IF race officers really mature like good wine, then this week's Fireball National sailing championships in Looe Bay should be a real corker.

Former dinghy ace Roger Hocking is again at the helm as the principal race officer in what will be his 30th year as a PRO.

He served under his brother, Derek, for the Albacore Nationals in Looe Bay in 1984 and has since been the main man as a succession of National and international class associations have queued up to bring their championship weeks to the South East Cornwall fishing port and holiday resort.

That trend, incidentally, continues with the Merlin Rockets heading back to Looe for their Nationals next year, followed by the Enterprises (2015), Scorpions (2016) and GP.14s (2017).

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