Leigh & Lowton Sailing Club Tipsy Icicle - Week 3
by Paul Heath 23 Jan 2018 07:17 GMT
21 January 2018
A forecast of a decent breeze was countered by a mixture of heavy snow and rain and sure enough, an hour before the midday start, a blizzard engulfed the area and the temperature plummeted but it did not put off the competitors who rigged up and set off in a ESE 9 knot breeze which picked up to gusts of 14 knots.
Lasers
16 Lasers on the start line this week and they got away first time. Graham McWhirter (RYA) sailed the perfect first beat to round first followed by Tim Keithley (WRSC) On the down wind legs Keithley took the lead and then proceeded to pull out a large lead to the finish. McWhirter dropped a few places but sailed well to pull back through the fleet and finish second (LLSC) with Gary Knott (Pennine SC) third. In the second race of the day McWhirter carried on his good form by leading from start to finish with Keithley second and Knott third.
Handicap
Series leader Steve Blackburn (Streaker - WLYC) was 'boat of the day' in this fleet as he took two bullets to keep himself top of the pile. New to the series Eamon/Thomas Cuthbert (Miracle - LLSC) chased him hard but had to settle for second and the GP14 of Hugh Devereux/T King was third.
In the second race Blackburns closest rivals, Martin Knott (Phantom - Ribble SC) and Andy Flitcroft (Supernova - Bolton SC) got back in the grove to take second and third and thereby keeping up the pressure on Blackburn.
Asymmetrics
A windward/leeward course for the fleet this week and it suited the RS400s who took the top places in this weeks fleet. Dave Exley/Nigel Hall (LLSC) continued their great start to the series by taking two bullets. New to the series Paul/Jude Allen (LLSC) remembered how it all works and took two seconds with the third place in each race shared between Chris Pickles/Mark Lunn (LLSC) and Hamish Gledhill/Simon Rowse (WRSC).
Solos
Andy Tunnicliffe (Burwain SC) dusted off his Solo and took to the water to take a win in the first race before packing away and going home for tea. Dad Dave Tunnicliffe (RYA) had a great day on the water scoring a 3 and 1 which now makes him leader of the fleet. Brian Sprague (LLSC) scored a 2 and 3 and drops to second overall on countback. Steve Ferrington (WKSC) improved on his fourth in the first race to finish second in the second.
Juniors
After last weeks double bullet finishes series leader Thomas Fielding-Link (Topper - LLSC) had to watch his nearest rival Noe Peckham (Topper - LLSC) do exactly the same and relegate Thomas to two second places. Thomas still leads the series but its close at the top between these two and will go to the wire. Llion Morris (Topper - Llandudno SC) kept in touch with them but had to settle for two third places.
Full results available here.
The Tipsy Icicle Series now continues on until March every Sunday, series entries are now closed but competitors can still turn up and pay on the day.