Fox's Marine and Country Alton Water Frostbite Series 2015 - Day 2

Close racing in the Medium fleet on day 2 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series © Emer Berry

The second week of the series brought a weather window to East Anglia with the 30+ knots of breeze dropping to 20+ for Sunday racing before once again going back up to 30+.

A substantial change on the first weekend and with gusts of 35 knots forecast on top of the 20 knot average, some competitors decided to take their discards early, hoping for more clement weather later in the series... we will see if this was a smart move later on.

Fifty or so boats took to the water to sail the now standard 'westerly course' of a two beat, two run, one reach lap and with the numbers down and testing conditions, the race officer (to minimise the starting and restarting sequence) decided to combine starts for the 'Billy No Mates' (the Lasers and OKs), such that with four starts he was confident that he could get all fleets away before any lapping and general recall conflicts.

Pre-race excitement was limited to a few capsizes on the way out to the start and the committee boat, in attempting to lay the second leeward mark in rather a hurry, throwing overboard the ground tackle which was not attached to the buoy. Another anchor for next week please and we promise to take more care.

Bright sunshine and a low sun made spotting start transits difficult but with gusting and challenging conditions competitors were more conservative than the previous week when 5 or so boats were brought back to restart. There were no complaints about the sun as it added a degree or two to the wind chill which was uncomfortable along with the spray for all those on the water.

As expected the racing numbers were slightly down for the second back to back race with either the cold water or a number of capsizes taking their toll, or for those lucky enough to have stayed upright then perhaps discretion was their better option.

With the first race of the day starting on time and being followed by a short sharp second race meant all were ashore by 1pm – cold, wet and tired. Time enough to get homework completed ready for school on Monday and for those old enough not to have this chore then an afternoon by the fire and a long lazy lunch (perhaps) with rugby and football on the TV.

Fleet by fleet highlights:

As ever those sailors out of the top placings probably sailed just as hard if not harder for less glory so a well done to all finishers.

Fast
The Phantoms had good pace and with the RS300 led the fleet around but the two slower boats in this class, the Finns, had very close racing reversing position over last week and were well placed in the overall results.

Lasers/OK
With the OKs surprisingly showing the Laser fleet the way round and with the Radials better positioned with their smaller rigs it was left to Pete Kyne to maintain the challenge from the Standard class which he did admirably with a consistent performance.

Medium
This was the fleet to photograph – close racing, amazing downwind adventures with symmetrics (Larks) and asymmetrics (RS200s) mixing it on all legs. A measure of the breeze was to see the leading Lark blown over by a gust on the final beat but still recovering to an overall win. A special mention for the 420 girls who "whooped" their way around the course with great excitement in the first race only to be undone in the second with most of the their time spent in the water – well done for perseverance.

Slow
This was a Topper vs Cadet showdown with the Topper showing the way around for the first race of the day (if not on handicap then on the water) and then letting the Cadets have it their way for some exceptionally close racing for the second race.

Other Craft
No rowing skiffs out on the water pre-racing this week as it was probably too rough but what is now a regular sight is a Dragon Boat out on the water on a Sunday morning practising for who knows what in 25mph/0 degrees C – why? Should we expect to see an RYA Dragon Boat initiative in 2015 and squads to follow?

Day 2 Results:

Full race by race results can be found at ">www.altonwater.co.uk/index.php?pid=167&series=377&full_series_fleet=377">