Dart 15 Southern Championship at Tankerton Bay Sailing Club

Dart 15 Southern Championship at Tankerton © Glen London

Dart 15 Southern Championship at Tankerton © Glen London

Dart 15 Southern Championship at Tankerton © Glen London

A brilliant weekend was had by all on the North Kent coast where TBSC hosted the Southern Championship. With 13 home sailors (12 of whom had never entered a Dart 15 event) and 12 travellers, a fleet of 25 boats looked forward to the promise of sunshine (forecast up to 30 C) and SW F4 winds on Saturday, although the forecast for Sunday was decidedly flaky.

Bacon rolls and coffee followed by lashings of suntan lotion and stocking up on water was the order for the day as we waited for the tide to arrive. The Race Office had been looking at the Sunday forecast and the briefing from the RO, Andrew Jacson, included that we were likely to do 4 races back-to-back on the Saturday to make the most of the promised winds.

The race team set up the course from 12 and the fleet set of shore for the first race start within Whitstable Bay at 1pm. The starts followed a familiar pattern with both Liam Thom (Shanklin) and Jason Clarke (Marconi) finding room on the line to get a flying start in a SW force 3. Both pulled away and were first around the windward mark. Amy Moore and Tim Blades had the best starts of the local TBSC sailors. However Jenny Ball (Marconi) and Paul Tanner (Shanklin) pulled ahead into 3rd and 4th places and led the rest of the fleet around the mark. This pattern was set at the front of the fleet for the remainder of the race. The fun and action occurred further down the fleet where local TBSC sailor, Tim Blades (on a borrowed 15) battled with Yvonne Pike (Shanklin) and Scott Wilcox (Stewartby) for places 5, 6 and 7. Liam and Jason had a humdinger of race between them and according to the RO team looked a cut above the rest. although they noticed that Jenny always looked really calm and serene as she sailed past the committee boat (her escape from organising events I suspect!). Liam won the first race from Jason and Jenny and the die was cast for the remainder of the day as the fleet behind battled it out for the remaining places.

Race 2 quickly followed and following local sailors Ian Mills and Rob Macdonald both getting stuck in irons on the line and apologising to all around them as they impeded the start of 4 or 5 boats, the race got under way and a familiar pattern emerged, a major tussle at the front between Liam and Jason with Jenny serenely easing into third place, Paul chasing hard and others battling it down the fleet. The battle for the minor places from 5th to 10th was more entertaining with Scott, Rob Forrester (Weston), Rob Wilson (Marconi) Yvonne and Tim trading places across the laps. Race 2 yielded the same pattern as Laim won followed by Jason, Jenny and Paul and the fleet fighting hard for the minor places.

A quick turnaround saw the fleet set for Race 3. Once again both Liam and Jason found the gaps - some of the local sailors has spotted this pattern and tried to follow but the message afterwards was "they are just too good" - maybe next time! Race 3 saw Laim, 1st, Jason, 2nd, Jenny 3rd, Paul 4th and Tim completing a 5th -the best result by a TBSC sailor over the weekend - nice. Consistent sailing by Yvonne and Scott saw them quickly following in 6th and 7th with Rob and Jemma Clarke with an 8th and 9th (her best position across the weekend) bringing the rest for the fleet home.

With the top 5 sailing back to shore and the remainder waiting for Race 4 - there was some confusion for a short while - but it transpired that the Race Office had been watching the developing forecast for Sunday and ware confident that we could get 2 good races in... Hmmmm we all thought.

After a great evening with fish and chips, chilled music and finding a shady spot on the balcony to watch the sun go down and talk all things sailing the fleet and the fantastic volunteers retired for the night.

As morning came, the winds didn't. As we sat with our coffees and bacon butties (thanks to the great catering team) - we feared the worst but were hoping for the best. Local sailors talked knowledgably that the high temperatures would definitely draw in a strong sea breeze from the east - but would it come early enough?

With the first race set for 1230, the Support RIBS and Race team set off to set up the race course. With little to no wind off shore, Andrew Jackson postponed the first race by 45 minutes. The sailors watched from the balcony as the dark patches on the water starting creeping further out - with the wind turbines (5 miles off shore) turning, all fingers and toes were crossed. Wind would surely come!

As we neared 1230, the wind started to increase and the fleet were released from the shore. The wind steadily picked up and by the time the fleet were surrounding the Committee boat and strong F3 to F4 easterly wind had kicked in - fantastic!

Dart 15 Southern Championship at Tankerton - photo © Glen London

Race 4 started at 1230 and a familiar pattern emerged at the front of the fleet where Liam, Jason and Jenny were dominating, however further back some of the local TBSC sailors had started to work out how they should tackle a committee boat windward start (something most were unfamiliar with). Local sailor Stace Hamblin had a great start and quickly tacked away towards the shore (where the tide was less fierce). This tactic paid off and Steve rounded the windward mark in 3rd place behind Liam and Jason - could be break the top three's strangle hold? Further back in the fleet, Amy Moore (who kept asking advice of any sailor who was sailing near) was also finding her mojo and was looking for her first top 10 finish. Steve raced hard but fell back behind Jenny, Scott and Rob (who was improving race on race) to finish a respectable 7th. Again Liam, Jason and Jenny shared the podium spots with May getting her 10th place.

With the champagne conditions continuing, a quick turnaround by the fantastic Race Office team saw the last race of the day start before 2pm. Liam again got a flyer but this race saw the battle for 2nd, 3rd and 4th change - Jason was overtaken by both Jenny and a charging Rob Forrester - his stats of, 9, 7, 8, 5 and 3 showed terrific improvement (maybe with 3 race he could have removed Liam form his perch? We'll never know). With the front 4 mixing it up a bit more Paul Tanner and Scott Wilcox came across the line 5th and 6th (both having hugely consistent weekends). With Rob Wilson in 7th, Steve Hamblin 8th and a charging Jon Pearce (Marconi) 9th our top 10 for the last race was completed by Andy Bunyan who had his best race of the weekend.

So with the racing finished we set sail for the packed beach where a brilliant shore team managed boats both up the timber slipway and the shingle beach.

What a weekend's sailing - great winds, great sailing and fantastically run by the Race Office team, the RIB support teams, the shore support and the bar/galley helpers.

The prize-giving by Barry Sheffield (TBSC Commodore) and Ian Mills (TBSC Dart 15 event lead) started with thankyous to the brilliant volunteers who across the weekend made sure the sailors could do what they wanted to do - sail well in great conditions. Four volunteers who went beyond the call of duty were selected by the home Dart 15 fleet and given M&S vouchers as a thank you, Race Officer, Andrew Jackson (who was calm, efficient and on the money all weekend) was given 2 bottles of wine and the borrowed Committee Boat owner Paul Carter (who became a grandfather for the first time whilst he was on the boat!) and visiting RIB Owner Rob Purves were provided with thankyous for their help.

Prizes were then awarded as follows:

1st Liam Thom, Shanklin
2nd Jason Clarke, Marconi
3rd Jenny Ball, Marconi
4th Paul Tanner, Marconi
5th Scott Wilson, Stewartby
6th Rob Forrester, Weston
7th Yvonne Pike, Shanklin
8th Rob Wilson, Marconi
9th Tim Blades, Tankerton Bay
10th Steve Hamblin, Tankerton Bay
Most Persistent Sailor - Amy Moore, Tankerton Bay

A big thank you for Tankerton Bay for organising a fantastic event and a big thank you to all the volunteers who have made the weekend a special one. It was Tankertons first single class open event for 30 years. Here's hoping we don't have to wait another 30 years for the next one.

Overall Results: