2015 Sprint 15 National Championships overall

by David Groom on 3 Aug 2015 The Sprint 15 National Championships was held at Netley Sailing Club over the long weekend of the 31st July to the 1st August. The 47 Competitors included three boats from this cat-friendly club with one sailed by Luke Scott in his first ever Sprint event.

Sailors came from far and wide with the visitor from Halifax being surprised to be trumped by a visitor from New York. Numbers were down due to an unfortunate need to change the date after many had made holiday plans for the year meaning the fleet just fell out of the 50 plus club for the first time in many years.

The weather was basically perfect with sunshine and sea breezes allowing champagne sailing conditions particularly on the last day and facilitating long recovery sessions on the terrace and later on into the night on the club camp site.

Day one dawned windless but the Race Officer, David Henshall, set a postponement expecting that wind was coming early pm. His highly efficient race team laid the marks for an initially confusing but very sensible and soon to become familiar course providing two long and three shorter beats, three runs and two reaches utilising the full width of Southampton Water when required. This was the day for the light wind experts allowing Robin Boardman and Stuart Snell to shine, closely followed by Paul Grattage sailing one of the new Sprints 15s.

Day two was more of a mix with again no wind in the morning but an increasing breeze as the races progressed. The breeze, or breezes at times, was shifting allowing tactical advantages for those who spotted them as did the tide running down the start line making it essential to avoid the multiple piles-up at the pin end. Paul Grattage and Robin Boardman dominated with Kevin Dutch, Paul Craft and Jim Bowie featuring as the wind increased. A rare error (OCS) meant Paul Grattage had not won the event by the end of day two and had to compete on the last day. One race was sensibly abandoned after the pilot of a very large container ship had panicked somewhat when confronted by what he described as hundreds of fast moving white sailing boats between him and his destination. Surprisingly some competitors were not sure what the abandonment was for!

Day three was champagne Sunday. A gentle breeze greeted the competitors and this filled into a steady south westerly three by the time they launched. This increased over the day into a boisterous four which with a meaningful chop and sunshine showed the Sprints pedigree off to the full. The heavier conditions suited those who had shone the day before with Kevin Dutch taking Race One and Paul Grattage Race Two, making Grattage National Champion for 2015 and keeping his chances for a clean sweep of 15 major events alive. Other major trophy winners included Christine Roman who took the ladies’ prize, Henry and Simon Giles who took the two up cup, Joe Baker who took the youth prize and Thorpe Bay who won the Team Trophy.

Away from the water the fleet confounded its reputation and socialised hard with the bar full each night and much talking on the terrace serenaded by live music and a sail past by three large cruise ships on the Saturday night. The Association dinner was excellently prepared and served by catering students from Eastleigh College.

Thanks to the weather gods who allowed the locals to boast it is always like this here. David Henshall and the on-the-water team Rosie Parker ( Commodore and non-stop grafter), her son Alex overall event organiser, the shoreside team, the club caterers who were there from dawn until almost dusk and Windsport for the sponsorship and event support as efficiently provided by newbie Windsport Team Member Rosie Snell.

