County Cooler at Notts County Sailing Club - East Midlands Mini Series part 1
by David Eberlin 13 Feb 2017 11:39 GMT
11-12 February 2017
Grahame Newton wins the County Cooler at Notts County © David Eberlin
The County Cooler at Notts County Sailing Club this weekend certainly lived up to its name, maximum temperatures of 2 degrees celcius or so and a biting wind, no-one came in feeling warm, but the clean wind on both days made for some good close racing, and after two days of racing 6 points separated the top five dinghies, who were all visitors from Staunton Harold SC.
There were 34 entries, a pleasing entry for a first event in freezing February, sailors from five clubs taking part, including Staunton Harold, Northampton, Nottingham and Trent Valley.
Saturday saw racing start around 11am with two back to back races, in lightish northerly winds, it sleeted at times with an air temperature of 2'C. Nigel & Di Peperdine won the first race in an RS200, Rich Pepperdine won the second race in his Solo, and after a late lunch Sam Jones the third in his laser.
Sunday wasn't any warmer, and was capped with continuous rain putting a few less hardy (or is it sensible?) folk off. The first race was won by Rach Rhodes and Simon Forbes in their Scorpion and for the final race yet another helm won, with Corey Newton taking first on handicap in his Supernova.
In the final results it was Grahame Newton who took the honours in a laser with a constant string of seconds and thirds, showing you don't need to win races to win overall but be consistent.
The first Notts County boat was Andrew Farmer and Rebecca Ogden in a Flying 15, followed by John Hobson in a Aero 7. Paul Moughtin-Leay (Staunton) was the first junior in 9th place.
The Windsurfers saw Kevin Clark win all five races with Barry Collins second, both from Notts County SC.
The second part of the series takes place at Staunton Harold SC (Staunton Blaster) on 25/26th February, details at www.shsc.org.uk/sailing/sailing-calendar/staunton-blaster.aspx
More photos at ncsc.org.uk/2017/02/12/county-cooler-report