Club Racing
There was an extra-special turnout of 22 boats for the club racing on Sunday, August 12. Fine weather brought out 11 local members: 11 early arrivals for the Dart 15 National Championships joined in for some extra practice. They were very much in evidence, one of these 15-foot catamarans travelling fast takes up a lot of sea room, 11 of them filled the bay with no trouble at all, making a fine spectacle for the many visitors as they circled the sailing club's inshore course. On corrected time, the first five Darts were faster than the leading Saundersfoot sailor, but this can be regarded only as a consolation prize when seen in context of their overall championship result reported below. In the local club race, which counted towards the Club Championship series, Paul Griffiths (Laser) beat Mark Tissiman (Fireball) by only 17 seconds on corrected time, with A. N. Other (Laser 2000) third and Junior Champion Ben Dancer (Topper) again taking a creditable fourth place.
Dart 15 Sprint National Championships -
Over the week (Monday, August 13 - Friday, August 17), Saundersfoot Sailing Club played host to the annual championship of the Dart 15 class - a versatile catamaran which will make a £5,500 hole in your bank balance should you be unable to resist the lure of such a desirable way of going to sea. At least 54 sailors have not only failed to resist, but also invested more time and money in transporting them from all over the country to a week's sailing in the far west - the list of runners shows members of sailing clubs in Kent, Isle of Wight and Yorkshire, among others, and many of them were here when the Dart 15s last came to Saundersfoot nine years ago. They started the week with a series of 'fun' days, one of which took the fleet to Caldey Island, and another day on to go-karts, before they got down to serious racing Wednesday to Friday. One of the attractions of Saundersfoot as a venue for dinghy regattas is the facility to accommodate visiting boats on the beach - that is the theory. The theory works very well until a visiting championship coincides with spring tides. Plan B is to migrate to Coppet Hall beach hauling the boats up and down to the field in front of the hotel. Great idea, but Dart 15s are so big they require a four-man haulage team and their masts tangle with the overhanging trees unless they follow a tortuous route up the bank. Every day's sailing started and finished with a major haulage exercise, but Dart 15 Class members are invariably of the most equable temperament and indifferent to these irritations. The almost perfect sailing weather laid on by Saundersfoot Sailing Club in total defiance of a doom-laden weather forecast also contributed to the general goodwill. Their equable temperament was evident in other ways. For the final day's racing, they chose a P- shaped course which involved the usual triangular course, but which then gave competitors the option of rounding either a port mark or starboard mark before converging on opposite tacks, not once, but twice, before returning to Indian file. The opportunities for violent collision, oaths, fisticuffs and general bad blood must have been legion, but somehow they didn't happen. As a final demonstration of affability, their championship was won by George Carter, son of the longtime Class secretary Bob Carter, and whose winning score was 1-1-1-1-1-1-1, but nobody seemed to mind at all. This is a class which specialises in prizes for everybody - fastest, oldest, youngest, not to mention generous libations for the club officials in recognition of the work involved - all very civilised and an enjoyable week for all concerned.
August Bank Holiday Regatta
Weather permitting (and who can tell these days), the Annual Regatta will be held tomorrow (Saturday), together with that race officers nightmare - the Round Caldey Race on Sunday. The Saturday race is scheduled for a 3 pm start and the Caldey race is due off at 11 am. Commodore John Hollies and sailing captain Paul Griffiths need a final tranche of volunteers to help run the races and the clubhouse, so one last heave from everybody, then all can relax - er - until the start of the Frostbite Series.
Ancient Mariner