The Grafham Catamaran Open

Grafham Cat Open © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

Grafham Cat Open © Nick Champion / www.championmarinephotography.co.uk

Seventy catamarans took part in the Grafham Cat Open which happily (after the storms of last year) took place on a sunny weekend in a force 2-3 light Southerly breeze. A number of classes used the event as their last traveller of the Summer and also a number of Inland Championships were run in the event. The following is a summary of the results.

The Sprint 15s were the largest fleet with 28 entries for the Inland Championships. Isle of Wight sailor, Liam Thom, won the event (4,1,1,6,1) from David Ball (2,4,6,2,2) of Marconi and Jenny Ball also of Marconi was third. Jason Clarke won the Youth Trophy.

The Fast Double handicap class had 21 entries including 10 Formula 18s. The F18 of Simon Northrop and Caleb Cooper from Minnis Bay were the winners (1,1,1,1,1), the F18 of Grant Piggott and Simon Farren from Weston were second and the F18 of Nathaniel Ward and Paul Wakelin were third. The youth contingent in their Nacra 15s fielded 6 boats and the winners were Theo and Jasmine Williams from Restronguet. Nacra 15 Runners up were Abigail Clarke and Alfie Cogger from Grafham. Top Spitfire was Alex and Charlie Hamel from Brightlingsea.

The Fast Single handicap class was once again won by the Shadow X of Robin Leather (Gurnard) who won all 6 races. The top A Class sailor in second place overall was Peter Boxer of Clacton and second A class was Daniel Brzezinski also of Clacton.

The Medium handicap class of 14 boats included 8 Catapults. The overall winner was Prindle 15 sailor Gerry Reeve of Grafham. Second overall and Catapult winner was Gareth Ede of Yorkshire Dales, third overall was the Dart 18 single handed of Scott Wilcox of Stewartby and the Catapult runner up was John Terry of Rutland.

The Club was a buzz for the whole weekend and the sailors enjoyed an excellent dinner and a drink in the bar at the Club on Saturday night.

All 6 races were run and the Race officers Peter Saxton and Nigel Denchfield were thanked for good courses and quick turnarounds that have become customary at Grafham events. The sailors went away satisfied after an excellent regatta.

Overall Results: