Fox's Marine and Country Alton Water Frostbite Series 2015 - Day 3
by Martin Pavey 23 Jan 2015 07:22 GMT
18 January 2015
We must be doing something right!
94 boats competing in the first race of the day and 86 staying on for the back to back second race!
And all this for a club frostbite series that has built on local sea sailors moving inland and joining their reservoir colleagues over the first few months of the year before they migrate back to the idyllic sandy beaches and brown water of the East Coast and North Sea.
The numbers racing provided a substantial challenge and, with local SIs in place to ensure a rapid start sequence and fast turnaround of the back to back races, plus a visiting Feva squad being accommodated in a separate start, there was sure to be some excitement – there certainly was on the committee boat with the first start of the day, the fast fleet, being general recalled. The SIs punish the guilty and so they should as the fast handicap boats and crews were banished to the tail end of the sequence to wait in near sub-zero temperatures for their black flag start 18 minutes later.
Wise people learn from other people's mistakes? Not the Laser and OK fleet it would seem, as they were shuffled off to the back of the queue for the second race of the day when, although the sun had come out, it was even colder, with body temperature reduced further by having been out on the water for an hour. Their black flag start caught one radial sailor out so he got to go ashore early.
So was it a badly laid line or over eager competitors? The race officer has his view (it was the latter). The wind of around 8mph was veering from the NW average to provide a lift to those who started on the right and stayed right, but wind pressure counted for more than the right-hand lift and those who went left from the line gained on the first beat.
A two-beat lap with a run followed by a reach in front of the club house gave the substantial number of spectators something to watch and at least got them out of the café to endure similar temperatures to family and friends out on the water.
The rapid start sequence can cause a problem as the tail enders of one fleet are caught the by the fastest sailors in the following fleet and there seems to no easy answer to this other than extending the start sequence, the number of starts, or reallocating handicap bands. The management team take feedback seriously, so suggestions are welcome as to how we can better manage the racing in the best interests of all competitors within the limitations we have (volunteers, sailing area, back to back format, turnaround time, etc.)
We are now a third of the way through the series and with a light wind weekend to start with, followed by a considerable blow last week and this week an 8-10mph breeze, the results should be averaging out for those with a penchant for heavy or light weather.
The mid-race entertainment was once again provided by the Dragon Boat (please can they learn another tune?!) along with its support fleet of Stand Up Paddle Boarders... now if they had joined in the racing we would hit the magic 100 boat race.
It doesn't happen often, so a 'thank you' to those on the water and ashore who complimented the race team on a good course and, even after that 'yellow card' to the Fast fleet, one competitor was heard to congratulate the race team on a great course – we can only assume that this was not a corrupt offering to ensure no future punishment.
While you wait for the highlight of the week - next week's racing - a visiting parent and one of our regular photographers, Tim Bees, is making his photos of this series available; so for some action shots and to spot the celebrities please take a look at www.flickr.com/photos/129954669@N05/sets
Provisional Race 5 & 6 Results:
| Helm | Crew | Club | Boat Type | R5 | R6 |
|---|
| Fast Handicap |
|---|
| Mike Bees | | Brightlingsea SC | RS300 | 2 | 1 |
| Peter Nicholson | Daniel Willett | Brightlingsea SC | Merlin Rocket | 1 | 2 |
| Matt House | | AWSC | Phantom | 4 | 3 |
| Will Patten | | AWSC | Finn | 3 | 6 |
| Ian Millar | | AWSC | Phantom | 6 | 4 |
| David Hearsum | Ian Hearsum | Hickling Broad SC | RS400 | 8.5 | 9 |
| Laser |
|---|
| Pete Kyne | | Brightlingsea SC | Standard | 1 | 1 |
| Graham Ireland | | Royal Harwich YC | Standard | 2 | 2 |
| Adam Fuller | | RHYC | Radial | 5 | 3 |
| Julie Eeles | | Brightlingsea SC | Standard | 3 | 6 |
| Jonathan Penn | | Waldringfield SC | Standard | 4 | 5 |
| Sam Yale | | Waldringfield SC | Standard | 7 | 9 |
| Cameron Harris | | AWSC | Radial | 8 | 8 |
| OK |
|---|
| Daniel Ager | | Waldringfield SC | OK | 2 | 2 |
| Dave Bourne | | Up River SC | OK | 5 | 1 |
| David Rose | | | OK | 3 | 3 |
| Bob Bourne | | | OK | 4 | 4 |
| Med Handicap |
|---|
| Alan Krailing | Joe Hunt | Waldringfield SC | Lark | 1 | 1 |
| David Conlon | Sarah Bines | Brightlingsea SC | RS200 | 3 | 2 |
| Will Taylor | Fiona Mulchay | AWSC | RS200 | 2 | 4 |
| Harry Pynn | Gemma Cook | Waldringfield SC | Lark | 4 | 3 |
| Ben Alexander | Gemma Thompson | Deben YC | RS200 | 5 | 5 |
| Emily Mitchell | Rebecca Mitchell | AWSC | 420 | 6 | 8 |
| Slow Handicap |
|---|
| Bethan Matthews | | Aldeburgh YC | Feva | 4 | 1 |
| Matthew Caiger | Niamh Davies | Bewl Valley SC | Feva | 3 | 2 |
| Charlie Hotboth | Dylam McPherson | BSC | Feva | 2 | 3 |
| Lainey Terkelsev | Cally Terkelsev | Stone SC | Cadet | 1 | 7 |
| Matt Smith | Izzy Taylor‑Jones | AWSC | Feva | 9 | 5 |
| Archie Penn | Hazel Whittle | Waldringfield SC | Cadet | 5 | 10 |
| Matt Taylor | | AWSC | Tera | 7 | 12 |
After 6 races the series leaders in each fleet so far are Mike Bees (RS300) in the fast fleet, Pete Kyne (Standard) in the Lasers, Simon Cox in the OKs, Alan Krailing and Joe Hunt (RS200) in the Medium fleet and Archie Penn and Hazel Whittle (Cadet) in the Slow.
Full race by race results can be found at ">www.altonwater.co.uk/index.php?pid=167&series=377&full_series_fleet=377">