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Eight Dart 15 travellers joined four members of the home club to compete in the picturesque setting of Carsington Water on the edge of the Peak District. 

August had been a wet and often wild month across Derbyshire but this race weekend saw baking hot sunshine but with it very light winds.  This led to testing conditions out on the racecourse with changes in wind direction, small pockets of breeze that competitors hoped to exploit and a high degree of concentration required to cross the finish line.

This year is the forty-fifth anniversary of the UKs best loved small cat and also heralded a welcome return to the name Dart 15.  The National Championships were held at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in Essex and saw a very healthy entry of forty-six boats, including a strong showing from the home fleet.

With a fairly early start on Saturday morning due to the tides, the majority of the fleet arrived on Friday and some took advantage of a Coaching Session provided by Tom Phipps from Windsport International on Friday morning.

Twenty two competitors travelled to the coast of North Devon to race in the Southern Championship in the Dart 15 Summer Series.

Dart 15 Association, Annual General Meeting 2023

Date 15th July 2023

Venue: Thorpe Bay Sailing Club 5.30pm unless advised otherwise

Thirteen Dart 15 travellers joined the one local sailor at Rutland for our May TT as part of the wider Rutland Cat Open comprising six fleets and nearly 70 boats.

After a long, wet spring, competitors were finally greeted with two days of sunshine with a very fresh breeze from the north or north east.  Champagne sailing conditions with a very healthy breeze, plenty of gusts and some tricky shifts across the weekend allowing many competitors to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory over the six races.

The Dart 15s are celebrating their forty-fifth anniversary as well as a welcome return to the name Dart 15 this year.  Their first Summer TT under both banners was held at Marconi Sailing Club on the beautiful River Blackwater on the Essex East Coast.

The Gill Dart 15 Winter TT got underway in near perfect sailing conditions for the 13 hardy competitors braving a cool, fresh mainly South Westerly breeze with a steady 22 knots on the start line for race 1 of 3 scheduled back to back races.

The Dart 15 Winter Series continued with its fourth Winter TT at Datchet Water Sailing Club.  The February TT does not have a great track record – with the last few years lost to either Covid or storm force winds.   So it was with some irony that competitors monitored the forecast in the prior week showing a hefty 1-2 knots.  However, by Thursday the forecast was showing 5-7 knots and that was enough to entice 9 visitors to turn out for the event

Sailors from Marconi, Grafham, Draycote, Yorkshire Dales and Shanklin Sailing Clubs gathered on the start line to commence the first race. Race officers for the day were Tim Case, Richard and Steve Pell. After a timing malfunction the first race start was repeated with all boats hot to trot on the start line for a competitive start, with much shouting for “water”. The fleet screeched up the beat with some notable super human hiking from Liam, Jason and Jen as they tussled for the prize of first boat to the windward mark.