Frostbite Series 9 – 20th February 2022

Even windier than last Sunday with Storm Eunice coming through from the SW at 20-40 mph and even stronger gusts! There were 6 brave souls willing to give it a go.  

Pursuit Race

Not sure of the course, but there four laps before the 35 minute gun signaled the end of the race. Ron/Mirror was still leading at the end of the first lap with Chris K/Radial in 2nd place and Alessandro & Mike T/470 in 3rd. Both Roland/Solo and Tom M/Radial capsized before they had even completed one lap. Both boats got stuck in the lake bottom and Tom had to be fished out of the water and his boats rescued afterwards. Poor Roland managed to get back into his boat and carried on sailing the race only to have his tiller extension break at the very end of the race.

After two laps Chris K Had taken the lead but Ron was hanging on to 2nd place but another lap later Alessandro & Mike T had pushed him down to 3rd. Chris K held his lead to the finish, but declined the chance to gybe round 6!

At the gun the order was – 1st Chris K; 2nd Alessandro & Mike T; 3rd Ron; 4th Roland.

After the race ended SOOD Mark rescued Toms boat and sailed it back to shore, unfortunately getting a bang on the head from the boom in the process!  (However he was hailed the hero of the day by Hadey and AileenI

Handicap Race

With Roland’s Solo out of action and Tom still recovering the fleet was down to just three.

At the end of the first lap the order was 1st Chris K, 2nd Mike T & Alessandro; 3rd Ron and this did not change until the last lap. Ron hid behind the island for a brief respite and then managed two laps before capsizing over the buoy line.

On the last lap Chris K capsized rounding 6 (should have stuck to tacking round!) and let Mike T & Alessandro snatch victory on the water. Chris K did get going again to get a 2nd place finish.

Hero Mark sprang into action again to retrieve Ron’s Mirror!

On corrected time Chris K did take 1st place with Mike & Alessandro 2nd and Ron a DNF (not to be sniffed at in such a small fleet).

Well done lads for gallantry (and providing the entertainment).

Tektona sinks!

Just before this, as the second race was less eventful Mark and Rick went to check on Tectona. Sadly it had so much water in it from the storm that when Rick got on to fix something, it started slowly sinking. Rick was safely back in the power boat when Tektona finally went under about 10 minutes later. No one on shore could believe it – end of an era!

Rick has now sealed his place as the leading contender for the Capsize Cup (displacing James’s heroic feat of a couple of weeks ago).

Rick has the hat trick with capsizes in a Laser, RS200 and Tektona. He will go down in club history as the man who sunk Tektona and may even be known henceforth as Tektona Lindsley!

Thanks to SOOD and Super Hero Mark and the race team of Aileen, Chris Hilson, Hadey Lines, Nigel Dawson, Richard Flood and Tektona Lindsley.

Frostbite Series 8 – 13th February 2022

Another windy morning, blowing about 20 mph from the South with stronger gusts up to 30-35 mph. Rick set the first mark as A (just past Tektona), then 1, 2, 4, 8, 6, 7 and back through the start.

There were eight takers this week, but most of them took some precaution against the tricky conditions. Darren opted for a radial rig but was sailing to the full rig handicap. Chris H used his small sail on the Comet and Roland and Paul W used reefed sails. Chris Kilshaw was the only full rig Laser out today.

Before the race got underway the Scottish SB of Stewart and Scott had to retrieve the other SB from the bushes as a certain person (Jolly Sailor – best time to have a pseudonym) had not hitched it securely. Still the Scots have a lot of practice at rescuing lost causes (that’s blown the holiday at Dumfries again!).

Rick kindly fetched a chair for Hadey (still on crutches poor soul) so that she could sit down to record race positions.

Pursuit Race

At the end of the first lap Ron/Mirror was still leading and Darren/Laser was  2nd having caught Roland/Solo. Chris H/Comet was in 4th place ahead of Chris K/Laser, who had capsized rounding 6. Mike T & Alessandro/470 who were last to start were up to 6th and Paul W/Morbic was 7th. Mike C came to grief rounding No 4 and came in to retire.

