GP14 Inlands Championship at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club - Preview

by Michelle Evans 22 Apr 2017 14:37 BST 6-7 May 2017

The 2017 Ginger Boats GP14 Inland Championships on 6 and 7 May look set to beat last year's entry of 34 with strong early interest due to the popularity of Bassenthwaite Sailing Club.

Sponsored by Gingerboats, the Inlands will be the third event in the Craftinsure Super 8 Series. Gingerboats Managing Director Phil Hodgkins commented: "We are thrilled to be sponsoring the GP14 Inlands this year. Bassenthwaite Sailing Club is our home club and an excellent venue to have such an event. It is a great piece of water with a very large sailing area, stunning views and shifty winds.

"After our successes last season myself and Andy Smith are very much looking forward to sailing against the rest of the fleet on home turf in our new Gingerboats GP14. We look forward to seeing everyone there for some great racing."

Mike and Liz Senior (South Staffs SC) won the event last year for the fourth time in eight years. Mike will be returning to defend his title this year with Chris White taking over crewing duties from Liz.

"I'm really looking forward to the racing at this event," explains Mike. "We are a little short of practice at the moment so we are treating it as a good opportunity to see where we are at and what we need to work on. Bassenthwaite is one of my favourite venues, with one of the best inland waters for dinghy racing and a very welcoming club."

"To be honest our main focus this year is the Nationals and everything else is just in support of that. We have the Welsh areas in the diary also, as it is conveniently positioned shortly before the nationals and Aberdovey is another favourite venue as it is a great venue for taking the family, the sailing can be as good as anywhere and it is only about 2.5 hours from the Midlands."

"I'd expect the competition this year to be tough at both the Inlands and the Nationals. Looe has certainly attracted the usual contenders you would expect at a big Nationals. However, it is encouraging this year to see some new people racing GPs from other fleets who could mix things up. I love the unpredictability of the Inlands though as the sailing is naturally more volatile, which then suits some more than others."

There will be prizes for each fleet as well as spot prizes and as with all GP14 events the mixed fleets mean this is a great event whatever your standard of sailing.

David Morgan and Richard Hodgkins (South Staffs SC) won the prize last year for highest placed competitors at their first Championship event. "As a Bronze Fleet sailors, the decision to travel to open events was a little daunting," comments Richard. "Our worries beforehand were about how we would cope sailing in large fleets, would we have competitive sailing and would we come last."

"In reality, sailing in a large fleet is incredible enjoyable and an experience I recommend to all Bronze Fleet sailors. The sailing is very competitive with quality racing across the fleets. And as for coming last, we decided not to worry at all about that as the enjoyment, new friends we made and new skills we have developed far outweighed my perceived embarrassment of being last on the water."

You can find out more information or book your place today on the GP14 website: www.gp14.org/shop/2017-inland-championship

Key information:

• 2 day, 6 scheduled races
• Costs cost £50 per boat and include an evening meal for two people on the Saturday
• Discounts for Youth helms and all Youth boats
• Late entry fee applies after 30 April
• Briefing 11am on Saturday and 11.55am first gun.

The club will be open from 5pm on the Friday and camping is available on site, for tents, caravans and motorhomes. This needs to be pre-booked, and costs £7 per unit per night.

More information about the Craftinsure Super 8 Series visit www.gp14.org/super8