Alton Water 2018 Fox's Chandlery Frostbite Series - Day 9

RS300s and Phantoms battle it out on day 9 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series © Tim Bees

Spot the salt water top right on day 9 of the Alton Water Frostbite Series © Tim Bees

The prizewinners in the Alton Water Frostbite Series © Tim Bees

Conditions on the last day of this nine-week series were kinder than of late, with a gentle south to south-easterly breeze and milder temperatures replacing the snowy sub-zero weather than had seen much of Suffolk ground to a halt during the week thanks to the Beast from the East.

The wind dropped during the first race but picked up a little during the second and the usual two-beat, reach and run course was set. There were considerable shifts which saw frequent place-changing, affecting the overall results for the series.

This has always been a popular series for sailors from East Anglian sea-based clubs, where racing stops between Christmas and Easter. So, some statistics: over the nine weeks, 144 people took part from 15 different clubs in 26 different classes of boat. These included 21 RS200s who had some highly competitive racing, 22 Lasers of which six were Radials and a Medium handicap fleet comprising twelve different classes, including 8 Finns. The Fast fleet consisted of mainly RS300s and Phantoms, who fought it out for the top spot and the Slow fleet saw 6 Cadets, some Toppers, Optimists and an RS Tera having close racing as well. There were eight different classes represented in the top ten overall, showing that everyone is in with a chance.

The series is set at eighteen races with six discards, so people can fit other activities in during the winter and also pick and choose their weather if they wish. Even though a few weeks saw only one race sailed due to too little or too much wind, with the option to sail three races a day it was possible to catch up and all eighteen races were sailed. Congratulations go to the seven boats from the 111 entries that sailed all eighteen races, which, given the widely varying weather conditions from very little wind and sub-zero temperatures through to very gusty, windy days, is some achievement.

Prize-giving saw those at the top of their fleets rewarded with vouchers from the series sponsor, Fox's Chandlery and vouchers for use at Alton Water and thanks go to them and all those who took part and made the series such a success, providing great racing and some equally great photo opportunities for Tim Bees and Emer Berry who captured the highs and lows.

Special awards:

Overall winner, Stephen Videlo & Chris Videlo, RS200
1st female helm, Rheanna Pavey, Laser Radial
1st youth helm, Cara Bland, 420
Perseverance, Noah Fitzgerald, Topper
Best unplaced all races sailed, Graham Seabrook & Charlotte Norrbom, Laser Vago

Overall Alton Water Frostbite Series winners, Stephen and Chris Videlo in their RS200 - photo © Emer Berry

Overall Results:

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