Seasalter Sailing Club

Affiliated Club

Hosted by:

DART 15 TT Events

2007 Sprint 15 TT Report - Full Report & Results Available at: http://www.sprint15.com

Written By Steve Willis

The weekend saw the return of the Sprint 15 catamaran fleet for a TT regatta meeting. This is the first time they have been to Seasalter for a few years and the since the Dart 15 was renamed. This is a summary of the event but for those who want more detail you can visit the Sprint 15 website at www.Sprint15.com for the full race report.

It is especially pleasing to have the Sprint 15s because it is such a popular class in our own club (with 18 out of our 70 odd boats in this class). The event enabled a number of our members to compete against some of the best national sailors on our own waters and 8 of our boats were joined by 12 travellers from as far apart as the Isle of Wight and Halifax. Unfortunately the event clashed with the Thorpe Bay regatta weekend and that reduced the number of visitors significantly.

Nick Dewhirst, the Sprint 15 Association Chairman and Whitstable sailor, was unable to attend but had lent one of his boats to Steve Tunnacliffe from Halifax so that his son Ben could sail their boat. They arrived to find that Kevin Dutch and Joan Willis had been to Whitstable and carried Nick’s boat over the sea wall in bits and returned to Seasalter with it. Our Vice Commodore Frank Avery had agreed to be Race Officer for the event and, with very changeable winds, set a trapezoid course for the first day’s sailing with F4-F5 winds but threats of F7..

The first race was a close battle between 3 of the visitors with Kevin Dutch gaining ground all the time. 1^st & 2^nd places changed hands in the second lap and, by keeping offshore on the leg along the shore Kevin managed to pass two of the leaders to move into 2nd. There was close sailing going on in two other groups with places changing all the time, Joan Willis managed her first ever pitch pole on a Sprint 15 right in front of Eric Sales but both recovered composure and carried on.

With things close to the end Kevin Dutch managed to bear away enough on the beat leg into the finish line to pip Erling Holmberg at the post by a matter of just 15 seconds and with only 90 seconds separating the first four boats. The other Seasalter boats struggled to find the pace and Jeff Kiddle (11^th) and Steve Willis (13^th) were our next two boats home.

A wind shift led to a re-positioning of the buoys for the second race and more boats chose a port start. They were mainly successful in getting enough speed to make their way across the starboard starting boats without mishap and this paved the way for the early lead. Kevin Dutch and Steve Willis mixed in with two of the visitors for the first mark with Ben Saunders fighting his way through in the following group of 5 boats. The groups changed amongst themselves throughout the first lap but with Steve Willis dropping out of the first group after trying to turn inside Pegum at the windward mark and being carried onto the buoy by the ebb tide – losing 3 places.

Erling Holmberg, from the Isle of Wight, broke his tiller extension on the windward leg whilst in close second to Kevin Dutch. He quickly came ashore, borrowed a replacement from John Dutch and returned to the fray. He still managed a third place!!! Our own fleet was improving and Ben Saunders (9^th) led Steve, Joan and John Holmes in successive places.

The happy campers enjoyed a peaceful evening in the club with a meal prepared by Lesley and her dedicated band in the galley and bar. However in the early hours of Sunday morning a thunderstorm swept the area and woke the campers. By sailing time there had been a 180 degree wind shift and winds dropped to F2. The course for the day was the same as for the Saturday but in the reverse direction.

The light winds and beating into the tide gave major problems. In the first race it took 30 minutes for Dutch and Saunders to pull out a lead at the end of the first lap with the following group of 4 visitors well ahead of the rest. Kevin Dutch maintained his lead all the way to the finish but the second lap was no easier and John Long managed to pull away from the pack and come in and pip Ben Saunders, putting him back into 3^rd – both a couple of minutes behind the leader. This time Martin Searle (10^th and the only boat sprinting – with a jib) led the remaining SSC boats home in successive positions.

For the final race the buoys were moved closer in. The light winds continued to hinder progress and the majority of the fleet starting on starboard tack run head on into the port starters who had ended up in irons and were unable to turn away. The resulting melee led to a completely re-arranged order and by the windward mark 7 boats formed a clear group, including Kevin and Steve, well ahead of the rest. Choice of tack and watching out for the ebb tide played a big part in this race and places changed frequently with visitors Gordon Goldstone and Ben Tunnacliffe prevailing to prevent Kevin Dutch from having a clean sweep. Kevin finished 3^rd only 11 seconds behind the winner. Steve Willis was 5^th home leading a group of visitors with Ben Saunders (12^th) leading the now usual succession of home boats.

With one discard race Kevin Dutch won the end with 3 points followed by Erling Holmberg (9 points) and Frank Sandells (11 points).

The rest of the SSC fleet: Ben Saunders(9^th), Steve Willis(11^th), Martin Searle(13^th), Joan Willis (14^th), Jeff Kiddle (15^th), John Holmes (16^th), Eric Sales (17^th).

The weekend was a tremendous success and gave a number of our members their first taste of high level class racing.

History:

Sesalter was a regular venue for the Dart 15 class although in recent years we have been 'Rested' by the class association as they visit different venues each year.

2000: Dart 15 TT