Sailing Reports

Sandhopper National Championships
June 2nd-3rd. 2007 at Thorpe Bay Yacht Club.

You’ve heard of Debenham’s ‘Blue Cross’ day, and ‘Red Nose Day’, well last Saturday was ‘Black Flag’ Day at the 2007 Sandhopper Nationals hosted by TBYC. Race Officer Howard Hawkes initiated this Rule during Day 1 of the Championships, catching several notable contestants out at the start of Race 2. The fleet consisted of 23 boats with two from our sister club Maylandsea Bay S.C. and they revelled in the excellent conditions for the first day’s sailing with ample wind & bright sun. The first day’s racing had hot favourite ‘Apollo’, the Flag Officers boat, being owned by the Treasurer, helmed by Rear-Commodore Paul Spratt & crewed by Commodore Gordon Sanders posting the first win of the series. They were followed home by ‘Squiffy’ - a past winner - sailed by Peter Thompson & Steve Hopper, with ‘Sandstorm’ helmed by Chris Clarke in third place. The infamous Race 2 ended with a first place for ‘Bluejacket’, an ever present in club racing achieving a well-deserved win, ‘Apollo’ & ‘Sandstorm’ filled the other two positions.

2007 National Champions Chris Clarke & Nic Reeves.
2007 National Champions Chris Clarke and Nic Barnes.

Sunday dawned with little wind & certainly no sun, however, by the time crews had rigged their boats the wind had filled in & we enjoyed a brisk sail out to the committee boat. The fresh wind will no doubt have helped those who had imbibed generously the night before at the Class supper! Race 3 gave Chris Clarke in ‘Sandstorm’ his first win of the series with ‘Apollo’ in second place followed home by ‘Squiffy’. In the final race ‘Sandstorm’ gained another win with Maylandsea’s Tom Dayes in ‘Emma’ getting a second and ‘Squiffy’ coming in third.

The overall winner and National Champions were Chris Clarke & Nic Barnes in ‘Sandstorm’ just beating ‘Apollo’ into second place with ‘Squiffy’ third and ‘Bluejacket 4th. The consistency of the top three boats is exemplified by the fact that after discards were taken into account, they shared 3 firsts, 3 seconds & 3 thirds between them. Tom Dayes’s ‘Emma’ was the top Maylandsea Sandhopper, other teams giving a good account of them selves were father & son John & Chris Boshier in ‘Sandpiper’ and ‘Little Wing’ sailed by David Johnson & Darrell Williams.

Chris Clarke & Nic Reeves receiving the winners trophy.
Chris Clarke and Nic Barnes receiving the winners trophy.

Tony Padbury
Class Captain

Place Sail No Boat Name Helm Crew Points
1 12 Sandstorm Chris Clarke  Nic Barnes 5
2 156 Apollo Paul Spratt Gordon Sanders 5
3 41 Squiffy Peter Thompson Steve Hopper 8
4 158 Satisfaction Phil Crawford Margaret Kennedy 12
5 154 Blue Jacket Peter Smith Brian Wells 14
6 15 Emma Tom Dayes Paul Wilkinson 16
7 150 Little Wing David Johnson Darrel Williams 16
8 21 Sandpiper John Bosher Chris Bosher 22
9 39 Windrush Tubby Duce The Font 27
10 38 Sprindrifter Brian Whstler Sally Ellingford 28
11 42 Bluebird David Hopper Mark Dell 30
12 151 On The Hop Sue Daley Will Daley 33
13 46 Talitrus Peter Blomfield John Evans 36
14 152 Sand Spirit Paul Clarke Toby Speller 37
15 11 Sandhopper Miek Thomason Kevin Kitson jones 38
16 10 True Blue Alan Jackson A. Wagg 41
17 14 Zeus Martin Binnendijk Nic Binnendijk 41
18 18 Phoenix Tony Padbury A. Metcalf 48
19 45 Sand Fly Paul Palmer Paul Farrell 49
20 23 Flying Tortoise Tony Burn Dominic Speller 50
21 32 Mirosab David Brook Stephan Smith 61
22 17 Beach Flea Joe Doyle Ken Carter 65
23 19 Katie Len Eastaugh Pat Easthaugh 72
Amended results after upheld appeal by S158 Phil Crawford.