Sharpie British Championship at Bosham Sailing Club

by Nicky Chapple 5 Jul 2012 14:57 BST 30 June - 1 July 2012

Sharpie Championships at Bosham © Nicky Chapple

Sharpies seize the moments to race at Bosham

Chichester Harbour served up some demanding conditions for the thirty-strong international fleet of Sharpies last weekend. Bosham Sailing Club hosted the British Championships this year and organised Olympic-format racing for these venerable boats. Racing took place between Pilsey Island and East Head spit with a big tide and plenty of wind.

These beautiful wooden boats dating from the early 1930s were up for the challenge of Force 6 winds on Saturday and Force 5 winds on Sunday. Crews came from Germany, Holland as well as the north Norfolk coast to join local boats and braved rain and wind on Saturday on the outward route from Bosham and enjoyed a sunny and breezy ride back up the channel on Sunday afternoon for prize-giving and tea at the Sailing Club.

The club hummed all weekend with crews and spectators who were entertained on Friday by Dawn Gracie’s Vintage Do playing popular songs from the heyday of the class and on Saturday by Bosham-based Jazz Smugglers led by John Winkler also playing exquisite compositions from the same era. Classic vintage was the mood. On the water there was some fierce competitive sailing. The wind and waves produced soma dramatic action as the twenty foot gaff rigged veteran boats hammered around the course.

The championship was won by Chris & Tim Gibbs from Wells Sailing Club and second were Klaus Eisenblaetter and Swen-Owe Baumgartner from Germany. Third was Dann Versteeg and Arnold Mulderij from Holland. Bosham Club members gave strong support to all the visitors, by laying on some cracking racing, providing accommodation and helping to make the parties go with a swing.

Anyone looking to get into classic racing dinghies should contact the club and in particular look out for the next big vintage racing event on 22nd-23rd September.

Overall Results: (top ten, 30 entries)
If you finished in the top ten at the Sharpie nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

Pos	Nat	Sail No	Boat Name	Owner	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	GBR	77	Maid of Arnhem	Chris Gibbs	Tim Gibbs	1	1	2	3	2	1	7
2	GER	377	Bunyip	Klaus Eisenblaetter	Swen-Owe Baumgartner	2	3	5	1	1	2	9
3	NED	14	Jan van Galen	Daan Versteeg	Arnold Mulderij	3	2	1	2	3	5	11
4	NED	137	plasjager	eric verkaik	patrick verkaik	5	6	3	4	5	6	23
5	GBR	2	Tela	Ben Cracknell	Sally Wynne	4	5	4	6	9	4	23
6	NED	226	Fuut	Richard Mulderij	Alastair Ogle	9	8	6	10	8	7	38
7	GBR	127	Skybird	Adam Anthony	Gerard Barron	8	13	7	9	7	8	39
8	NED	135H	krek wak wou	dennis van vliet	ton van berkel	7	31	31	5	4	3	50
9	GBR	135	Poelsnip	Martin Read	Ollie Read	31	10	8	14	10	13	55
10	GBR	129	Madrigal	Richard Cracknell	David Pentney-Smith	12	12	31	12	12	9	57
11	GBR	118	Cymba	Simon Neale	Kieron Scillitoe	15	14	11	17	17	15	72
12	GBR	111	Southern Cross	Charles Borthwick	Tim Ashby	14	31	12	16	16	14	72
13	GBR	12	Rock-a-bye	James Case	Jimmy Goodley	6	4	9	31	31	31	81
14	GBR	133	Ghost	Paul Goakes	Jed Richter	13	9	10	18	31	31	81
15	GBR	61	Vixen	Jim Crossland	Sarah Crossland	11	11	31	15	15	31	83
16		112	Rudolph	Nick Gates	Nick Phillips	31	15	13	20	19	16	83
17	GBR	105	Rose of Sharon	Will Ellison	James Tate	31	31	31	8	14	11	95
18	NED	174	Donderstien	Bart Versteeg	Henk van Dorst	31	31	31	11	13	10	96
19	GBR	15	Redwing	Chris Hardy	Alan Coe	31	31	31	13	11	12	98
20	GBR	9	Annamarie	Paddy Spink	John Ellison	31	31	31	7	6	31	106
21	GBR	136	Rakker	Claudia Spink	Tim Andrews	10	7	31	31	31	31	110
22	GBR	92	Garganey	Dick Pratt	Anne Rehill	31	31	31	19	18	31	130
23	GBR	16	Titania	bob curtis	cheryl crawford	31	31	31	31	31	31	155
23	GBR	69	Adventurer	Robert Wynne	William Wynne	31	31	31	31	31	31	155
23	GBR	75	Cassiopea	Ben Goakes	Gemma Goakes	31	31	31	31	31	31	155
23	GBR	96	Tempest	Jim McEwen	Geoff Palmer	31	31	31	31	31	31	155
23	GER	122	Very Old	Uwe Peters	Guenter Daubenmerkl	31	31	31	31	31	31	155
23	GBR	124	ULA	Andrew Graham	Helen Graham	31	31	31	31	31	31	155
23	GBR	128	Capella	Alex Smith	Paul Beachell	31	31	31	31	31	31	155
23	GBR	134	Poesje	Brian Lambert	Tim Adams	31	31	31	31	31	31	155