Dart 18s Grand Prix Event 1 at Bognor Regis Yacht Club
by Matt Pullen 4 Apr 2006 07:27 BST
1-2 April 2006
Tricky launching for the Dart 18s at Bognor Regis © Geoffrey Lloyd
The first weekend of April saw the Dart 2006 Grand Prix circuit commence at Bognor Regis. Competitors travelled from all over the UK and were greeted with blue skies and 20-25 knots of wind, providing perfect conditions for a weekend of catamaran sailing.
The first hurdle for the sailors was launching the boats through the shore dump. Once this was overcome the days racing got underway with all races having clean starts. The wind increased throughout the races and pushed all competitors to their limits. The days sailing was dominated by Matt Pullen and Debs Rickard, team ‘Gul’, who got first places in all three races. Second place went to Dan Norman and Cathrin Farthing on all three occasions. Tired competitors were helped ashore by the fantastic shore crew of Bognor Regis Yacht Club. Boats were pulled up the shore and the cold sailors were warmed with mugs of soup!
Competitors awoke Sunday morning with a forecast of 25-35 knots. The wind was 30 knots by 9:30am and the race committee thus abandoned the days racing. This gave Matt and Debs the overall victory followed by Dan and Cathrin in second and Jamie Lynch & Rachel Hodgkinson in third.
Credit must be given to BRYC for hosting a great event in testing conditions, a very recommendable venue.
The Dart 18 Grand Prix series now moves on to the traditional Easter Weekend meeting at Dee SC.
Overall Results:
1st Matt Pullen & Debs Rickard (Restronguet) 7770 "Gul"
2nd Dan Norman & Cathrin Farthing (Whitstable) 7788
3rd Jamie Lynch & Rachel Hodgkinson (Newhaven & Seaford) 7838
4th Stuart Snell & Martin Stevens (Grafham) 7700
5th Abby Ledger & Andy Morse (Whitstable) 6545