As many of you know, I took on the role of Racing Results Coordinator at the last AGM, after the 2025 calendar had already been decided. That means 2026 is really my first proper chance to ask for your input to shape the whole years calendar. I have included below my thoughts below on how I feel this year has gone but I would be grateful if you could complete the 2026 racing survey as this will ultimately determine how next years racing is run. This survey will run until Sunday 2nd November at 8pm. I will also be at the club this Sunday the 26th October if anyone wants to talk though anything after sailing. And I will be hosting an online Q&A next Tuesday evening. Please check your emails for the survey and Q&A links.

TL;NR ΓÇö 2025 recap

Boxing Day race changed to New Years Day race

Cups reduced from 4 to 3; run as stand-alone with on-the-day prize-givings.

Broader prizes to recognise youth, female, families, less-experienced sailors and affiliates.

Junior Club Champion decided from the Cup series.

Icicle Series & Autumn Series: unchanged.

Summer (Apr to Sep):

Reduced from 3 series 2 longer series (Fastnet & Rockall).

Club Champion decided from combined summer results.

Double-handers on camping weekends.

Short Course & Pursuit on power weekends.

TL;NR ΓÇö 2026 proposal

We potentially gain 4 weekends where we can use the whole lake: Saturdays: run Open Meetings, Sundays: run Cup Events

Cups: return to 4 stand-alone Cups on whole-lake days; keep broad prize categories; involve affiliates.

Summer: keep 2 series (Fastnet & Rockall); Club & Junior Champions from combined summer results.

Juniors: introduce a Junior Series = first Sunday race; Junior start +5 min after main fleet.

Variety racing: keep fun Sunday a.m. sessions on camping weekends; mix up with short course and pursuit; trial a relay; fewer Double handers races.

Icicle & Autumn: no change.

My thoughts and ideas

My vision for racing at Stewartby is straightforward: to keep racing fun and accessible for everyone, while working within the racing framework that's been built up over decades and protecting the clubs historic racing awards. Where members value Stewartby as their club for life, even if you go off to sail the local or national circuits or even compete in the Americas Cup! I hope you'll still value the high-quality, supportive and inclusive racing we offer whenever your schedule allows.

Everything I do within this role, I measure against these goals. That's why I felt it was so important to ask for mid-season feedback when it became clear not everyone was happy about the way we changed the Club Champion award. And its also why we asked for input we worked to reschedule (or cancel) the affected Autumn Series races, rather than just pushing ahead regardless.

So, looking back at 2025, what went well and what can we improve on for 2026?

A look back on 2025

New Years Day Race Historically this event would take place on Boxing day, however this year we tried this on New Years Day for the first time.

Cups

Changes we made in 2025:

We reduced the number of Cups from 4 to 3.
They became stand-alone events with prize-giving's on the day.
We also added more prizes to recognise more people throughout their sailing journey youth, female, families, less experienced sailors and our affiliate groups.
The Junior Club Champion was decided from the series of these Cups.

Icicle Series (January March) This stayed the same.

Summer Season (April September) Changes we made in 2025:

More prizes to celebrate sailors across the fleet.
Club Champion decided from the combined summer series.
Reduced series from 3 series to 2 (so each was 3 months long rather than 2).
Double-hander events on camping weekends.
Short Course and Pursuit formats on power weekends.

Autumn Series (October - December) No change.

Looking ahead to 2026

Next year we will potentially be able to use the whole lake an additional 4 times. That's a big opportunity.

My first thought is to use Saturdays for open meetings, inviting circuit sailors to Stewartby and showing what we can do. It was great to see Yossi in his Phantom, Mark, Colin and Jess in the Dart 15s and 18s, Sarah running Women on the Water at open meetings last year and I hope that we can bring some of these here at Stewartby. The Dart/Sprint 15s already have a strong autumn fixture and it would be fantastic to build more like that.

Sundays we could use for our Cup events. Milton Keynes sailing club have also expressed interest in restarting our into club event we used to have.

Cups in 2026

I personally really enjoyed having Cups as stand-alone events. Prize-givings on the day makes the day more exciting and this year we had the chance to celebrate with 3 different cup winners and that's exactly what these events should be about! Cups have also been a brilliant way to celebrate our youth, with prizes dedicated to them. I'd love to see that continue.

For 2026 I'd like us to go back to four Cup days and to run them on whole-lake days so we can really make an event of it. Id also like to invite our affiliate groups to take part.

Summer Series & Juniors

We now only have two series Fastnet and Rockall rather than three. While it's sad to lose a historic trophy (the Portland), three just made each series too short. Two longer series work better with our current RYA-recommended long series scoring system (races to count ├╖ 3 +1). So I'd like to retain this change.

To help juniors race more regularly, I'd like to create a Junior Series based on the first Sunday morning race. I know families have commitments, so I don't want the bar set too high just that first race will count.

This race is likely to be a juniors first step into racing, so it needs to feel as undaunting as possible. My idea is that juniors have their own start, 5 minutes after the main fleet, so they're sailing with their peers and not daunted by bigger, faster and more experienced sailors.

Club Champions

I would also like to keep the Club Champion decided from the summer series and bring the Junior Club Champion in line with this. A suggestion was made to include cup races to count towards the overall club champion trophy, so I'd like to hear thoughts about doing that.

Variety Races

I really enjoyed our fun, informal Sunday morning races on camping weekends. They're a brilliant way to get more people on the water in a relaxed environment and the focus firmly on fun.

Last year we had lots of double-hander races which were good fun but my gut tells me seven was probably too many. Next year Id like to mix these morning races up with more short course races, and even try something new like a relay race. We used to run a 6 hour marathon race between 1973 and 1984 so perhaps we could bring this back and adapted into a relay race.

Autumn & Icicle Series

I'd propose leaving these as they are for 2026. But if you'd like to see changes in the future, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Scoring

One other question that got brought up was being able to swap boats and rigs during a series as it could be seen to give a unfair advantage. I.e. a lighter sailor may use a Full Rig on lighter says but drop down to a 4.7 on windy days. Or may choose to sail a catamaran or some days and a monohull on another day. Should this count as a separate entry for overall results?

So that's my vision for 2026. I think 2025 made real progress: more inclusive prizes, more recognition, and formats that got more people involved. Next year I'd like us to build on that momentum, make the most of the proposed extra lake time, and keep racing at Stewartby both competitive and fun.

I'd really like to hear what you think.

Adam Fox
Racing Results Coordinator

Have your say on the 2026 racing schedule

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