On the second lap, Chris K capsized again, also when rounding No 4, but unfortunately found himself on the wrong side of the buoy line and had to sail all the way down to the gap past No 6!

At the 35 minute gun, the order was -1st Darren; 2nd Roland; 3rd Mike T & Alessandro; 4th Ron; 5th Chris H; 6th Paul W.  

Handicap Race

After a short break to give Chris H time to finish his elevenses, everyone got underway.

Not for long as Chris K went over about 5 seconds after starting, but undeterred he quickly got going again. Mike T & Alessandro were going well in the 470 and came though the line over a minute ahead of Darren in 2nd place. Chris K had recovered to 3rd place crossing the line just 10 seconds in front of Roland. Two minutes later Ron crossed in 5th with Chris H 30 seconds behind him and Paul W another 4 minutes later.

At the end of the second lap Mike T & Alessandro were still leading from Darren. Chris K came round 6 in 3rd place, but then had a mishap rounding 7, appeared to fall backwards and entertained the geese with a few choice words that they may not have heard before! This gave Roland the chance to cross the line in 3rd place. Meanwhile Ron was taking a breather by the buoy line and dropping his sail to test his uphaul and letting Chris H sneak past him. Paul W was still going and at one point even seemed to have his Morbic on the plane. Chris H, Ron and Paul were relieved of further travail after two laps.

No change in the order on the last lap with Mike T & Alessandro finishing in 1st place some 4 minutes ahead of Darren, who in turn was about two minutes ahead of Roland in 3rd place.

The order on the water was – 1st Mike & Alessandro; 2nd Darren; 3rd Roland, then one lap down 4th Chris H; 5th Ron; 6th Paul W and Chris K retired.

On corrected time this becomes –

1st Darren; 2nd Mike & Alessandro; 3rd Roland; 4th Ron; 5th Chris H; 6th Paul W

Thanks to SOOD Rick Lindsley and the race team of Alistair Scott, Chris Howie, Hadey Lines; Ian Stewart and Mike Arnott.

Frostbite Series 7 – 6th February 2022

After two light wind Sundays it was blowing a hoolie this morning! The BBC weather forecast had 20 mph with stronger gusts, but it may have been more than that. The safety boats were very busy and the OOD team (plus Ralph) were keeping a rough tally of capsizes as well as race positions.

Pursuit Race

Seven hardy souls set out and at the end of a lap Rhys/4.7 was in the lead with Chris K/Laser in 2nd place and Paul R/Aero 7 in 3rd. There had already been a number of capsizes and Chris H/Comet said it was the windiest he had ever sailed in and retired after only half a lap or so. Chris K/Laser also retired later in the race. The rest of the fleet persevered to complete the 35 minutes and the order at the gun was – 1st Darren/Laser; 2nd Rhys/4.7; 3rdPaul R/Aero 7; 4th Ed/Aero 5; 5th James/Laser

All the racers were incredibly brave to go out and some very talented sailors did remarkable well to only capsize once or twice.

Capsize Tally (approximate – may have been a few missed!)

James            17

Rhys               4

Chris K           3

Paul R            3

Chris H           2

Darren            1

Ed                   1

Full marks for perseverance go to James P who somehow had the energy to finish the race despite capsizing approximately 17 times! Don’t know how he did it, but definitely the leading contender for the Capsize Cup.

The Handicap Race did not run as everyone decided to come off the water after the first race, apart from Paul and Ed in the Aeros. Well you have to be a bit mad to sail an Aero anyway!

Well done to everyone for facing such challenging conditions.

Thanks to SOOD Steve Sharp and the race team of Aileen, Dave Royse, Carsten Pieser, Colin Heaven, Mike Caton, Nigel Lacey and Ralph Page.