Chichester Yacht Club Magazine January 2018 | Page 10
Frozen toe 3&4 in bright sunshine and light wind - by Mark Green
After the rain of Saturday, Sunday
started with beautiful bright sunshine
but very little wind. As the competitors
arrived, the lake was a mirror with just
a few areas with wind ripples. As the
race team prepared for the event, the
wind gradually filled in from a westerly
direction.
The race officer, Pete Harrison, set a
simple trapezium course for the fast
and medium fleets, and a triangle for
the slow fleet.
In the first race, the 17 boats in the
fast fleet started with a few boats over
the line, quickly given the all clear as
they dipped back through the line.
A large medium fleet of 27 boats pressed the
line at the committee boat end leaving some
boats squeezed onto the wrong side of the
committee boat.
Pete had judged the length of the course
perfectly, with the Slow fleet getting away
before the fast fleet returned at the end of their
first lap. The slow fleet was 12 boats
containing a mixture of Toppers, Bytes and
Laser 4.7s.
The light wind and strong tide forced the
competitors to concentrate on every shift in
wind direction. A number of competitors were
caught out at the windward mark and had to
tack again to make it round.
Over the two races, the Merlins of Will and
Mary Henderson and of Alex Jackson and
Mark Oakley took a win each in the fast fleet.
Felpham’s Guy Mayger maintained his
unbeaten run with two first places in the
medium fleet followed by CYC’s
Charlie Porter in the first race
and CYC’s Tim Boon in the
second. In the Slow Fleet
Felpham’s Dylan Collier just
beat Felpham’s Jill Gill in her
Byte CII by a second after the
handicap was applied.
The following Chichester Yacht
Club frozen toe race was on the
3rd December.
Full results are available on the
club website with photos from
the event.
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