Tipsy Icicle Series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club - Week 1

Sunday 3rd January saw the first weekend of the Tipsy Icicle series at Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club, Pennington Flash. It was shaping up to be a good day as there was a steady 10 knots of breeze blowing from the east which would allow full use of the water with long beats but this was countered by a cold air temperature and it poured down all day.

Undeterred by this the series PRO team, led by Peter and Judith Baldwin, got racing under way at midday with a four fleet starting sequence for the 66 boats.

First away was the 15 boat Laser fleet. It was close racing at the front as the bigger boys made ground up wind while the fitter youth lasted longer in the energy sapping conditions. In the end it was Garry Knott (Ogston SC) who took the win from the youthful local boy Haydn Griffiths. Stuart Belfield (LLSC) hung on for third after being hard pushed by Graham MacWhirter (UKLA) who finished fourth.

Next away was the 20 boat handicap fleet which included 8 Solos (the results of which will be taken separately from the handicap finish) In the main fleet one of the series favourites, Andy Flitcroft (Supernova - Bolton SC), suffered gear failure just before the start and had to return to shore for a quick repair before re-joining the race and playing catch up. At the front it was the GP14s of Andy/David Tunnicliffe (Burwain SC) and Mark/Sam Platt (Bolton SC) who made the early running and sailed impressively to take the first two places in that order. Gareth Williams (RS Aero 7 – LLSC) was third and Jeffrey Robinson (Supernova – Bolton SC) fourth.

In the Solo fleet Brian Sprague (LLSC) shot off the line to take an early lead but was caught and overtaken by Paul Heath (LLSC) and Patrick Hamilton (Burwain SC) A fortunate Heath then managed to get around the leeward mark before the Solos behind him were engulfed by the Asymmetric fleet as they also approached the leeward mark. Heath sailed away in clear air to take the win from Hamilton in second, Sprague third and Steve Ferrington (Wesy Kirby SC) fourth.

Third away was the 20 boat junior fleet and for all but one helm this was to be a lesson in reading the SIs and knowing the re-start sequence. A general recall on the first attempted start resulted in the dreaded black flag being flown and lowered again 1 minute before the actual start gun. Nineteen boats decided to start as the black flag was lowered and were thus disqualified. The learned George Williams (Topper – Chester SC) started a minute later and probably had the most stress free sail of his life in the knowledge that he would be given the win.

Lastly it was the turn of the 11 boat Asymmetric fleet and the early fighting at the front was between the RS400s of Dave Exley/Nigel Hall (LLSC), Hamish Gledhill/Joe Hartigan (West Riding SC) Paul Allen/Chris Mountain (LLSC) and Richard Catchpole/Gary Coop (LLSC) Exley/Hall hit the front and stayed there to take the win while Allen/Mountain suffered gear failure putting them down the fleet and Gledhill/Hartigan had one to forget. As the dust settled it was Catchpole/Coop who finished second and, after recovering from a capsize, the RS100 10.2 of Greg Booth (Port Dinorwic SC) was third and Caroline Exley/Judith Allen (RS400 – LLSC) fourth.

At the start of the second race of the day the wind had dropped to around 5 knots but there was worse to come as after around 30 minutes of racing the wind suddenly, without warning, switched off completely turning the remainder of the race into a drifter, a few results on their head and resulted in a few retirements.

MacWhirter claimed the win in the Laser fleet with Griffiths having to once again settle for second. Charlotte Greenhalgh (LLSC) snuck home in third with Gareth Staples-Jones (LLSC) fourth.

Team Platt went one better in the handicap fleet and took the bullet. Flitcroft showed what he can do with a fully functioning boat and finished second with fellow Supernova sailor Mark Cuthbert (LLSC) third and Williams, in his RS Aero 7, fourth.

In the Solo fleet Heath drifted to his second win of the day with Hamilton second, Ferrington third and Sprague fourth.

The junior fleet behaved themselves this time and got away first time. The RS Feva XL of Simon Hall/Emily Houghton (LLSC) sailed home to take the win from the Toppers of Sam Cooper (WLYC) and Lorcan Knowles (LLSC) while fellow RS Feva XL sailors Eddie/Kevin Farrell (Llandudno SC) had to settle for fourth.

Finally it was the Asymmetrics turn and the early running was done by Stuart Halman/Anna Walsh (RS400 – LLSC) but they succumbed to the difficult conditions allowing Exley/Hall to take another win. Gledhill/Hartigans day got a bit better with a second, Catchpole/Coop third and Booth fourth.

There is plenty of wind forecast for this coming weekend so come and join us on Sunday, 10th January for races 3 & 4 in the Tipsy Icicle series the largest dinghy winter series in the country. It's a midday start and full details on how to enter the series online can be found on the club website webcollect.org.uk/llsc/category/event You can also enter on the day at the reception desk. We look forward to seeing you.

Full results can be found on: www.llsc.org.uk/LLSC/Results/2016/Tipsy.htm