Alton Water 2018 Fox's Chandlery Frostbite Series - Day 5

by Jenny Pavey 10 Feb 2018 07:17 GMT 4 February 2018

After the balmy conditions of last week, week five of this popular series saw a return to typical frostbite weather, with a biting and gusty north-easterly breeze.

Now with the series back on track after a couple of postponements, only two races were scheduled and as all the fleets behaved themselves for the start of the first race, with no recalls, the Race Officer decided to give them their moneys-worth and send them round for the set number of laps for the first time this series.

There were several windshifts predominately from the right on the first beat requiring marks to be moved before the start and as the shifts corrected themselves (in true reservoir fashion) no further course re-sets were needed. The course made the best of the reservoir shape with two beats, a reach, and run and now-standard reach along the bottom making the most of the 12 knot breeze.

There were some nasty gusts which saw a Merlin Rocket dismasted and several capsizes. The second race was considerably shorter with the dropping temperature and lure of an afternoon rugby game on television. Apologies to any eagle-eyed competitors who spotted the Committee Boat on the move before the start of the Medium fleet when a sailor hooked his boat round the anchor chain and took it for a ride.

With ten races sailed and another discard coming into play there are new series leaders in the Laser, Medium and Slow fleets.

Two races are scheduled this Sunday and we will be joined on the reservoir by a fleet of Aeros having a training weekend. The high water levels mean there should be plenty of room.

Series Leaders: (ten races, 3 discards)

Class	Helm/Crew	Boat	Club
Fast	Ben Clegg/Pete Nicholson	Merlin Rocket	Brightlingsea SC
Asymmetric	Stephen Videlo/Chris Videlo	RS200	Waldringfield SC
Laser	Rheanna Pavey	Radial	Alton Water SC
Medium	Pete Kyne	Solo	Brightlingsea SC
Slow	Jack Oakley	RS Tera Pro	Waldringfield SC

Day 4 Results:

Helm/Crew	Boat	Club	R9	R10
Fast
Adrian Coatsworth	Phantom	Alton Water SC	1	2
Ben Clegg/Pete Nicholson	Merlin Rocket	Brightlingsea SC	2
Frances Gifford/M J Gifford	Merlin Rocket	Ranelagh SC	3	3
Josh Richardson	RS300			1
Asym
Stephen Videlo/Chris Videlo	RS200	Waldringfield SC	1	2
David Conlon/Sarah Bines	RS200	Brightlingsea SC	2	1
Eddie Bridle/Tyler Stonebridge	RS200	Brightlingsea SC	3
Ed Gibbons/Rebecca Bines	RS200	Brightlingsea SC		3
Laser
Rheanna Pavey	Radial	Alton Water SC	1	1
Cameron Harris	Standard		2	2
Graham Ireland	Standard	Royal Harwich SC	3	3
Medium
Will Patten	Finn	Alton Water SC	1	1
Pete Kyne	Solo	Brightlingsea SC	2	3
Robert Deaves	Finn	Waldringfield SC	3
Matt Taylor	RS Aero 5	Alton Water SC		2
Slow
Jack Oakley	RS Tera Pro	Waldringfield SC	1	1
Bea Green/Ines Green	Cadet	Waldringfield SC	2	2
Charlotte Leigh/Amelia Mayhew	Cadet	Waldringfield SC	3	3

Full results can be found here and photos can be seen on the Alton Water Sailing Facebook page and Tim Bees' photos on flickr here.