EXCELLENT weather; superb race organisation and a delightfully warm welcome from the people of Looe all combined to make the Western Area Mirror Championship weekend an unqualified success.

In fact, so successful was the event that the Mirror class hierarchy left the resort asking the Buller Street club to consider hosting a National event early next summer.

Looe's already proud reputation on the national and international stage, and an upsurge in Mirror dinghy sailing in the Bay, was one of the principal reasons why the the Western Areas returned to the port after an absence of around 20 years.

Looe's new commodore, Dominic Lozynski, who was also in charge of the rescue and safety boat fleet, welcomed some 31 young helms, crews and their tiny red-sailed boats to the championships, including a healthy entry from the host club itself.

Race Officer Brian Carvey's best-made plans were somewhat thwarted by the light winds – the only one cause of adverse comment over the whole weekend – but he still managed to give the fleet four races, of which three were used to count towards the overall placings.

Regular club racing was suspended for the weekend, although some of the club's fleet of blue-sailed Enterprises did attempt a race earlier on Saturday morning; that, too, falling foul of the unusually-light airs in the bay.

After some close Mirror racing, Izzy Fitzgerald and her crew, Tash Law, from the Itchenor club, based in the West Sussex harbour of Chichester, were the winners, finishing just ahead of Tom Lovesey and Millie Pugh from Southampton.

In third spot were another Itchenor double act, Charlotte Fitzgerald and Annie Sib-thorpe.

Anniversary

Looe's best placing was the mid-fleet 15th spot achieved by father and daughter Matt and Daisy Jaycock.

Of the club's younger crews, all of whom will have benefitted from the experience of racing against some older and more tactically-minded sailing brains, brothers Joe and Billy Palfrey – watched from one of the rescue boats by their proud dad, Clive – took the honours.

They finished in front of their sister, Amber, crewing for Jack Spree, and Richard Ham and Annabelle Pengelly.

The prizegiving was presided over by Sailing Club president David Jackman, who thanked his flag officers and everyone who had contributed towards the success of the weekend, including race officer Brian Carvey for his unstinting efforts to source what little breezes there were.

Later, club officials met with Mirror Association representatives to discuss the possibility of a three-day National championships in Looe at the start of the next sailing season.

Like many other classes, the Mirrors used to hold week-long National championships but in recent years have found that three-day events, with extra races crammed into a long weekend programme, have proved popular with competitors and sailing clubs alike.

Looe Sailing Club will now be drawing up plans for another visit from the Mirrors in the coming weeks when a formal announcement is expected to be made.

Meanwhile, the club's own 75th anniversary plans are progressing apace with Saturday, July 18, already pencilled in for a birthday celebration at the Buller Street club, to which all past members are invited. On the water, the next big championships in Looe will be the 130-boat RS 200 Nationals in August.