Carsington Cat Open, 6-7 October 2001

The Dart 15 travellers congregated at Carsington Water Sailing Club on the weekend of 6-7 October for the penultimate regatta of the summer series. There were 18 entries for a weekend which, according to the forecast, threatened to be wild and windy. In the event Carsington managed to run all 6 races before the threatened force 8 storm set in as the fleet was packing away on the Sunday. Over the weekend most weather conditions were experienced, including torrential downpours, thunder & lightening, sun, calms, etc. but for much of the time the prevailing winds were from force 4 to 7 and mostly south westerly.

Steve Hanby dominated the results with 5 firsts from 6 races to win with an impressive 4 points and he was seldom out of the lead over the weekend. Steve Sawford was equally consistent in second place with 4 seconds and 2 third places. Bob Carter was third (1,2,3,4) from teenager Elliot Gill (3,4,4,6) who beat fellow Beaver Sailor, Paul Smith, on a tiebreak. Gordon Goldstone was in sixth place but the surprise of the weekend was 14 year old Richard Hanby, who with chum, Simon Jones, was seventh after only owning a Dart 15 for 3 weeks. Indeed this pair (combined weight 10 stone) were only "out of the chocolates" on account of a rig failure in one race and a capsize in another - most of the weekend they were dicing for third or forth place. Unluckiest competitor was Austin Flather whose mast broke in a big gust shortly into the first race. Most disappointed competitor was Barrie Hoggard, who was in the lead in the last race for the whole race but the last 10 seconds! Local sailor, George Love, capsized most times (3 times in one race) but kept smiling.

Overall an exhilarating weekend was enjoyed by all. The final race of the summer TT series is at Grafham Water on 20/21 October.