F18 TT at Datchet Water Sailing Club

F18 TT at Datchet Water © Barry Peters

F18 TT at Datchet Water © Barry Peters

The first F18 TT of the year was at Datchet Water over the weekend. With a perfect forecast of 20 knots on Saturday and 10-15 knots on Sunday 11 teams turned up to brave the cold water and enjoy some fantastic and tight racing over both days.

Four races were scheduled for both days and with the 20knts of tipicaly shifty datchet breeze correctly predicted for Saturday racing was around short courses and pretty punishing racing for all crews.

First race of the year was fairly straight forward with David white and arron Reynolds leading for most the race only to be challenged in the last lap by Simon (Nobby) Northrop and josh o'brian which lead to a highly charged drag race to the finish. white and Reynolds where the victors, and grant Piggott and his new crew Adam Kay coming in third.

Race two saw Nobby and josh get the better of David and arron with William Sunnucks and Freddy white coming third, Paul Wakelin and Oli Grieber who are making a welcome return to the f18 fleet had a interesting race with a brief swim having gone over at the leeward gate (rookie mistake from an Rya coach but we'll let him off having not sailed f18s in quite a few years!). They decided to sit out the rest of the race and try again in race three.

In race three Grant and Adam got more up to speed and took the win with Nobby and josh second, David and Arron third.

Race four saw just five finishers with the heavy winds taking its toll on half the fleet, Nobby and josh were the victors with grant and Adam second and David and Arron third.

So after a hard day's racing everyone was treated to a nice refreshing beer whilst de-rigging and a good chat about a great days sailing. Rugby was the entertainment for the evening (if you were Irish), after the game we all headed off to the local carvery for dinner and a few beers!

Sunday dawned with a bit more sun and a bit less breeze with it all to play for amongst the top three teams Sunday was looking like it would be a bother great day out on the lake. The breeze was topically 'datchet' like with big holes of no pressure in random places. So the order of the day was to stay in the pressure!

F18 TT at Datchet Water - photo © Barry Peters

Two teams where able to do that the best. Nobby and Josh along with Grant and Adam were able to be the most consistent throughout the day, grant and Adam got three third places and a first whilst Nobby and josh were able to do just that bit better getting two firsts and two seconds. David and Arron were not so consistent having a mixed bag of results giving them a solid third place at the end of the day.

After an extremely enjoyable and great start to the year Nobby and Josh were the victors, Grant and Adam second and David and Arron third.

F18 TT at Datchet Water - photo © Barry Peters

Thanks to everyone at Datchet Water Sailing Club and the race officer Barry Peters for putting on a cracking event. And a big thank you for all the teams who travelled (some from quite a distance) for attending and making the UK F18 fleet one of the best and most competitive cat classes In the country.

Next up is Eurocat in Carnac on the 1st-3rd May. Which should see a large number of F18s with very competitive racing.

Eurocat should also see the first big gathering of foiling cats of the year which will make for and interesting event for those interested in the up and coming exciting world of foiling cats.

Overall Results: