Notts County Scorpion Open
Notts County Sailing Club welcomed our yearly scorpion open, part of the Silver Scorpion class association’s travel circuit. Twenty three boats took part from 10 different clubs, joined by Notts County’s growing Scorpion fleet for a weekend of great racing.
After the briefing from the race officer the fleet headed out to champagne sailing conditions with a southerly moderate breeze and loads of sunshine for the first day of racing. It was clear from the start that with lots of big names on the entry sheet that the level of competition would be highly competitive.
And so the racing on Saturday got underway with a clean start. The fleet quickly spread out over the course. After four races it was becoming clear that there was a dominant leading top 5 boat in contention for the weekend win. Peter Gray and Richard Pepperdine from Staunton only dropped one race over the weekend so won by a good margin. Olly Davenport and Ellie Deveraux , Micheal Sims and Rachel Gray, along with Peter and Andy Rose were also close after the first day.
After Saturdays racing the social started as soon as boats came off the water. With nibbles and drink awaiting. Our evening meal was at the pub, before we headed back to the clubhouse bar to look at some old scorpion news booklets. These contained some interesting comments that wouldn’t be suitable to publish these days, they produced many laughs and talking points of class member past & present that went on into the early hours of Sunday morning.
And so with a few sore heads Sunday’s racing began early doors. The wind looked light but was forecast to build throughout the day. We all set out sailing to complete the last two races of the weekend. Many battles continued up and down wind across the course throughout the fleet. But at the front Pete Grey and Richard Pepperdine carried on as they had done on the first day leading the way to win the 2026 Notts County Scorpion open. Special mention to a youth helm Isaac Dickenson (Notts County) who competed in his first ever Scorpion event and many more to come. First Notts County sailor was Chris Martin and John Tailby in sixth.
A big Thankyou to all the event volunteer race team, organisers at Notts County Sailing Club and all attendees who made the event happen. Next is the end of seasons at Chase Sailing Club.
Report Cheryl Wood
Photos: Cheryl Wood (Prizewinning) and Jon Willars on the water
Results:
1st Peter Gray and Richard Pepperdine (Staunton)
2nd Micheal Sims and Rachel Gray (Staunton)
3rd Olly Davenport and Ellie Deveraux (Draycott)
