Dart 18 Grand Prix 1 at Dee Sailing Club

Dart 18 Grand Prix 1 at Dee © Simon Jenkins

Over the Bank holiday weekend 26 Dart 18's assembled from around the country at Dee SC on the Wirral for the first event of the 2015 circuit. Due to tidal considerations, an early start on Saturday was scheduled so it was a frantic Friday evening of rigging following the holiday traffic road chaos!

All panic was in vain as Saturday dawned with a 25 knot cold Easterly wind and following a 'road' test by windy weather specialists, Sean and Helen, all sailing was abandoned for the day. Sean was heard to comment that even he didn't fancy going downwind in those conditions! However, spirits were not dampened and the nautical activity continued through the evening with full fleet 'rowing' to the Gap Bands' Oops Up Side Your Head at the 1980's themed party and Mr Motivator keeping everyone dancing into the small hours!

Sunday was far more agreeable with a beautiful 15 knot South-Easterly and four races scheduled. The first three races all provided close racing with very little to separate the leading group and positions changing many times, the chasing fleet also not very far behind so tactical decisions were as important as pure boat speed. The final race of the day saw the wind veering to the South and strengthening to 20+ knots with a nasty chop that caused many tacking problems throughout the fleet and at least one capsize, fortunately Ben and Harry were not wearing their 'concrete boots'! With one discard kicking in the results revealed Mat and Jake to be leading by one point over James and Alison, Lloydy and Rob third with 8 points, Des and Sara tied in fourth place with Marco and James. In true Dee tradition the evening social featured a fantastic local band playing a wide selection of quality tracks from the Beatles to the Kaiser Chiefs with everyone reflecting on a great day on and off the water.

The conditions eased for the Monday racing with the potential for some big gains and losses as contending with the tide would provide much more of a challenge. The first race went pretty much to the form book with the overnight leaders sharing the top three positions but the second race was a complete turnaround! Halfway up the beat on the second lap the light breeze became lighter and variable across the race course and by the time the fleet had got down the run everyone was within touching distance of each other! Within 50 metres of the finish the wind died completely and the ebb tide was building, after 20 minutes a light zephyr closed in on the fleet and those in a favourable position benefitted and managed to finish, some less fortunate felt the full force of the tide and disappeared down river to be 'rescued' by the club RIBs some hour or so later!

That final race provided the discard for the three leaders with Mat and Jake taking a convincing win with two firsts and three second places, a single point separating James and Alison in second place from Lloydy and Rob in third. Des and Sara holding on to 4th and Geoff and Jenny coming through to take the fifth place prize. The handicap prizes went to Sean and Helen in first place (10th overall), Ben and Harry (8th overall) and Lee and Tom (15th overall). A great event hosted by the Dee Sailing Club and we now look forward to GP2 at Stokes Bay on 23/24 May.

Overall Results: