Inland Championships Grafham Water Sailing Club TT : Summer Series
Saturday 20th - Sunday 21st October 2018

28 Sprint 15s took part in the Inland Championships at 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. Marconi fielded a strong team of 9 boats, there were 4 boats from Grafham and both Shanklin and Thorpe Bay fielded teams of 3.

 Each day there were 3 races back to back and on the Saturday race officer, Nigel Denchfield, got proceeding off to start on time. Jim Bowie raced to an early lead in race 1 closely followed by Kevin Kirby, Jenny Ball and George Love. Bowie led the fleet around for 2 laps until the end of the second run when both Jenny Ball and David Ball sailed by with superior downwind speed. J Ball opened out a big lead on the third lap and took the gun from D Ball and Bowie. Defending Inland Champion, Thomas Sandal (18th) was decidedly rusty after a year’s layoff and recently returned Carsington sailor, Ray Gall, had to retire with a rig failure. In the second race Ed Tuite Dalton was first to the windward mark chased by Liam Thom, Stuart Snell and Christian Mash. Thom took the lead on the second beat and Sandal, who had by now recovered his mojo, followed. Over the next 2 laps Thom and Sandal sailed away to take first and second from a distant Snell and D Ball. In the third race J Ball was first to the windward mark closely followed by D Ball and young Jason Clarke making it a Marconi 1,2,3. J Ball extended this lead and Sandal worked his way up to second. At the start of the 3 beat J Ball had some hundred metres lead and elected to take the LHS of the course while the chasing pack all went right and benefitted from a big lift. Hence Thom took the lead and subsequently the gun but J Ball salvaged second from Snell, Sandal and Jason Clark. So as the fleet headed to the bar on Saturday evening Thom was carrying a useful lead aided by J Ball not covering him on the last beat.

On the Sunday the conditions and wind direction were a replica of the previous day. Thom was over the line (U Flag) and had to retire from the race 4. The race was dominated by J Ball and Snell who were trading places at the front with J Ball having the edge upwind but could not hold Snell downwind, So each lap Ball led at the windward mark and Snell at the leeward mark. In the chasing pack D Ball, Sandal, Jon Pearse and Bowie were tousling for third place. After 2 laps Snell took the gun for the race from J Ball, Sandal and Bowie. Race 5 followed and there was a big lift at the start on starboard and Bowie made no mistakes, leading from start to finish and progressively opening up a huge lead before taking the gun. D Ball likewise retained second place throughout the race.  Mash and Clarke, the younger, were also on a charge taking third and fourth places respectively giving the race a fresh look. So after 5 races the result was still very much in the balance as any one of 5 helms could win.  On the first beat of race 6  the fleet split with 2 of the main protagonists sailing on opposite sides of the course – J Ball to the extreme left and Thom to the extreme right. They arrived at the windward mark together but Thom was on starboard and took the lead from Steve Healey, J Ball and Nigel James. Thom extended his lead on the run where he had a significant boat speed advantage. On the second beat Thom extended his lead further while D Ball and Bowie established themselves in second and third. The top 3 held these places for a third lap and to the gun. Snell and Mash caught back to take fourth and fifth.

Thus in the end Liam Thom was the clear winner from David Ball and Jenny Ball. The Youth trophy was retained by Jason Clarke who was often in the leading pack and was 8th overall. The other youth taking part,  Rhys Atkins, also sailed well and was keeping up with many experienced sailors. For other results see below.

This event concluded the Summer Traveller series and the fleet move on to the Winter Traveller series which starts at Stewartby on 3 November.

Report by Bob Carter. Pictures by Jeremy Atkins and Nigel Denchfield.

