Dart 18 Grand Prix and South West Championships at Parkstone Yacht Club

Dart 18 SW Championships at Parkstone © Yvette Gomme

Dart 18 SW Championships at Parkstone © Yvette Gomme

The weekend of the 7th & 8th July was the Dart 18 GP 5 and Southwest Championships hosted by Parkstone Yacht club. 24 teams entered the event with a mix of single-handed and double-handed crews, the weather was sunny and a sweltering 30C with light winds forecast.

Day 1 The race officer postponed the racing to allow the breeze in Poole bay to build. The fleet were later released from the club and sailed through the harbour into Poole bay where the breeze had built to a force 2.

Race 1: Paul Chatfield sailing single handed had a great start and rounded the windward mark with a comfortable lead, followed by a group of boats battling for second place, with the wind shifting over the race course other than first place, positions changed, Paul took the win, second Mike & Yvette Gomme, third Tom Parker.

Race 2: the wind had dropped and became quite shifty, the race officer postponed racing until it had settled relayed the course and got us underway. Once again Paul Chatfield lead from the start line and took the win, second and third were local boats Pete & Claire Stacey, Ken Cheney & Katrina Kennedy.

Race 3: Paul Chatfield was early for the start so ended up going round the pin end and went off behind the fleet on port tack, even with a bad start Paul could do no wrong and was leading at the windward mark, Paul held on to take another win with Pete & Claire Stacey second, Tom Parker third.

The evening very pleasant with the club putting on a BBQ & disco, together with celebrating England's quarter final result then fleet partied on until the bar shut.

Day 2 saw another very hot day, the fleet were held on shore until the breeze had filled in at Poole bay, we then had a long light wind sail through the harbour out to the race course, where we faced a longer postponement until the breeze became stable. The race officer did and excellent job setting the course in challenging conditions, eventually getting us away.

Race 4: The fleet split both sides of the course, lap one saw the offshore side pay off on the second lap the breeze filled in along the shore leaving the leading group to be left in little wind while the shore side trapezing to the windward mark, Scott Wilcox had seen the breeze first and took full advantage and won comfortably, second was Charlie Hillier and Mary Hill, third Deborah Water & Barry Peters.

Race 5: Tom Parker tacked off to the shore side of the course from the start, this paid off and he lead from start to finish, second place was Dave & Jan Pointer who are new to the Dart 18 fleet but are getting to grips with their boat, third Scott Wilcox.

Race 6: Once again Paul Chatfield found form and took the win closely followed by James Head & Abbey Jupp for a hard-fought second, Dave and Jan Pointer in third.

Parkstone YC put on a fantastic weekends sailing, the race management was second to none and together with the new club house the Dart 18 fleet had a great time.

Overall Results: