We recently had an email from the 1962 National Champion, Chris Hornsey, throwing light on an old mystery: Why does the report say that M. Sargent won the 1961 Nationals, but the Simpson Cup says it was C. Hornsey?

Chris Hornsey himself emailed, using the form on the web site, on this topic:

Hello, I have just been browsing your Cherub site and can update your archives. I won the championships in 1962 in Whisky No17. There is discussion about who won in 1961, but I can confirm it was not me. My dad got the plans from N.Z.and built the Mk2 from scratch in our back bedroom. This was the start of the Portsmouth fleet. I remember we bought a “Fleetwind” wooden mast from the manufacturers somewhere on the East Coast, it being the same as the Cherub with a brass mast jack to tighten the rigging.“Lucas” made the fully battened sails, the first of many for the Class. The last two photos shown in your archive (Both the same and unidentified) are in fact of me taken by Beken.I have fond memories of that boat and won many trophies locally. Happy days !! Chris

The photo he mentions is this one:

The professional photographer at the Nationals this year is called Gary Fitch of Creative Images. There is a menu page of some of the photos he took here.

Here's one:

From the GPS tracks, here are the max speeds from the nationals:

1. 2645 - Cheese Before Bedtime - Paul Croote and Chris Crabb - Chew Valley Lake SC - 17.9 knots
2. 2655 - Monkey Magic - Ben Brown and Ewan Harris - Stone SC - 17.3 knots
3. 2688 - Atum Bom - Will Lee and Lucy Lee - Bough Beech SC - 17.2 knots

Well done!