Grafham Water SC Winter Handicap 13th February 2000

Location: Grafham Water Sailing Club

On Sunday 13 February the Dart 15 fleet visited Grafham for the final event of the winter series. There were 15 entries, with the majority from the home fleet. The weather was ideal with clear sunny day and a force 4 westerly breeze. Race officer, John Evans, set a trapezoidal course with long windward/leeward legs and short reaches.

Stuart Snell, sailing a borrowed boat, sailed high and tight off the line, closely followed by George Carter, Chris Black and Philip Howden, all sailing somewhat free-er. At the first windward mark it was Snell, followed by Bob Carter and Bill Tusting sailing sprint mode. This was the sequence for the next lap or so with Chris Black threatening in 4th place. By the forth rounding G Carter made big gains on a wind shift on the windward leg to get up to second place and Gordon Goldstone and Nick Dewhirst followed on the same shift. The chasing pack tended to slow one another down leaving Snell to build a 100 yard lead which he held to the line from G Carter, R Carter and Goldstone.

The second race started in similar conditions with Black making best use of the port end of the line from G Carter and Snell. These 3 took the left side of the course but Paul Storer made big gains on the right side, followed by R Carter. Snell out-pointed the group to the windward mark closely followed by the 2 Carters and Storer. At the leeward mark it was Snell, Carter, Carter, Dewhirst and Storer all in very close company. R Carter took the RHS for the next beat and took the lead from Snell, G Carter & Black. Places changed frequently during the subsequent lap but the sequence at the gun was R Carter, S Snell, G Carter, Black and John Keyte, who had made big gains on the last circuit.

Thus in the final analysis Snell won the day with a 1,2 from R Carter (1,3) and G. Carter (2.3). Stuart Snell went off to buy Tim Dieu de Bellefontaine a big beer for the loan of his boat.

Sprint Results: 1st W. Tusting (Grafham SC)

Youngest Competitor: James Isherwood (Grafham SC)