Flying 15 Inland Championship at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Flying 15 Inlands at Grafham © Peter & Sue Saxton

33 boats braved the cold and rain for the FF Inland championships at Grafham over the weekend of 16/17 April. The weather improved through day 1 and the breeze was a solid north westerly providing great racing.

The stars of the day were Cadwaller / Sweet who finished on two firsts and a sixth place, putting themselves into a commanding overnight lead. Behind them, five boats were tied on points for second place, making things tight at the top.

RO John Aston set a combination of triangle / sausage courses which worked well and provided plenty of opportunity for over taking. The right side of the beat paid dividends in the first two races, less so in the 3rd race where it was hard to work out what was happening. However, Cadwaller / Sweet worked it out and added a second bullet to their first of the day.

Some of the fleet enjoyed the local night life over Saturday evening and were suitably 'refreshed' for the Sunday which dawned very cold and with just a light breeze from the NW. The breeze threatened to go very light and that is exactly what it did, making starting an anxious time for all concerned.

Unfortunately, Lovering / Alverado and Davy / Huett both got UFD in the first race of the day- the boat end proving very popular. Cadwaller / Sweet had a difficult first race on the Sunday which put their championship plans on hold, whilst McKee / Hartland put in a master class of light wind sailing to take a win in very demanding conditions.

Davy / Huett were convincing winners of Sunday's second race with Goacher / Harpur recording their best result in second place. Very painfully, the breeze died to almost nothing as half the fleet attempted to limp to the line. The PRO quickly used the W flag to ensure the remainder of the fleet got finishing points.

With the breeze showing no real sign of returning the RO cancelled further racing and once the results had been processed, it was Dave McKee and Mal Hartland from Dovestone sailing club who took overall first place and with it the Inland Trophy for 2016.

Overall Results: