Alton Water 2018 Fox's Chandlery Frostbite Series - Day 7

Concentration on day 7 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series © Tim Bees

Over the nine weeks of this series we have experienced a wide range of conditions and week 7 balanced the previous windy weeks with a light southerly breeze, which increased just enough from the calm start to the day to make two races possible.

As ever with reservoir sailing, it was shifty but generally backed slightly to a south-easterly and it was sunny at times although chilly.

The Asymmetrics, having learnt their lesson in previous weeks, were well-behaved and had good clean starts but the Fast fleet, not wanting to be left out, were all well over the line at the start of the first race, so were recalled and started at the back of the five-fleet sequence. The Medium fleet, having already had a couple of general recalls during the series, didn't want to be ousted from their position as expert Early Starters, so went for it in the second race, resulting in a general recall and back of the queue position for them.

All fleets had some good racing on the ‘long-beat, beam reach, short-beat and downwind’ course, the idea being that any leg could be extended or shortened to fit with the vagaries of the breeze. The Race Officer decided that the relatively pleasant conditions meant all participants, including a larger than usual Slow fleet, could have slightly longer races than they have had in recent weeks, when conditions have been too windy and cold to stay on the water for long. The sailing was interesting enough to keep people out on the water rather than be distracted by the local football derby; Ipswich v Norwich.

Congestion at the mark on day 7 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series - photo © Tim Bees

There are two weeks left in this series and although the only fleet that saw a change of leader this week was the Lasers, which sees Graham Ireland regaining the lead, with two more discards to come it is still possible for the fleet leaders to be toppled.

This Sunday sailors should be prepared for the arrival of 'The Beast from the East' potentially bringing a cold and lively Easterly, which we haven't had so far this series, so an exciting morning is anticipated for sailors, spectators and photographers.

Series leaders (after 10 races and three discards):

Fast: Matthew House, Phantom, Alton Water SC
Asymmetric: Stephen Videlo/Chris Videlo, RS200, Waldringfield SC
Laser: Graham Ireland, Standard, Royal Harwich YC
Medium: Robert Deaves, Finn, Waldringfield SC
Slow: Jack Oakley, RS Tera Pro, Waldringfield SC

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.

Sailing out to the start on day 7 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series - photo © Emer Berry

Day 7 provisional results (top 3 positions):