Dart 16 Nationals at Thames Estuary Yacht Club
by Neil Charnock 28 Oct 2010 09:35 BST
9-10 October 2010
Dart 16 nationals at Thames Estuary Yacht Club © Dave McNally
12 Dart 16s entered this year’s 2010 Nationals hosted by Thames Estuary Yacht Club and kindly sponsored by Windsports International Ltd. The event was held over two days Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th October with a fantastic Indian summer weekend.
On the Saturday wind conditions was force 4 / 5 and on the Sunday this increased to 5 / 6 from the North East all weekend.
John and Claire Day from Bexhill had a clean sweep in their Dart 16 X closely followed by Frank & Erica Riddle from Worthing and the remaining 10 boats having varying finishes up and down the fleet.
On the Saturday night John and Claire had the overnight leadership and all helms and crews enjoyed a warm night of hospitality at the clubhouse and curry evening meal.
Sunday then brought a new day, fantastic Sunshine and increased winds.
Tim McNally and Roy Nunn took first place on two of the day's three races and would have hit the jackpot apart from a spectacular capsize less then 50 yards from the finishing allowing Neil & Jonathan Charnock to strike and win race 5.
This increase in wind strength on the day had John and Claire from Bexhill taking a few swims with the 16 x and then this opened the weekend positions and all to play for, for all. Especially with Tim and Roy taking two wins.
Frank and Erica carried on as with Saturdays fantastic performance taking 2nd and 3rd places during the day and becoming the 2010 Dart 16 National Champions and very well deserved indeed. Neil & Jonathan Charnock took 2nd place with Zoe Ager & Neal Robertson taking 3rd place. Tim and Roy just missed out on the silver wear by 1 point coming home in 4th place. For the rest of the fleet it could have gone anyway for any helm and crew, the racing was fast, fantastic capsize action, very close competition all weekend for everyone.
We must thank Windsport international who kindly sponsored the weekend and the excellent hosting by Thames Estuary Yacht club members over this weekend. We look forward to seeing more Dart 16 helms and crews at next years t/t or Nationals event and enjoying this great event.