Twenty-two competitors travelled to the coast of North Devon to race in the Southern Championship in the Dart 15 Summer Series.
As ever, the west country estuary location was stunning and a home fleet which sails almost exclusively sport mode (with a trapeze and a jib) rather than Una Rig awaited travellers from a variety of locations across England. A particularly strong contingent appeared from Marconi in Essex including David Clarke bringing his daughter Jemma and son Jason on a West country mini break for the first time.
The Saturday dawned with everything in place other than the wind. A very light Easterly wind F1 and F2 was forecast but there was enough to leave the beach and try and race a trapezoid course set by the Race Officer, Jonathan Miles.
The wind was so light that some were struggling with the conditions and the Race Officer had to call some 8 boats back to the start, seven of which had not made the windward mark on lap 2.
One third of the fleet were struggling to lay mark five... and even some of those that had, were then being pushed back from the gate line - so the RO chose to 'abandon' the second lap and count the results from leg one.
With the tide now ripping out, sailing was abandoned for the rest of the day.
Their was no doubt that in the light conditions the Una rigs were the boat to sail, with Ian Mounce leading the Sport Mode boats with two top 10 finishes.
Sunday dawned looking as though it would be just as light as Saturday. After a short postponement a gentle westerly sea breeze gradually came in.
So, at the start of the last race, Liam and Angus were level on points but Liam had a strong position by virtue of his slightly stronger discard. Angus would need to finish ahead of Liam and in first or second place.
Liam sailed the last race as a match race and covered Angus all race and just pipped Ed to fourth on the water, third overall and so secured the event win.
Angus crossed outside the top three so had to settle for second overall. Jenny finished fourth on the water, and third on corrected time, and so secured third overall for the event with Ed in fourth.
It was another successful event for North Devon Yacht Club, although unusually for Instow, with light conditions over both days. Hopefully for some, more normal conditions will take place with too much wind rather than sunburn in 2024, when it is planned that NDYC will host the Dart 15 Sport Mode Nationals over 3 days.
Next stop for the Dart 15's is the Nationals at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club from the 15th July, 2023.
Overall Results:
Pos Helm Sail No Club R1 R2 R4 R5 R6 Pts
1st Liam Thom 2034 Shanklin SC 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 3rd 6
2nd Angus Cook 1989 NDYC 3rd 1st 2nd 1st 6th 7
3rd Jenny Ball 2025 Marconi SC 6th 3rd 4th 4th 2nd 13
4th Edward Tuite Dalton 2023 Draycote Water SC 9th 4th 3rd 5th 4th 16.5
5th Jason Clarke 1917 Marconi SC 5th 14th 5th 7th 1st 18
6th Yvonne Pike 1965 Shanklin SC 2nd 12th 6th 5th 8th 21.5
7th Hector Bunclark 1951 NDYC 8th 5th 8th 3rd 7th 23
8th Steve Sawford 2033 Rutland SC 4th 6th 12th 8th 10th 28
9th Jan Elfring 2030 Draycote Water SC 7th 7th 9th 10th 13th 33
10th Jon Pearse 2035 Marconi SC 13th 10th 7th 12th 11th 40
11th Jes Firth 1615 NDYC 11th RET 10th 15th 5th 41
12th David Clarke 1776 Marconi SC 17th 11th 11th 11th 9th 42
13th DEREK JAMES 1940 Draycote Water SC 12th RET 13th 9th 14th 48
14th Ray Gall 2028 Carsington SC 16th 8th DNC 13th 12th 49
15th Ian Mounce 1908 NDYC 10th 9th 18th 18th 17th 54
16th Jemma Clarke 1339 Marconi SC 14th RET 14th 14th 15th 57
17th Liam Bunclark 1932 NDYC 15th RET 15th 16th 16th 62
18th Keith Heason 1424 / 1912 NDYC 19th RET 16th 17th 18th 70
19th Sam Heaton 1972 NDYC 18th 13th DNC DNC DNC 77
20th Jonathan Kilham 1871 NDYC RET RET 17th 19th 19th 78
21st Colin Sibthorpe 1256 NDYC RET RET 19th 20th 20th 82
22nd Charles Watson 1942 Yorkshire Dales SC DNC DNC DNC DNC DNC 92
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