Sprint 15 Winter Series TT at Stewartby Water Sailing Club

by Scott Wilcox 7 Nov 2018 12:06 GMT 3 November 2018

The scene was set: Sunny, mild, force 3 to 5 and twenty-three Sprints eagerly heading for the committee boat for the first start.

Race 1: After a clean start Paul Grattage (Shanklin) led the way at the first mark followed by Ed Dalton (Draycote) and Jason Clarke (Marconi). The first two held their positions for the first three laps with Paul creating a comfortable gap behind him. Second to fifth positions were hotly contested with Ed, Robert Finch (Stewartby), Liam Thom (Shanklin), Jon Pearse (Marconi) vying for places. Jenny Ball (Marconi) however, progressively gained places lap-by-lap to take second behind Paul, followed closely by Liam.

Race 2: The wind was up and Robert Finch started well and accelerated away from the fleet leading by a good margin at the first mark. After lap one, Stuart Snell (Grafham) was in second place followed very closely by Jenny Ball, Liam Thom, George Love (Carsington) and Nigel James (Marconi). Robert was in a race of his own out in front, whilst the followers fought tooth and nail for their places. Paul Grattage, mid fleet at the first mark kept gaining places as the race progressed. Then in lap four he overhauled Liam Thom for second. With the wind dropping, Robert no longer had the superior boat speed and Paul started to close in. The last lap was a nail biter for Robert with Paul hot on his tail. Then within yards of the finish, Paul nosed in front of Robert to take the gun with Liam third.

Race 3: The wind shifted just prior to the start giving the line a strong port bias. A few boats arrived a little early causing some re-rounding and a deal of chaos up the line. Despite the start line fun, Paul Grattage was fastest after lap one followed by Robert Finch, Liam Thom and Jenny Ball. The gusts and shifts led to lots of place changing across the fleet but Paul and Robert held their top two places for three laps. Lap four however, saw Jonathan Finch (Stewartby) find his form, coming from 14th in lap one to over-haul Robert for second. Jonathan was unable to make-up ground on the leader but successfully held-off the strong competition to maintain his second place behind Paul, followed by Stuart Snell in third.

Stewartby Water Sports Club ensured no competitors left empty handed so all went home happy and hopefully looking forward to next year's event. Thanks are due to Nigel and Fiona Denchfield for their excellent running of the races.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Format	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	2018	Paul Grattage	Unarig	Shanklin SC	1	1	1	2
2	1990	Robert Finch	Unarig	Stewartby	4	2	6	6
3	1957	Liam Thom	Unarig	Shanklin	3	3	7	6
4	2025	Jenny Ball	Unarig	Marconi	2	5	5	7
5	2022	Stuart Snell	Unarig	Grafham	6	4	3	7
6	1942	Jonathan Finch	Unarig	Stewartby	8	8	2	10
7	2023	Ed Tuite Dalton	Unarig	Draycote Water	7	OCS	4	11
8	1988	Jon Pearse	Unarig	Marconi SC	5	6	8	11
9	1733	Steve Sawford	Unarig	Rutland SC	9	7	DNF	16
10	1917	Jason Clarke	Unarig	Marconi SC	12	DNF	9	21
11	2019	George Love	Unarig	Carsington	DNC	9	12	21
12	1431	Mark Norman	Unarig	Stewartby	11	11	10	21
13	2015	Nigel James	Unarig	Marconi SC	10	10	15	25
14	1167	Tim Browning	Unarig	Stewartby	16	12	13	25
15	1359	Scott Wilcox	Unarig	Stewartby	19	16	11	27
16	1339	David Clarke	Unarig	Marconi SC	15	13	14	27
17	1744	Derek James	Sport	Draycote	13	17	16	29
18	1914	Ray Gall	Sport	Carsington SC	14	15	20	29
19	1546	Andy Bunyan	Unarig	Stewartby	17	14	18	32
20	527	Mark Patten	Unarig	Stewartby	20	19	17	36
21	879	Jon Neale	Unarig	Stewartby	18	18	19	36
22	1343	Richard Page	Unarig	Stewartby	21	20	DNF	42
23	1220	Yvonne Pike	Unarig	Shanklin	DNF	DNC	DNC	46