Rank Sail No Helm's Name Sailing Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total Nett
1st 2018 Liam Thom Shanklin Sailing Club 4.0 1.0 1.0 (29.0 UFD) 6.0 1.0 42.0 13.0
2nd 1923 David Ball Marconi Sailing Club 2.0 4.0 6.0 (8.0) 2.0 2.0 24.0 16.0
3rd 2025 Jenny Ball Marconi Sailing Club 1.0 6.0 2.0 2.0 (14.0) 6.0 31.0 17.0
4th 2022 Stuart Snell Grafham Water Sailing Club 6.0 3.0 3.0 1.0 (7.0) 4.0 24.0 17.0
5th 2021 Jim Bowie Thorpe Bay Yacht Club 3.0 (9.0) 7.0 4.0 1.0 3.0 27.0 18.0
6th 1982 Thomas Sandal Grafham Water Sailing Club (18.0) 2.0 4.0 3.0 5.0 9.0 41.0 23.0
7th 1939 Christian Mash Grafham Water Sailing Club 5.0 7.0 9.0 (13.0) 3.0 5.0 42.0 29.0
8th 1917 Jason Clarke Marconi Sailing Club 8.0 11.0 5.0 14.0 4.0 (16.0) 58.0 42.0
9th 2019 George Love Carsington SC 9.0 5.0 (11.0) 9.0 10.0 10.0 54.0 43.0
10th 2020 Kevin Kirby Marconi Sailing Club 10.0 (19.0) 12.0 6.0 12.0 7.0 66.0 47.0
11th 2023 Ed Tuite Dalton Draycote Water 12.0 8.0 8.0 11.0 9.0 (13.0) 61.0 48.0
12th 1921 Stephen Healy Thorpe Bay Yacht Club 7.0 10.0 (29.0 DNC) 12.0 13.0 8.0 79.0 50.0
13th 1755 Robert Bailey Thorpe Bay Yacht Club (29.0 UFD) 14.0 10.0 10.0 15.0 11.0 89.0 60.0
14th 1957 Paul Grattage Shanklin Sailing Club (21.0) 13.0 15.0 20.0 8.0 12.0 89.0 68.0
15th 2015 Nigel James Marconi Sailing Club 20.0 (22.0) 13.0 5.0 16.0 15.0 91.0 69.0
16th 1983 Peter Richardson Marconi Sailing Club 11.0 17.0 (23.0) 16.0 11.0 14.0 92.0 69.0
17th 1988 Jon Pearse Marconi Sailing Club 17.0 18.0 (29.0 DNC) 7.0 23.0 22.0 116.0 87.0
18th 2004 Gordon Goldstone Queen Mary SC 19.0 12.0 20.0 19.0 17.0 (23.0) 110.0 87.0
19th 1428 Andrew Perks Marion Sailing Club 15.0 (27.0) 16.0 17.0 22.0 18.0 115.0 88.0
20th 1955 John Manning Beaver 22.0 16.0 17.0 15.0 (24.0) 20.0 114.0 90.0
21st 1220 Yvonne Pike Shanklin Sailing Club 14.0 20.0 (25.0) 18.0 18.0 21.0 116.0 91.0
22nd 1240 Donald Sloan Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club 23.0 15.0 14.0 22.0 20.0 (25.0) 119.0 94.0
23rd 1133 Rhys Atkins Grafham Water Sailing Club 13.0 26.0 21.0 26.0 (29.0 UFD) 17.0 132.0 103.0
24th 1339 David Clarke Marconi Sailing Club 16.0 24.0 22.0 (25.0) 19.0 24.0 130.0 105.0
25th 1744 Derek James Draycote Water Sailing Club 24.0 23.0 18.0 21.0 (25.0) 19.0 130.0 105.0
26th 2008 Dave Warnock   25.0 21.0 19.0 (29.0 DNC) 29.0 DNC 29.0 DNC 152.0 123.0
27th 1914 Ray Gall Carsington SC (29.0 DNF) 25.0 26.0 24.0 21.0 27.0 152.0 123.0
28th 2026 Simon Hare Oxford SC 26.0 (28.0) 24.0 23.0 26.0 26.0 153.0 125.0




Results:


Full Series Results available here



Una Fleet
CompetitorsEvent Placings
NameSailClubFormatHandicap PlaceFleet Place
Liam Thom2018Shanklin Sailing ClubUna Rig11
David Ball1923Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig22
Jenny Ball2025Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig33
Stuart Snell2022Grafham Water Sailing ClubUna Rig44
Jim Bowie2021Thorpe Bay Yacht ClubUna Rig55
Thomas Sandal1982Grafham Water Sailing ClubUna Rig66
Christian Mash1939Grafham Water Sailing ClubUna Rig77
Jason Clarke1917Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig88
George Love2019Carsington Sailing ClubUna Rig99
Kevin Kirby2020Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1010
Ed Tuite Dalton2023Draycote Water Sailing ClubUna Rig1111
Steve Healy1921Thorpe Bay Yacht ClubUna Rig1212
Rob Bailey1755Thorpe Bay Yacht ClubUna Rig1313
Paul Grattage1957East Down Yacht ClubUna Rig1414
Nigel James2015Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1515
Peter Richardson1983Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1616
Jon Pearse1988Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1717
Gordon Goldstone2004Queen Mary Sailing ClubUna Rig1818
Andy Perks1428Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1919
John Manning1955Beaver Sailing ClubUna Rig2020
Yvonne Pike1220Shanklin Sailing ClubUna Rig2121
Donald Sloan1240Brightlingsea Sailing ClubUna Rig2222
Rhys Atkins1133Grafham Water Sailing ClubUna Rig2323
Dave Clarke1339Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig2424
Derek James1744Draycote Water Sailing ClubUna Rig2525
David Warnock2008RYAUna Rig2626
Ray Gall1914Carsington Sailing ClubUna Rig2727
Simon Hare2026Oxford Sailing ClubUna Rig2828