Osea Sailing Club, who have been homeless since their clubhouse burned down mysteriously six-and-a-half years ago, will stage their last-ever race tomorrow (Saturday).

Many of the members, who have since joined other clubs in the area, will have an emotional get-together, in what has been described as a 'Final Fling', at Blackwater Sailing Club tomorrow evening.

It will be preceded by the last race organised by the club, the Osea Challenge Cup, which will start from the old club line at 12.30pm tomorrow.

The club disbands officially on October 31.

One member said: ''I am sure there will be plenty of singing, plenty of reminiscing and plenty of tears''.

The Osea club was formed in 1959 when a group of members broke away from Maldon Yacht Club.

One of the reasons the club became so popular was the fact that it had good launching and it was possible to sail for much longer periods than it is further up the river.

The clubhouse was destroyed by fire in December 1994, leaving the club around £40,000 out of pocket.

Arson was suspected though no one was ever charged.

The then-owners of the land, which has since changed hands, repeatedly refused permission for the clubhouse to be rebuilt.

Osea will fold with dispersal assets of around £11,000, which will be distributed in various ways.

Their present escort boat, which will retain the name Osea SC, will be presented to Maldon YC, who have used and maintained the craft for four years, and £5,000 is being presented to the Eastern Region of the Royal Yachting Association, to be used to purchase four youth training boats.

A further £1,000 will go to Blackwater Sailing Club to help continue the running of Osea's major event, the Blackwater Challenge Cup.

Maldon Little Ship Club's Brian Copsey and his Quartet OB Freedom, the reigning champions, took a firm grip on this year's BJRC (Blackwater Joint Racing Committee) title when they won the second race in this summer's series, the Stone Cruiser Cup, on Saturday.

Copsey finished 13 minutes ahead of F Flat, the Sonata from Blackwater Sailing Club (A & M Sargeant).

Another Blackwater boat, Growler, the Hunter Formula 1 of Brian Southgate, was third.

After early-season disappointments, which included Dabchicks Sailing Club dropping out of the BJRC because of a lack of interest, the turnout on Sunday was encouraging for the organisers, with 14 yachts completing the event, which attracted one of the largest entries for years for a BJRC race.

Copsey finished down the fleet in Sunday's Marconi Cruiser Cup, which was won by Carolanti (Rolland & Co), of Stone Sailing Club, but Freedom is still the clear leader overall after two races.

The next BJRC weekend is in a week's time, June 24-25 with the MLSC Smith Cup on the Saturday and the Paget and Brown Cups on the Sunday.

The traditional clinker-built Stellas dominated Crouch Yacht Club's weekend races to Bradwell and back.

Ken Layzell and Kate Gooch, in Vreny, won the Lodestar Trophy to Bradwell on Saturday and Polaris (Mick Willett and Mike Nash) won the return race, the Clare Cup, on Sunday, with Vreny second.

Crouch host the second of the five Sail East regattas this weekend and earlier this week were expecting something in the region of 50 yachts to complete in four classes.

This year's Royal Ocean Racing Club's annual North Sea Race from Greenwich to Scheveningen proved a frustrating affair.

After being postponed for 24 hours, because of gales, the wind dropped completely and for those few yachts who completed the journey, it was like being stuck in the doldrums.

Boats took between 18 hours and over two days to complete the 145-mile course across the Channel and of the original 66 starters, only 16 finished.

Charlie Mills, of Crouch Yacht Club, in Shoot the Bar, was one of many who called it a day well before the end.

Earlier in the season, Mills and had endured similar conditions in the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association's Ralph Herring Trophy, his patience paying off with victory, but this time not even Mills and his crew on the Castro 32 stand the agonising waiting about and eventually headed back to Burnham.

Dutch boats filled the first two places, with Stephen Bailey's Arbitrator, of Royal Thames Yacht Club finishing third to prevent a clean sweep for foreign boats who filled the next seven places.

Results

BJRC Stone Cruiser Cup: 1 Freedom (B Copsey, MLSC), 2 F Flat (A & M Sargeant, BSC), 3 Growler (B Southgate, BSC).

MLSC Chandler series: 1 Freedom, 2 Hornblower (Lawton), 3 Romper (N Lucas).

Marconi Cruiser Cup: 1 Carolanti (Rolland & Co, SSC), 2 Ned Kelly (D Onyons, MLSC), 3 Killara II (D Gardner, MLSC).

MLSC Chandler series: 1 Killara II, 2 Whistledown II (G Howat), 3 Freedom.

RCYC/RBYC Saturday Dragons: Hat Trick (M Holmes & A Allen). Etchells: No 1174 (unknown).

Squibs: Spoof (S Griffin). RBODs: Blue Jacket (D Beale). Sunday Dragons: Hat Trick. Etchells: Her Outdoors (R Melville). Squibs: Clanger (R Coyle).

Crouch YC Lodestar Trophy (Burnham to Bradwell): 1 Vreny (K Layzell & K Gooch), 2 Jiminy Cricket (M Harrison), 3 Fine Fettle (M Stubbs).

Clare Cup (Bradwell to Burnham): 1 Polaris (M Willett & M Nash), 2 Vreny, 3 Jiminy Cricket.

Maldon YC Saturday Cup, Race 4: 1 B Clark (Int Canoe), 2 B & J Foulds (505), 3 A & J Denniss (420). Breakfast Race: 1 M Hedgecock (Laser), 2 I & K Varney (Snipe), 3 A & J Hoy (Snipe).

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.