Gurnard Sailing Club: Sport Nationals
Friday 15th - Sunday 17th June 2007

Windsport Catparts Sprint 15 Sport National Championship 2007 Gurnard Sailing Club, Isle of Wight

Report by: Carl Blenkinsop Picture by: Paul Wyeth

The 2007 Windsport Catparts Sprint 15 Sport National Championships were hosted by Gurnard Sailing Club on the Isle of Wight on the 15-17th June.

32 boats entered which was a bit down on past years, mainly due to the lack of the Bob Carter effect. The visiting competitors came from seven different clubs with the usual good turn out from North Devon and Carsington and a couple of new faces from Queen Mary’s. Due to Bob’s illness, his son and present champion George was not attending meaning that a new champion was to be crowned.

Racing started on the Friday in a fresh breeze, and Robin Leather made his intentions clear as he comfortably led the fleet around a choppy Solent. He was followed by experienced Dart 18 helm David Lloyd from Stokes Bay in second and Kevin Dutch from Seasalter in third. Hobie Tiger Sailor, Dougie Wright, in a borrowed boat had his moment of glory in race 2 when, after a perfect start he found himself first at the windward mark. It didn’t last and the same boats finished in the top two places but this time with Tom Gall from Carsington in third. In similar conditions on Saturday the course included a wonderful reach across the Solent and back, and Gurnard’s Carl Blenkinsop built a massive lead. However, his boat began to suffer gear failure and he was pipped on the line by Robin Leather with another local Ed Low in third. The wind increased for race 4 and Race Officer Steve Cole reverted to a more inshore upwind downwind course. Once again Leather won, this time followed by Laurie Gustar and Kevin Dutch. Whilst the fleet was ashore having lunch the wind increased to force six and the tide turned causing the Solent to become very interesting. The number of participants for race 5 was reduced but capsizing was inevitable making it a great spectator sport. Gustar and Blenkinsop led the way out into the rough stuff whilst other helms opted for the safer inshore route. Only fourteen boats crossed the finish line with Carl Blenkinsop taking line honours with Laurie Gustar second and Kevin Dutch again in third.

There were lighter winds for the last 2 races on Sunday and in a strong flooding tide the fleet beat up the shore. Laurie Gustar, Tom Gall and Robin Leather reached the windward mark ahead of the pack and after turning down tide they pulled away and kept their positions over the finish line.

For the final race Steve Cole set a longer beat and a fetch out to the middle of the Solent to allow room for the club racing. Laurie Gustar and Tom Gall again pulled away but were hunted down by Robin Leather who took them on the final mark to enable him to record an unbeatable five firsts. The podium places were filled with Gurnard Sailors – with Robin Leather first, Laurie Gustar second and Carl Blenkinsop third.

At the prize giving the Class Association trophies were awarded along with four prints from a local artist of Gurnard beach scenes. WHIC Insurance man David Lloyd finished fourth overall and took home a picture.

The Pro-Am competition was won by Robert Way and Laurie Gustar. Laurie, wanted a cup so badly, he ensured that he had a DNF on the first race to make him an Amateur. The Windsport vouchers went to Tom Gall and Robert England from Carsington and to the boat Borrower Dougie Wright.

At the Saturday evening meal, Robin’s wife Boo arranged a raffle, with donations from local businesses and the unwanted present cupboard. This provided great entertainment and £90 for the RNLI.

All competitors agreed that the weekend was a huge success. Much praise was aimed at the GSC race officers, the hospitality of the newly opened Outlook Café at Gurnard Marsh and to Mother Nature for finally coming up with perfect sailing conditions.

The results from the event are listed here:

There were TWO discards for the event indicated by ().

Robin Leather - Sprint 15 Sport National Champion 2007
Robin Leather - Sprint 15 Sport National Champion 2007

Results:

Click for: Full Results with all Sub-Competitions

OVERALL RESULTS
Competitors Races - 7 of 7 Sailed (No. of Discards: 2) Event Placings
Name Sail ClubRace 1Race 2Race 3Race 4Race 5Race 6Race 7Points Place
Robin Leather1952Gurnard Sailing Club1 1 1 1 5 3 1 51
Laurie Gustar1990Gurnard Sailing Club30 5 4 2 2 1 3 122
Carl Blenkinsop1974Gurnard Sailing Club4 7 2 4 1 5 6 163 ¹
David Lloyd1905RYA2 2 5 6 4 4 4 164 ¹
Tom Gall1226Carsington Sailing Club5 3 9 30 6 2 2 185
Kevin Dutch1938Seasalter Sailing Club3 4 8 3 3 30 16 216
Ed Low1923Gurnard Sailing Club11 9 3 5 10 6 5 287
Erling Holmberg2007Shanklin Sailing Club8 6 12 8 11 13 8 418
Ray Gall1914Carsington Sailing Club10 14 11 7 13 8 21 499
Dougie Wright1458Gurnard Sailing Club30 11 14 30 8 12 7 5210
M Scott1220Gurnard Sailing Club15 10 10 9 30 10 22 5411
Sam Heaton205North Devon Yacht Club7 17 15 13 7 26 14 5612
Robert Way1526North Devon Yacht Club13 12 7 30 30 15 13 6013 ¹
Chris Murphy1295Gurnard Sailing Club9 20 22 12 9 21 10 6014 ¹
Dave Casale1963Queen Mary Sailing Club30 19 6 10 30 11 24 7015
George Love1825Carsington Sailing Club6 8 30 30 30 16 11 7116
Pat Jennings1441Gurnard Sailing Club30 16 16 17 14 17 9 7217
Annette Maddison1638North Devon Yacht Club16 15 23 30 30 9 12 7518
Micheal Palmer-Head1951North Devon Yacht Club12 13 30 30 30 7 15 7719
D Kingsland1365Gurnard Sailing Club17 18 20 30 12 14 20 8120
Keith Heason1424North Devon Yacht Club21 22 13 11 30 22 25 8921
Tony Wyeth1529Gurnard Sailing Club18 21 18 14 30 25 26 9622
Michelle Fisher1357Gurnard Sailing Club19 30 30 16 30 18 19 10223
Robert England1351Carsington Sailing Club14 30 30 30 30 23 17 11424
David Warren1711North Devon Yacht Club30 23 21 15 30 30 30 11925
George Wood1908Grafham Water Sailing Club20 30 17 30 30 24 30 12126
Derek Morris1347Gurnard Sailing Club30 30 19 30 30 20 23 12227
Micheal Rainer1976North Devon Yacht Club30 30 30 30 30 19 18 12728
Alex Varnava1800Queen Mary Sailing Club30 30 30 30 30 30 30 15029