Marconi hosted a very successful Dart 15 Summer TT – attracting a record breaking 33 entries! A superb home turnout of 16 boats were joined by 17 visitors from all over the UK including Isle of Wight, North Devon, Derby, the Midlands and closer to home from Thorpe Bay and Stone.
Despite challenging weather conditions both ashore and afloat – the full series of six races was completed over the weekend with racing to a very close standard. Shifting light to medium winds and spring tides made for lots of interesting tactical decisions both on the start line and all round the race course on both days. There were three different race winners and the overall event went down to the final race.
In addition to the racing, participants enjoyed an excellent Saturday evening meal courtesy the galley team. This was followed by a very interesting racing debrief from Tom Phipps – a previous Olympic campaigner and current coach for the British America’s Cup Women and Youth Team as well as running Windsport International, the official Dart 15 manufacturer and supplier. Tom had watched the Saturday racing from a RIB and gave a really helpful session of insights, hints and tips to help improve our racing techniques.
Marconi sailors put in a very strong performance taking 2nd, 4th, 5th, 9th and 10th and winning three of the six races. A massive thank you to our external guest Race Officers Nigel and Fiona Denchfield and the army of Marconi volunteers both ashore and afloat who made the event such a success – the club has received lots of positive feedback from visitors to the event.
You can read more about the event on Yachts and Yachting online – https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/261098/Dart-15-Summer-TT-at-Marconi
A full set of excellent pictures courtesy of Paul Metcalfe and Howard Rogers can be found on the Dart 15 website: https://dart15.co.uk/gallery.php
