Sprint 15 Winter TT at Draycote Water Sailing Club

by Peter Slater 10 Jan 2012 17:01 GMT 7 January 2012

17 visitors joined 7 home boats to contest the 3rd round of the ever popular Sprint 15 Winter TT series. This included 4 incredibly enthusiastic sailors from the Isle of Wight who had to get up at 4:30 am to make the race start!

Due to low water levels a square course was set around the Draycote shallows and this provided an interesting tactical option after the start – risk sailing a long starboard leg and damaged rudders on the shallows or tack off onto port and go up the right hand side of the beat. In the gusty and variable wind no option seemed to provide a consistent result and many places could be lost or gained.

However the usual suspects of Stuart Snell and Mark Aldridge proved most consistent and they took the first two places in the initial race.

The wind strengthened in the second race to the point where a capsize was a distinct possibility and the gusts on the downwind legs could easily catch helms unawares and lift both rudders out of the water.

The strengthening winds caused an increase in ‘incidents’ including Christine Roman scoring a direct hit on George Stephens port hull and capsizes from Andy Bunyan and Derek James. Despite the shallows Derek James’s boat was the only one to hit the reservoir bottom but this was with the top of the mast!

So at the end of the second race the top two places were again taken by Mark Aldridge and Stuart Snell but this time the positions were reversed causing a tie on points. After adding the times for the two races Stuart Snell was crowned the eventual TT winner with Mark Aldridge in second and Pete Slater in third.

After a confusing start to the second race Graham Collett managed to recover sufficient places to come fourth overall with Isle of Wight sailor Erling Holmberg coming fifth and Simon Miles in sixth.

Two sailors chose to sail with larger DX sails and Steve Sawford gained the DX trophy over Ray Gall.

Overall Results:

Final position	Helm	Club	Sail No	Rig	R1	R2	Pts
Sprint 15
1	Stuart Snell	Grafham	1982	Una	1	2	3
2	Mark Aldridge	Grafham	19	Una	2	1	3
3	Pete Slater	DWSC	1627	Una	4	3	7
4	Graham Collett	DWSC	1941	Una	5	8	13
5	Ealing Holmberg	Shanklin	2007	Una	8	5	13
6	Simon Miles	Stewartby	1827	Una	3	12	15
7	Ed Tuite Dalton	DWSC	1940	Una	10	6	16
8	Jon Finch	Stewartby	1890	Una	12	4	16
9	Liam Thom	Shanklin	554	Una	9	11	20
10	Gordon Goldstone	Queen Mary	2004	Una	13	9	22
11	Robert Finch	Stewartby	1838	Una	15	7	22
12	Robert England	None	1351	Sport	7	17	24
13	Jan Elfring	DWSC	1913	Una	16	10	26
14	Stuart Dyer	Shanklin	1739	Una	14	13	27
15	George Stephen	Queen Mary	1594	Una	6	22	28
16	Christine Roman	Shanklin	1925	Una	11	22	33
17	Simon Hare	Oxford	1970	Una	20	14	34
18	Ian Hope	DWSC	1939	Una	19	16	35
19	Derek James	DWSC	1744	Sport	18	18	36
20	Andy Bunyan	Stewartby	1289	Una	21	15	36
21	Stewart Pegum	Queen Mary	1918	Una	17	23	40
22	Philip Warner	DWSC	1756	Una	22	22	44
Spring 15 DX
1	Steve Sawford	None	1733	DX	1
2	Ray Gall	Carsington	1914	DX	2