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.