Dart 15 Forums

AndrewHannah wrote:

Hi All,

I thought I'd make a post to let you know of the fantastic attendance at the Dart 16 nationals last weekend. I dare say you would like to know the number of entries. Read on.......................

The Dart 16 nationals were held on the same weekend as the Sprint 15 TT event at the Open Dinghy Club. This year, the Dart 16 nationals were held at the Thames Estuary Yacht Club at Westcliff-on-sea, about half a mile west of Southend pier.

This time, they had sponsorship from Laser Direct who put up the prizes. Laser had their flags flying everywhere, and a whole throng of people were wearing bright red Laser T-shirts. It was a two day event, which started on the saturday. To begin with, the winds were somewhat light, so I took the opportunity to cycle up to Westcliff to see how many had entered.

But before I tell you the numbers, I think it would be helpful if I explained what the Southend Council had done to accommodate the large influx of sailors. There is a wide central reservation between the carriageways, so the council used traffic cones to divert the cars. This confused many drivers, because they don't usually see so many Dart 16s all at once. It really was spectacle to behold.

Bob Carter and Trevor B-J will be tearing their hair out to match the Dart 16 numbers. I don't know how they are going to do it. But rest assured, Thorpe Bay Sprinters will definitely be entering a team this year. This should help a bit. I am sorry to be a tease, but I will come to the actual numbers in a moment.

The Dart 18s had over 70. But you'd expect a good number because 2006 is their 30th anniversary. A bit like our own Pentewan a few years back. But they do have 7000+ boats in the class. The latest Dart 16 sail number I saw was 2762, which is higher than our latest Sprint 15 number. I already sense your despair. To make matters worse (for us), Laser Centre also provided two extra boats to swell the numbers. This is looking something like a nightmare for Bob.

Wait for it. Hold your breath. This is it. They had eleven. I am told this number was even more than last year. But without the Laser Centre two, they would have had nine.

I would love to finish 11th at the Sprint nationals!

Andrew.

Chris J replied:

Wow, what a turnout! No surprise considering they had such a great sponsor and put so much money and preparation into the event - that always guarantees a great turnout!

May I enquire as to the numbers at last year's Nationals?

Hoping to see you at Netley...

Bob replied:

So could it be that the Laser Centre backed the wrong horse? It seems that virtually no one who buys a Dart 16 wants to race it. We have about 15 of them at Grafham and as Fleet Captain I try and get them racing with virtually no success. Most people who buy a Dart 16 seem to just want a family boat to muck about in. The few people who do make the effort to race soon get tired of having no competition and change the boat to a class in which they get some competition. This is usually to the Sprint 15 for those who want to sail single handed or the Dart 18 for those who want to sail 2 up.
Regards
Bob
PS Andrew - thanks for the info. Keep up the good work.

Bob replied:

Hi Chris
We are consistently the biggest single handed catamaran UK Nationals in the Country and generally the second and third biggest Catamaran after the Dart 18. We have 2 National Championships one for the standard (PY916) formats (without the trapeze)and another for the Sport format with trapeze & jib (PY 882). The numbers for the last few years have been as follows:
2003 Standard 86 Sport 34
2004 Standard 59 Sport 43
2005 Standard 34 Sport 39
2006 Standard TBD Sport 43

2003 was an exceptional event as it was our 25 anniversary and 86 was the biggest UK Cat Championships that year. In 2004 our national events were #1 & #2 in the UK but the Dart 18s had bigger World or European events which reduced the Dart 18 Nationals attendance. In 2005 our 34 standard format attendance at Pwllheli (North Wales)was disappointing - we think it was due to most of our boats being in South England and many did not fancy the long drive to North Wales (a real pity because it was a super venue with good facilities and race management and we got good winds). Last year the Hurricanes switched to a 2 or 3 day championship in South England and got 50 entries which knocked us into 3rd spot.
This year we are at Netley - a convenient trip for many of our members and we are expecting to get back into the 50 plus club.
See you there!

Bob replied:

Nice posting, Andrew.
The suspense was killing.