Alton Water 2018 Fox's Chandlery Frostbite Series - Day 6

Close racing in gusty conditions on day 6 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series © Tim Bees

The forecast for week six of this nine-week series was for a promising north-westerly wind which is normally a good direction at Alton Water Reservoir for a relatively steady breeze and ideal to make the most of some long beats. It also made for space for 20 or so RS Aeros who were visiting for a winter training session.

Sailors arrived in anticipation of a lively 16 knot breeze but what they hadn't wished for was the ferocious 30+ knot gusts which randomly travelled the length of the reservoir during racing, flattening anything in their path.

Before the gusts hit on day 6 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series - photo © Emer Berry

A considerable number of the sixty or so people who turned up intending to race decided they'd prefer to watch than participate and there were even more spectators for the second race and, with the gybe mark being close to the club, they had plenty of entertainment. The now customary 'two beat with spreader mark' course was laid and provided plenty of room for some spectacular downwind sailing. Well done to the majority if not all the dinghies who flew their asymmetrics at least once during the day. You know it is windy when you see boats opting out of a gybe. A special mention must be made of the RS200 that flew their kite on the bottom reach – impressive stuff, but this is reservoir sailing and with no room to take it down and go up the beat, their choice was to hit the bank at 12 knots or gybe/capsize and go back down the course – they chose the latter.

Phew, survived the gybe on day 6 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series - photo © Tim Bees

With the wind picking up and no noticeable improvement in the air temperature you would think people would want to get the two scheduled races done and dusted as quickly as possible, but the ever-competitive asymmetric fleet pushed their luck with the race officer, resulting in a general recall for the second race, meaning they went to the back of the queue, having to wait for the Medium and Slow fleets to start before they could get underway. Not sure that the punishment fitted the crime as with a recalled black-flagged start they got the benefit of a short second race.

With twelve races sailed there are new series leaders in the Fast and Medium fleets and with six races still to be sailed there is still all to play for. This weekend's forecast is looking less extreme than previous weeks (at the moment) so we're anticipating a large turnout.

Series leaders after 12 races:

Day 6 Provisional Results: (top three)

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.