Crewsaver Tipsy Icicle Series 2014 at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Day 7
by Paul Heath 19 Feb 2014 20:28 GMT
16 February 2014
At last, with a forecast of a break from the high winds and heavy rain proving correct, the competitors at this weekend's Crewsaver sponsored Tipsy Icicle series at Leigh & Lowton sailing club were greeted to a day of sunshine, a moderate amount of breeze and no rain!
For what seemed like the umpteenth Sunday running the wind was again from the south west as 82 boats launched and headed down to the bottom end of the water for another long upwind sail. During the first race the average wind speed was 9 knots with the occasional 18 knot gusts.
Again the 26 strong Laser fleet led the way and so keen were they that Greg Marshall (West Lancs YC) was deemed to be OCS and had to return as the rest of the fleet made their way upwind. Greg hit the turbo button and caught up with the leaders and the race at the front became a battle between the top three in the series. In the end Marshall managed to get to the front and hold off the challenges of Graham McWhirter (UKLA) who finished second and Jack Hopkins (Delph SC) third while a new entrant to the series, and his first time in a Laser for a long time, Chris Wheeler (LLSC) rounded off the top four.
Second fleet away was the 30 boat handicap fleet which included 17 Solos (the results of which are taken separately from the handicap finish) The first start ended in a general recall but the fleet got away at the second time of asking and, just like the Laser fleet, the race in the handicap fleet became a battle between the top three in the series. First and second places were taken by the RS300's of Richard Catchpole (LLSC) and Peter Machin (Bolton SC) while series leader Andy Flitcroft (Supernova – Bolton SC) had to settle for third. There were only two Enterprises on the water this weekend and seemingly oblivious to everybody around them they both team raced out the race between themselves as they luffed and covered each other all race but in the end Mark Lunn/Steve Blackburn (WLYC) got the better of Alan Johnson/Paula Fisher (Southport SC/SCYC) to finish fourth.
In the Solo fleet Andy Tunnicliffe (Royal Windermere YC) returned this week with a new mast, rigged it up and then sailed away from the other Solos to take first place. Behind him there was plenty of place swapping between series leader Patrick Hamilton (Burwain SC), Phil Barnes (Budworth SC) and Paul Heath (LLSC) but in the end, with lots of cover tacking up the final beat and all boats finishing seconds apart, it was Hamilton second, Heath third and Barnes fourth.
Next away were the 18 boat Asymmetric fleet who once again were spoilt with a windward/leeward course. During the early part of the race it was Dave Exley/Nigel Hall (RS400 – LLSC) who headed the fleet but as the race progressed they were caught and overtaken right at the end by the RS400 of series leaders Paul/Mike Allen (LLSC) The Allens took the race on corrected time while the RS Feva XL of Harvey Martin and his RS Feva world champion crew Bobby Hewitt (LLSC) managed to get between them and Exley/Hall to finish second while fourth on corrected time was the RS400 of Hamish Gledhill/Simon Dowse (West Riding SC)
Due to training events elsewhere the junior fleet was down to 8 boats this weekend but as ever the racing was still close and in both races the top four positions were filled by Toppers. After a few weeks away Toby Cope (Rudyard lake SC) returned to the fleet and showed that the rest had done him the world of good as he took the win while second, with her best race result of the series so far, was the ever improving Anya Haji-Michael (LLSC) Michael Platt (Bolton SC) finished third and Izzy Bristow (LLSC) fourth which for both was their best result of the series so far as well.
After lunch the fleet launched again as the wind dropped to an average of 6 knots during the race with one gust measuring 12 knots.
That 12 knots of gust was at the start of the first fleet away because as the Lasers got halfway up the first beat the wind all but disappeared but after a while, when all fleets were away, it came back having swung more to the south thereby altering the beat making it port biased. In the end it was Graham McWhirter who took the win from Jack Hopkins in second, Gareth Staple-Jones (LLSC) third and Alex Woods (LLSC) fourth.
At the end of the handicap race the top three positions went to the same top three boat as Race 1 but in a different order. Andy Flitcroft took the win, Richard Catchpole had to settle for second, Peter Mackin third while Mark Dingsdale (Phantom – LLSC), having been 'sacked' from crewing an RS400 this week as there was not enough wind, finished fourth.
In the Solos it was Phil Barnes who was first Solo around the windward mark and then showed amazing pace to extend his lead and take the win. Steve White (LLSC), who was back in his Solo for the first time in several months after injury, showed he still knew what to do as he held off the challenges of Hamilton and Heath to finish second leaving Hamilton third and Heath fourth.
The Asymmetric fleet saw a new race winner as the RS200 of Louise McKeand/Cathy Partington (LLSC) took the win on corrected time from Gledhill/Dowse. Third were Josh/Partick Metcalfe (RS400 – LLSC) while new comer Greg 'Steptoe' Booth (RS100 – Port Dinorwic SC) was fourth.
To round off the 'new race winner of the day in each fleet' category the junior fleet saw Michael Platt take the win (his best result of the series) A consistent second was Anja Haji-Michael, third was Toby Cope and fourth Loren Knowles (LLSC)
With 13 new entries to the series this weekend it means that the total number of crews we have had on the water to date, and crossing the start line during the Crewsaver Tipsy Icicle series, is 164.
This weekend come and join us for two days of racing. On Saturday we are running the rescheduled New Years day pursuit race starting at 12.40pm (full details on our website) then leave your boat overnight and join us the next day for races 15 & 16 in the largest dinghy regatta in the UK the next day, the Crewsaver sponsored Tipsy Icicle series which runs until the 16th March.
Full results can be found at www.llsc.org.uk/LLSC/Results/2014Tipsy.htm