Chris Black Icicle TT sponsored by Gill.

Gill once again supported the latest Dart 15 TT at Grafham on Sunday 9th March.  This was the annual Chris Black Icicle TT and the final event in our Winter Series.   Having had to reschedule or cancel four fixture dates during this Winter Series due to light winds or storms – the fleet were delighted to still have completed four events in the series.  And particularly delighted to arrive at the final event with sunshine and a F2 – 3 breeze.

For the first time in this winter series, the original scheduled date for the February TT was blessed with an entirely normal wind forecast that did not require postponement or cancellation.    Delighted to have a forecast that was not 1 knot or 30 knots, twelve sailors arrived at Datchet Water Sailing Club on a grey morning.     The winds were a little lighter than expected but perfectly adequate for racing and it was good to see a decent turnout of the home club fleet for their Sunday racing too.  It was also great to see George Stephen, long standing local fleet member, who popped down to watch the racing and catch up with old friends.

The rescheduled Dart 15 Winter TT at Rutland was held on Sunday 26th January.  The original event in December was postponed due to Storm Darragh and as winds again battered various parts of the country, it looked like the new date might also fall to a similar fate.

Undeterred by the 35 knot gusts in the forecast, nine hardy sailors arrived at Rutland to see if racing would go ahead.  A few of our other regulars were away on winter holidays which they had booked not to clash with our original Winter TT schedule...

Quest for the Red throated diver

As a weather dependant sport the winter TT at Draycote was rescheduled from Jan 11th to Jan 18th in anticipation of better visibility and the essential component of all sailing events, wind. We don’t need too much wind to race but a bit of wind was very welcome as the traveling sailors arrived at Draycote from as far afield as Carsington, Marconi and the Isle of Wight ( Shanklin ) sailing clubs.

It was apparent to all that it was going to be a light wind event so there was lots of discussion around light wind sailing techniques which were applied, to varying degrees of success, by all during the ensuing event. Top tips were ….adjust batten tension to minimum to keep air flowing over sail ….keep the tell tales moving at the top of the sail and above all…….keep the boat moving , this proved to be the most important tip especially for the winners!

Hector Bunclark of NDYC wins the event with stunning performance on Day 1.

Report by Liam Bunclarke

Some 33 competitors gathered for 3 days of racing at Instow that at one stage looked as though it was going to be raced in the tail winds of a hurricane.  Filled with optimism, the heavy weather sailors started getting excited.

Dart 15 Inland Chamionships sponsored by Gill

Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th October saw 16 Dart 15s prepare themselves for the last of the Summer Series and Inland Championships @ Grafham Water Sailing Club, generously supported by Gill.  The wind however had other ideas and despite a valiant effort by the race managemnet team of Nigel & Fiona Denchfield along with the GWSC mark layer volunteers, racing was abandoned mid afternoon due to a total lack of breeze.  Afternoon walks around the reservoir, boat fiddling or just hanging about seemed to be the main activities until Lisa & her team served up a very generous 2 course dinner that kept us all going until Sunday morning.