Dart 18 GP Round 1 at Dee Sailing Club

The 2018 Dart 18 TT season begins at Dee Sailing Club © Sarka Ngassa

The 2018 Dart 18 TT season begins at Dee Sailing Club © Sarka Ngassa

Easter means different things to different people. If you happen to be a Dart 18 sailor it means Dee Sailing Club is hosting their open meeting once again.

This year 23 boats showed face for round one of the 2018 Dart 18 Travellers' Trophy involving a combination of big tides, bigger smiles and enough refreshment to sink a cruise liner. Not even an unfavourable forecast could deter the fleet from travelling and they came from all corners of the country with boats from Scotland, Yorkshire and the south coast alike!

When day one of racing got underway the fleet was met by a cold breeze... the Beast from the East was back. Luckily it was the cold and not the gale force winds that turned up. Undeterred the fleet headed out and it was David Lloyd and JoJo from Stokes Bay who showed their intent by winning race one. They followed up with two solid results in races two and three to lead the fleet into the first night. Equally consistent were Jay Round and Sara Stones who held within touching distance of the leaders and built a small lead in points ahead of the following fleet. With all three races completed with minimal delay the fleet retired to the clubhouse as Shark Sandwich, a local band who played at last year's nationals, fronted the evening's entertainment... we drank... we danced... we drank some more...

Sadly day two lacked in the sailing department as the wind was very light and went round in circles. So a full-scale retreat to the clubhouse was in order and with live music in the afternoon and another local band Xebra booked in the evening the partying ensued... Note from the Race officer: Who's idea was the shots?

Thankfully the wind decided to come back for the final day of the event and once again the race committee was able to run three races like clockwork. With a pleasant force 3-4 blowing from the south the fleet was raring to go. With fairly flat water racing was fast, close and mistakes were punished heavily. Forgetting nothing from day one, our event leaders thumped in two first places to put the event win out of reach of anyone else. Further down the fleet was all change, some found ladders and gained positions galore... others snakes and plummeted down the pack. Most notably Joe and Harriet Franks finding some top form to jump from 15th after day one all the way up to 5th in the final results, not a bad day's work!

The 2018 Dart 18 TT season begins at Dee Sailing Club - photo © Sarka Ngassa

With all said and done, a big congratulations go out to our winners and all of our travellers - you helped make this a great event. A huge thank you also to everyone who put the effort in to make the event happen and run so smoothly. Roll on round 2 at Datchet Water Sailing Club on 21st & 22nd April!

Overall Results: