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1) Event News: TT at Grafham Water Sailing Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 5th March 2024 at 19:15 pm)

The day saw near perfect non-sailing conditions with a frosty start and next to no breeze at all for the 2024 Chris Black Icicle.  However a bunch of enthusiastic & optimistic travellers arrived in good time to prepare themselves for a day afloat with a somewhat diminished local Grafham Water Dart 15 fleet, making on the day attendance 11 boats from 16 entries.  Nigel & Fiona Denchfield along with Grafham Laser sailor Pete Windsor were our race officers for the day ably assisted by the efficient mark laying team supplied by GWSC.  A trapezoidal course was set that also enabled club racing to have a windward/leeward course where all boats converged on mark 4, making for interesting mark rounding.

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2) Event News: TT at Datchet Sailing Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 20th February 2024 at 21:56 pm)

The Dart 15 Winter Series continued with its fourth Winter TT at Datchet Water Sailing Club.   The February TT does not have a great track record – with several years lost to either Covid or storm force winds and last year’s event only just managed to take place in a mere 3 to 4 knots and freezing temperatures.  So the fourteen competitors were delighted to arrive at Datchet to a decent breeze and mild temperatures.

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3) Event News: TT at Draycote Water Sailing Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 16th January 2024 at 11:27 am)

10 travellers joined 6 home boats. Team Marconi turned up in force and it was good to see recently new travellers Lee Garton and Christophe Clarke visiting Draycote for the first time in the series. Iain Taylor had had a car malfunction so messaged us to say he would try for races 2 and 3.

We had the predicted weather of blue sky 5-10 mph wind and very bright sunshine.

The race officers Tim Case and Richard Cowell gave their briefing and as they have been regular ROs for the fleet and the fact Dart 15 sailors are a friendly bunch the questions were brief.

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4) Event News: TT at Rutland Water Sailing Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 13th December 2023 at 10:11 am)

The second event of the Dart 15 Winter Series took place at Rutland Water on Sunday 10th December.  Despite the 50 knot winds on the Saturday, there was a weather window in the forecast for Sunday which encouraged ten competitors to turn up and take part in the event.

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5) Event News: TT at Stewartby Water Sports Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 12th November 2023 at 20:54 pm)

With a forecast of variable (5-10 mph) winds and sunshine, a pleasant day was on the cards for the nineteen entries to the first Dart 15 TT of the Winter Series.

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6) Event News: Summer Series Summer 2023 Series - End of Series Report
(Article Published: 19th October 2023 at 18:13 pm)

The Dart 15 annual racing calendar comprises 5 Winter TTs, 2 National Championships and 5 Summer TTs.  This year’s summer events took place at Marconi, Rutland, North Devon, Carsington and Grafham.

Unsurprisingly, given the nature of our sport, the weather was a key feature of our Summer Series events again this year.  Last year, prolonged drought meant the tide was well and truly out at some of our reservoir locations which impacted that latter end of our summer season.

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7) Event News: Summer Series TT at Grafham Water Sailing Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 16th October 2023 at 21:32 pm)

Grafham Water Sailing Club hosted the Gill Dart 15 Inland Championship 2023 over the weekend of 14th & 15th October, with a turnout of 19 Dart 15 sailors drawn to GWSC given a sunny & sometimes breezy weather forecast leading up to the event.  The ever efficient race officers & Dart 15 aficionados were Fiona & Nigel Denchfield assisted on the water by the renowned Grafham mark layers and rescue boat drivers/crews who between them put on a superb race course with swift race turnarounds and optimum racing angles.  6 races were scheduled with 3 each day, however the softening breeze made it an easy decision for race management to elect 4 races on Saturday & 2 on Sunday.

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8) Event News: Summer Series Sport Nationals at Shanklin Sailing Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 25th September 2023 at 14:05 pm)

Started with a whimper and finished with a roar

The first day of the Dart 15 Sport National Championship started in perfect sailing weather with a flat, dark blue sea, force 4 and wall to wall sunshine.  Twenty-nine boats entered including eighteen from the host club.

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9) Event News: Summer Series TT at Carsington Sailing Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 12th September 2023 at 17:56 pm)

Eight Dart 15 travellers joined four members of the home club to compete in the picturesque setting of Carsington Water on the edge of the Peak District. 

August had been a wet and often wild month across Derbyshire but this race weekend saw baking hot sunshine but with it very light winds.  This led to testing conditions out on the racecourse with changes in wind direction, small pockets of breeze that competitors hoped to exploit and a high degree of concentration required to cross the finish line.

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10) Event News: Summer Series Nationals at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club - Race Report
(Article Published: 21st July 2023 at 09:34 am)

This year is the forty-fifth anniversary of the UKs best loved small cat and also heralded a welcome return to the name Dart 15.  The National Championships were held at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club in Essex and saw a very healthy entry of forty-six boats, including a strong showing from the home fleet.

With a fairly early start on Saturday morning due to the tides, the majority of the fleet arrived on Friday and some took advantage of a Coaching Session provided by Tom Phipps from Windsport International on Friday morning.

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