MEMBERS of Looe Sailing Club have gathered at their Buller Street headquarters to make initial plans for the forthcoming season.

President and secretary Paul Sedgbeer welcomed everyone and sail training guru Colin Crabb and his sons, John and Ben, talked about their plans for the year, including the start of Saturday training and coaching in early May.

With the domestic club racing season due to get under way on Saturday, March 21, Club Commodore David Jackman welcomed the new class leaders Brian Bowdler and Jack Spree (for the Mirrors), Steve Sargent (Enterprises), Colin Crabb (Redwings) and Peter Greenwood (Lasers) and reminded everyone that the club's annual meeting, on Friday, March 20, would mark the end of his two years in office and see the election of a new commodore.

The new leader will oversee this summer's sailing programme which, as well as club racing on Saturday afternoons and Thursday evenings, will also feature the Cornish Lugger Association's biennial regatta (June 12-14 weekend); the 130-boat RS 200 Nationals, the biggest title series to be held in the South East Cornwall resort for a number of years, and the Redwings' National Championships on the Isles of Scilly.

In fact, four of the UK's top dinghy classes will be heading to Looe for championships in the coming years.

A packed national and international sailing programme to be based in the holiday and fishing resort has been announced for the next six years, starting with this summer's visit of the RS 200s from August 16-20.

In 2110, the Scorpions have chosen Looe for their 50th anniversary meeting and the following year the Enterprise Worlds are back in town, giving the club's own budding fleet of blue-sailed dinghy sailors the chance to show their mettle on the international stage.

Another World series follows in 2112, with the GP.14s making their first-ever visit to Looe after the Olympic Games regatta at Weymouth, while the Fireballs, last in South East Cornwall in 1998, will be hoping to better the 90-boat entry they had at Mount's Bay in West Cornwall last year, when they visit Looe in 2113.

In 2114, the Merlin Rockets will be back at the resort, and, of course, during those next six years, the Redwings – the class specifically designed for Looe Bay by the legendary Uffa Fox – will return often to their spiritual home for their annual National championship week.