Racing Campaign 2026

Published 15:38 on 30 Mar 2026

The LCSC Racing season for 2026 is now underway. It was a great weekend for all involved, as the sun was out and there ended up being just enough breeze to go sailing.

To start the club offshore racing season, we entered a team into the Lonely Tower Race. This is usually a race on the Solent with a course that runs out to Nab Tower and back, but it was shortened due to the very light winds. The race was sailed on "Cougar", a Reflex 38, and operated by our very own Ruaraidh Plummer.

In addition to Cougar, Bill Stock and his J109 "Jengu" were out with full crew of LCSC members, Paul Stevens and his Elan 31 "Red Kite" were also out on the water. LCSC members were also crewing onboard a number of other boats within the fleet including "Elysium IV", "Zanzibar", and "Mojo Risin". In all, there were about 25 members participating in the race which was great to see.

The race itself was very tough as there was very little wind to be had and a strong ebb tide pushing the fleet out to the East. Teams had to anticipate where the wind would fill in from and whether they felt like there might be any local sea breeze effect to gain an advantage. After a couple of painfully slow hours, the wind did arrive from the East and more to the mainland side of the channel. The reward was a sunny spinnaker run home under blue skies. Cougar finished in a respectable 36th place of the 90 boats that finished the race. This is a great effort from a crew that had never sailed the boat together before, well done!

Unfortunately, there was even less wind on Sunday, and the "Great Escape" race was abandoned by the race committee. Luckily, Jengu and Cougar were able to link up with the crew aboard Tango, who were doing their training weekend. Between mouthfuls of lunch, the three boats did some windward-leeward laps together around the solent. All three boats had fun practicing their spinnaker work and mark roundings and even recovering a lost shoe overboard (don't worry Jengu recovered the shoe, much to a certain Cougar crewmember's relief). The crew aboard Tango were shorthanded, but that didn't stop them from doing some very slick boat handling and showing a good turn of speed. No doubt they will be racing with the club at the next event.

f you are interested in getting involved with some of the offshore racing or offshore race training events at the club this year, you can find the events on the website calendar Events : London Corinthian Sailing Club. We still have places for the following events:

Fundamentals Training - Learning tacking, gybing, and spinnaker work but with a racing mindset. If you are new to racing on larger boats this one is for you:

• 9th & 10th of May London Corinthian Sailing Club

Advanced Training - Learning specialist racing maneuvers. If you would like to know how to "peel" spinnakers or drop a spinnaker on the windward side whilst rounding a mark, this one if for you:

• 11th & 12th April . London Corinthian Sailing Club
• 16th & 17th of May - London Corinthian Sailing Club

Womens Open Keelboat Championship - A weekend of racing for the club against other all womens crew from around the country based on the Solent (please also sign up to atleast one of the Advanced Training weekends if you can).

• 5th to 7th of June (you need Friday off as well to get the free coaching sessions) London Corinthian Sailing Club

JOG Races - As described above, race, eat & drink ashore, race again:

• 6th & 7th of June Staying in Yarmouth on the Saturday - London Corinthian Sailing Club
• 12th and 13th of September Staying in Poole on the Saturday - London Corinthian Sailing Club

RORC Races - The Offshore races for the year. A great one one to sign up to if you are considering Fastnet 2027:

• Myth of Malham - A famous race from Cowes to Eddystone Lighthouse and back. And a chance to sail with our Race Skipper of the Year 2025, Giles Bancroft. London Corinthian Sailing Club
• St Malo - A race across the channel, dinner maybe some moules frites and then back home again. London Corinthian Sailing Club

If you have any questions or are looking for some advice on how to get involved in the racing programme at the club, please contact rcoffshoreracing@lcsc.org.uk.

Last updated 17:17 on 30 March 2026