Sprint 15 Windsport Catparts Winter Series

Stuart Snell wins the Sprint 15 Winter Series © Pauline Love

The Winter Sprint 15 Traveller Series was dominated by new boats. The series was sailed almost entirely in light winds and there is no one in the fleet who is better at these conditions than National Champion, Stuart Snell, who won 3 events and was second in the forth. Paul Grattage (sailing his brand new boat, #2018) was second with a score line of 1,2,3 and Steve Sawford took 3rd place with a score line of 2,2,4.

The series kicked off at Stewartby on 1 November with 7 locals and 10 travellers) on a bright sunny day with winds up to 15 knots (the best wind of the series as it transpired). In the first race Snell led the whole race from start to finish. Paul Craft and George Love gave chase and despite having to do turns Craft took second from Jon Finch, Sawford and Love. Race 2 was sailed back to back with race 1 and Simon Farthing was in front for the first lap but as the wind dropped Snell wound him in to take the gun after 2 laps. Sawford took second but Farthing hung on to take 3rd from Jon and Robert Finch. Snell won the regatta from Sawford and the top place locals were Jon Finch (3rd) and Robert Finch (5th).

Next came Oxford on 6 December where 13 travellers joined 2 locals to race on the Farmoor reservoir in light winds. The wind picked up enough to enable 4 laps of a square course in race 1 and at the gun it was Snell from Grattage followed by Stuart Pierce and Craft. In race 2 Snell was over the line at the start and had to go back which gave others a chance. This left Liam Thom and Stuart Pegum to lead the fleet – a new experience for them both! Snell recovered composure and the lead over the 3 lap race but Thom hung on to claim second from Grattage and Sawford. Thus once again the regatta was won by Snell with Grattage and Thom taking 2nd and 3rd.

The Draycote event was next on 10 January but the forecast was horrendous. Despite this 6 travellers and 8 locals turned up anyway. Sadly they just chatted over a cup of tea as 30 knots of wind prevented any chance of sailing. The event was canned.

On 7 February the fleet returned to Datchet for the first time in more than 20 years. There is no home fleet but 15 travellers turned up to try out the waters at this conveniently placed Cat-friendly club. The forecast 20 knot wind failed to show and the fleet waited around until 12.30 before there was enough wind to race. Once racing got underway the results had a familiar look. Snell won with 2 first places, Sawford was second with 2 second places and Grattage was third.

George Stephen made a rare outing and showed that he has not lost his mojo by taking 4th place on countback as he had the same points as Grattage, who was sailing his new boat for the first time.

The last event of the series was at Grafham on 22 March and once again to forecast was for little wind dying to no wind by early afternoon. This forecast undoubtedly deterred the punters as we got just 9 travellers and 2 locals. The weather was hot and sunny and as there was a few knots of wind here and there on the lake it was decided to give it a go and try and get both races in if we could. In the first race Grattage was first to get to the windward mark but progress was slow and ominously the nearby wind turbines stopped so the race was shortened to one 40 minute lap. Grattage kept his nerve and held on to his lead to the finish but Howard Hawkes stole second on the line from Snell who just held off Craft who was trying the same trick. For the second race the course area fortuitously got a more uniform bit of wind – other areas of the lake looked much worse. This enabled 2 laps to be sailed just before a flat calm spread across the whole lake. In the race Grattage led from start finish with a huge lead. Snell followed in second someway behind Grattage but likewise a long way ahead of the chasing pack. Craft took 3rd and Love 4th. Thus Grattage won his first event of the winter series but he could do nothing to prevent Snell winning the Dewhirst Cup for the Winter Series. The top 10 series results are listed below.

So the Fleet have now moved on to the Summer Travellers Series which started at Seasalter on 18/19 April

Overall Series Results:

1st S Snell (Grafham) 3pts
2nd P Grattage (Shanklin) 6pts
3rd S Sawford (Grafham) 8pts
4th P Craft (Worthing) 15pts
5th L Thom (Shanklin) 17pts
6th H Hawkes (Snettisham) 20pts
7th S Farthing (Grafham)
8th G Love (Carsington)
9th E Holmberg (Shanklin) (S)
10th G Goldstone (Queen Mary).