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.