Halifax Sprints on the TT trail

A report from Steve Tunnacliffe

During 2008, Halifax Sprint 15 sailors have put in a good show at the Summer Traveller series, which consists of one meeting a month over 6 weekends. Ben and Steve Tunnacliffe attended 5 out of the 6 of the events, being joined by most of the Sprint Fleet at Filey, where we put out 6 Halifax boats and 7 Sailors, Charles Watson & Elenya, Steve Davison, Dave Walker and Robin Boardman.

Charles Watson won the series, with Ben Tunnacliffe narrowly beating Dad Steve to 4th place on the handicap system.

It really is a good place to hone your skills and find out what other sprinters do, and where they sail on their normal weekend sailing. From Marconi in Essex with its tides that flow like a river and the enjoyable round the Island race, to the beauty of Carsington and the Derbyshire countryside, who boast one of the best club houses in the Country, to the large inland water of Grafham and the Catamaran Open where I guess the cats on the water would be around 130 ish. And from being the fastest boat on our pond to being just about the slowest at Grafham (depends on who is sailing it). I was a slow one that weekend, beaten soundly by son Ben, yet again, and most of the other Sprint 15s. The one time I was in front of Ben he was still closing me down. I even received a helping hand from a fellow sprint 15 competitor, who at the time was neck and neck with Ben whilst running down wind; both on Starboard with probably 6 feet between them in a building force 4, when the other guy jibed onto port and took a swipe at Ben who sustained a scratch in the gel coat (tough those Panthercraft built Sprints) with the other cat splitting his hull down the centre of the Bow and lifting the front 18 inch of his deck. Forcing a quick dash for shore for him as his hull gulped up gallons of water in every wave. 

Other TT events attended by Sprinters from Halifax included Marconi, Carsington and Grafham. The Nationals were attended by Robin Boardman who finished 6th and Charles and Elenya Watson who finished 23rd, out of a field of 61 sailors. With a combination of the two this is quite something for a small club like ours. 

For more information, log on to http://www.sprint15.com/. So go log on and see if you can pick out some sailors you know in the photo archive, and see for yourselves. 

Perhaps come and join in the Fun in 2009!