Clubs Infomation: Grafham Water Sailing Club

Club Location Infomation:


Club Website:

https://www.grafham.org

Club Address:

Perry
Huntingdon
Cambridshire
PE28 0BU

Lat\Long Co-ordinates:

Latitude: 52.291306
Longitude: -0.314886

Number of Times This Club Has Won The Nationals Team Competition: 13

Grafham (near Huntingdon) provides some of the very best catamaran racing in the country and has been a powerhouse of the Sprint 15 Class. It fielded the biggest team at the National Championships for many years and has won the team championships more times than any other club. Grafham sailors have also won the National Championship more times than any other club though 4 different people. The largest ever non-nationals traveller event with 46 entries (19 from the home club) was also held at Grafham.

There are still many Sprint 15s at Grafham but quite a few are owned by fun/occasional sailors. The champagne days of racing with Bob and George Carter, Chris Black, Thomas Sandall (who is back in Denmark racing keel boats), Keith Ball, Steve Petts, Bob Rowntree, Kevin Morris, Richard Whitelock, Trevor Arnold, and many more are fondly remembered but we can still muster five times National Champion Stuart Snell, Simon Farthing (a past magazine editor and a frequent heavyweight champion winner), “Grubguru” Frank Sandells (back on 1986 regularly after playing with a F18), Mark Aldridge, Richard Philpott, Christian Mash, Kevin Cummerson and several more occasional sailors. Sprint 15s no longer dominate the catamaran fleet at Grafham, which has seen a resurgence of asymmetric cats, but our heart is still strong.

Grafham Water is 2 miles west of Buckden which is on the A1, midway between Stevenage and Stamford. It is a large man-made inland water with a maximum length of 3 miles and is 1.5 miles wide at its widest point. The water area is 1600 acres which gives ample space for all types of sailing and is particularly suitable for catamarans. The Sprint 15 fleet are a friendly bunch who support both club events and the Sprint 15 Association traveller series.

The Club runs a big Catamaran Open each year in late October and this is usually the Spint 15 Inland Championships and the last event of the Summer traveller series.

For more information on Grafham, ring the club office (01480 810478).
Grafham's Clubhouse