adding to their second place in the Nationals earlier in the year.
The Scorpion Inlands were originally planned for September at Pennine Sailing Club, but due to lack of water the event was rescheduled and run at Northampton.
The forecast of strong breezes of 25 knots for the Saturday never materialized, with 15 knots of breeze making for excellent sailing for the whole fleet of fifteen.
Race 1 saw Alan Krailing and Simon Forbes from Staunton Harold take a lead at the windward mark that despite pressure towards the later stages of the race they never lost. With Winds swinging hard right up the beats with hard left at the end of the leg places were never safe and position changes were regular in the rest of the pack. 2nd spot was taken by Stuart and Nick Hyden in 2034 and 3rd by Steve Graham and Jerry Hannabuss in 2044.
Race 2 saw a battle for first between the leading boats in Race 1, and this time it was the Hydens who came out on top from Krailing / Forbes with Kev Hope and Rob Gardner in 2053 taking 3rd spot.
Race 3 saw the wind dropping and some tricky light patches needing navigating. Early leaders were Hope / Gardner who ended up battling with Krailing / Forbes for the victory. At the finish it was Krailing / Forbes who took the race becoming Inland Champions 2022. Close racing behind saw Nigel Potter and John Tailby in 1958 with some great upwind decisions being taken in the shifts so they took 3rd in what turned out to be the final race.
Saturday night started early at the bar with the nights coming in early, and great fireworks / food / beer etc provided by Northampton SC. Incredibly even though its officially winter, the fleet were thrilled to see Fresh still wearing flip flops, and the brightest Shirt and Shorts seen for many a year...
After great racing on Saturday, Sunday arrived with no wind and lots of mist. By 11.30 no wind had arrived so regrettably the decision was taken to abandon for the day.
So the top six were:
1. Alan Krailing & Simon Forbes in 2051 (Staunton Harold) 2. Stuart & Nick Hyden in 2034 (Stustoke) 3. Kevin Hope & Rob Gardener in 2053 (Notts County) 4. Nigel Potter & John Tailby in 1958 (Notts County) 5. Steve Graham & Jerry Hannabuss in 2044 (Pennine) 6. AJ & Chris Eaton in 2014 (Starcross)
2023 Eastbourne Sovereign SC, Sussex Sunday 6th August to Friday 11th August 2023
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."
