Stewartby Water Sports Club TT : Winter Series
Saturday 3rd November 2018

The scene was set: Sunny, mild, force 3 to 5 and twenty three Sprints eagerly heading for the committee boat for the first start.

Race One : After a clean start Paul Grattage (Shanklin) led the way at the first mark followed by Ed Dalton (Draycote) and Jason Clarke (Marconi). The first two held their positions for the first three laps with Paul creating a comfortable gap behind him. Second to fifth positions were hotly contested with Ed, Robert Finch (Stewartby), Liam Thom (Shanklin), Jon Pearse (Marconi) vying for places. Jenny Ball (Marconi) however, progressively gained places lap-by-lap to take second behind Paul, followed closely by Liam.

Race 2 : The wind was up and Robert Finch started well and accelerated away from the fleet leading by a good margin at the first mark. After lap one, Stuart Snell (Grafham) was in second place followed very closely by Jenny Ball, Liam Thom, George Love (Carsington) and Nigel James (Marconi). Robert was in a race of his own out in front, whilst the followers fought tooth and nail for their places. Paul Grattage, mid fleet at the first mark kept gaining places as the race progressed. Then in lap four he overhauled Liam Thom for second. With the wind dropping, Robert no longer had the superior boat speed and Paul started to close in. The last lap was a nail biter for Robert with Paul hot on his tail. Then within yards of the finish, Paul nosed in front of Robert to take the gun with Liam third.

Race 3 : The wind shifted just prior to the start giving the line a strong port bias. A few boats arrived a little early causing some re-rounding and a deal of chaos up the line. Despite the start line fun, Paul Grattage was fastest after lap one followed by Robert Finch, Liam Thom and Jenny Ball. The gusts and shifts led to lots of place changing across the fleet but Paul and Robert held their top two places for three laps. Lap four however, saw Jonathan Finch (Stewartby) find his form,  coming from 14th in lap one to over-haul Robert for second. Jonathan was unable to make-up ground on the leader but successfully held-off the strong competition to maintain his second place behind Paul, followed by Stuart Snell in third.

 Stewartby Water Sports Club ensured no competitors left empty handed so all went home happy and hopefully looking forward to next year’s event. Thanks are due to Nigel and Fiona Denchfield for their excellent running of the races.

Report by Scott Wilcox.  Pictures by Nigel Denchfield.

Name Format Club Sail No R1 R2 R3 best 2 Place Fleet
Paul Grattage Unarig Shanklin SC 2018 1 1 1 2 1 1
Robert Finch Unarig Stewartby 1990 4 2 6 6 2 2
Liam Thom Unarig Shanklin 1957 3 3 7 6 3 3
Jenny Ball Unarig Marconi 2025 2 5 5 7 4 4
Stuart Snell Unarig Grafham 2022 6 4 3 7 5 5
Jonathan Finch Unarig Stewartby 1942 8 8 2 10 6 6
Ed Tuite Dalton Unarig Draycote Water 2023 7 23 ocs 4 11 7 7
Jon Pearse Unarig Marconi SC 1988 5 6 8 11 8 8
Steve Sawford Unarig Rutland SC 1733 9 7 23 dnf 16 9 9
Jason Clarke Unarig Marconi SC 1917 12 23 dnf 9 21 10 10
George Love Unarig Carsington 2019 23 dnc 9 12 21 11 11
Mark Norman Unarig Stewartby 1431 11 11 10 21 12 12
Nigel James Unarig Marconi SC 2015 10 10 15 25 13 13
Tim Browning Unarig Stewartby 1167 16 12 13 25 14 14
Scott Wilcox Unarig Stewartby 1359 19 16 11 27 15 15
David Clarke Unarig Marconi SC 1339 15 13 14 27 16 16
Derek James Sport Draycote 1744 13 17 16 29 17 1
Ray Gall Sport Carsington SC 1914 14 15 20 29 18 2
Andy Bunyan Unarig Stewartby 1546 17 14 18 32 19 17
Mark Patten Unarig Stewartby 527 20 19 17 36 20 18
Jon Neale Unarig Stewartby 879 18 18 19 36 21 19
Richard Page Unarig Stewartby 1343 21 20 23 dnf 42 22 20
Yvonne Pike Unarig Shanklin 1220 23 dnf 23 dnc 23 dnc 46 23 21




Results:


Full Series Results available here



Una Fleet
CompetitorsEvent Placings
NameSailClubFormatHandicap PlaceFleet Place
Paul Grattage2018East Down Yacht ClubUna Rig11
Robert Finch1990Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig22
Liam Thom1957Shanklin Sailing ClubUna Rig33
Jenny Ball2025Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig44
Stuart Snell2022Grafham Water Sailing ClubUna Rig55
Jon Finch1942Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig66
Ed Tuite Dalton2023Draycote Water Sailing ClubUna Rig77
Jon Pearse1988Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig88
Steve Sawford1733Rutland Water Sailing ClubUna Rig99
Jason Clarke1917Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1010
George Love2019Carsington Sailing ClubUna Rig1111
Nigel James2015Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1212
Mark Norman1431Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig1313
Tim Browning1167Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig1414
Scott Wilcox1359Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig1515
Dave Clarke1359Marconi Sailing ClubUna Rig1616
Andy Bunyan1546Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig1917
Mark Patten527Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig2018
Jon Neale879Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig2119
Richard Page1343Stewartby Water Sports ClubUna Rig2220
Yvonne Pike1220Shanklin Sailing ClubUna Rig2321
Sport Fleet
CompetitorsEvent Placings
NameSailClubFormatHandicap PlaceFleet Place
Derek James1744Draycote Water Sailing ClubSport171
Ray Gall1914Carsington Sailing ClubSport182