Overall results

Name	Club	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Points	Place
Paul Grattage	Shanklin Sailing Club	2	2	1	48 OCS	1	3	1	7	1
Robin Boardman	Halifax Sailing Club	3	1	3	1	9	2	4	10	2
Kevin Dutch	Seasalter Sailing Club	12	8	14	3	2	1	2	16	3
Paul Craft	Worthing Sailing Club	5	33	48 DNF	2	4	4	3	18	4
Jim Bowie	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	6	5	20	4	3	10	5	23	5
Stuart Snell	Grafham Water Sailing Club	1	3	7	7	7	6	9	24	6
Steve Healy	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	4	4	5	20	10	9	14	32	7
Chris Tillyer	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	14	6	2	8	6	19	16	36	8
Paul Roberts	Dee Sailing Club	25	10	9	14	12	8	6	45	9
Ed Tuite Dalton	Draycote Water Sailing Club	9	9	17	48 DSQ	17	12	11	58	10
Steve Sawford	Rutland Water Sailing Club	15	7	23	10	5	48 DNS	48 DNS	60	11
Gary Sverdloff	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	21	21	6	12	13	18	12	61	12
Liam Thom	Shanklin Sailing Club	13	22	4	16	15	14	20	62	13 ¹
Simon Giles & Henry Giles	Shanklin Sailing Club	10	12	8	23	14	48 DNF	18	62	14 ¹
Luke Scott	Netley Sailing Club	23	38	37	15	8	5	15	66	15
Howard Hawkes	Snettisham Beach SC	48 OCS	24	12	19	19	7	10	67	16
Mark Hollis	Seasalter Sailing Club	27	16	22	17	18	11	7	69	17 ¹
George Love	Carsington Sailing Club	11	11	11	11	48 DSQ	29	25	69	18 ¹
Erling Holmberg	Shanklin Sailing Club	20	14	10	13	16	48 DNF	23	73	19
John Manning	Beaver Sailing Club	18	25	15	5	33	21	21	80	20 ¹
Christine Roman	Shanklin Sailing Club	22	13	16	6	23	48 DNF	24	80	21 ¹
Robert England	Dee Sailing Club	8	18	25	18	20	30	17	81	22
David Groom	Netley Sailing Club	39	39	28	24	11	13	8	84	23
Gary Burrows	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	7	29	33	22	36	15	19	92	24
Keith Persin	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	17	17	30	21	26	23	34	104	25
Richard Harrison	Netley Sailing Club	16	37	21	26	29	17	28	108	26
Roger Ackroyd	Witham Sailing Club	40	28	18	9	32	28	29	112	27
Steve Roberts	Dee Sailing Club	29	27	13	31	48 DNS	22	22	113	28 ¹
Jon Pearse	Marconi Sailing Club	26	15	27	25	41	20	30	113	29 ¹
Joe Baker	Isle of Sheppy Sailing Club	24	20	24	43	24	27	31	119	30
Gordon Goldstone	Queen Mary Sailing Club	36	30	31	34	22	25	13	121	31
Donald Sloan	Brightlingsea Sailing Club	32	23	32	27	40	16	33	130	32
Micheal Taylor	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	33	34	19	35	28	24	27	131	33
Gordon Deuce	Brightlingsea Sailing Club	34	36	29	33	31	26	26	145	34
Rob Bailey	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	19	19	36	38	39	48 DNF	48 DNS	151	35
John Shenton	Shanklin Sailing Club	28	32	34	32	44	38	35	161	36
Andy Richards	RYA	35	35	40	48 DNF	21	34	37	162	37
Mark Bunyan	Stewartby Water Sports Club	31	31	35	39	30	39	48 DNS	166	38
Bill Hurr	Draycote Water Sailing Club	30	42	42	42	27	36	36	171	39
Andy Bunyan	Stewartby Water Sports Club	43	44	45	41	25	31	32	172	40 ¹
Alan Grant	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	38	26	44	36	35	37	39	172	41 ¹
Neil Harwood	Open Dinghy Club	48 DSQ	43	38	29	38	32	38	175	42
Andrew Berisford	Brightlingsea Sailing Club	37	41	39	30	37	33	40	176	43
Gerald Sverdloff and Nathan Sverdloff	Thorpe Bay Yacht Club	48 DNS	48 DNS	43	40	34	35	41	193	44
Keith Bartlett	Open Dinghy Club	42	48 DNF	41	28	43	48 DNF	48 DNS	202	45
Eric Sales and Amy Foster	Seasalter Sailing Club	44	45	26	48 DNS	48 DNS	48 DNF	42	205	46
Paul Shields	Seasalter Sailing Club	41	40	46	37	42	48 DNF	48 DNS	206	47