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Melges 15

Blackwater Icicle at Harlow (Blackwater) Sailing Club

by John Wilmott 30 Dec 2024 14:38 GMT 29 December 2024
Blackwater Icicle © John Wilmott

Heavy skies, a chilly 6C and light winds greeted the 24 dinghies that took part in the open Blackwater Icicle on December 29, hosted by Harlow (Blackwater) Sailing Club at Maylandsea, Essex.

With a fickle breeze, the race officers took a gamble by setting a reasonably long course out into the main river to reward those who had got up early to tow their boats to the club.

Fortunately the wind picked up just before the start and held at about force 2-3 for the remainder of the race, creating good technical rather than exciting conditions.

A wide mixture of craft featured - Lasers / ILCAs of three different rigs, Fireballs, Kestrels, Hadrons, Blazes, Phantoms, a 470, RS Aero and a Solo. They came from seven different clubs and all participants finished the course inside the two-hour limit.

The lighter breezes favoured the Kestrels, which took the top two spots - Howie Enkel and Danni Tebbutt (1574) beating Chris Grice and Kenny Hobbs (408) by 25 seconds. Both boats were from neighbouring club Maylandsea Bay.

In third place was Charlie Matthews from Royal Corinthian YC in his Blaze (834), while the youth prize went to Noah Mathers of Burnham SC with a Laser 4.7 (189093).

All the above winners went home with prizes including wine, chocolates and sailing gear vouchers.

Overall Results: (11:25 start time)

PosClassSail NoHelmCrewClubPYFinishElapsedCorrectedPts
1KESTREL1574Howie EnkelDanni TebbuttMBSC103512:36:5601:11:5601:09:301
2KESTREL408Chris GriceKenny HobbsMBSC103512:37:2201:12:2201:09:552
3BLAZE834Charlie Matthews RCYC103312:38:5801:13:5801:11:363
4BLAZE854Malcolm Hutchings RCYC103312:39:2701:14:2701:12:044
5ILCA 6 / Laser Radial216115Keith Gilmore RCYC115412:48:2801:23:2801:12:205
6PHANTOM1459David Nichols CSC100012:37:5001:12:5001:12:506
7FIREBALL15066Mark MaskellNigel SheppardBlackwater SC95512:34:4401:09:4401:13:017
8ILCA 7 / Laser207092Neil Clark HBSC110212:45:5301:20:5301:13:248
9BLAZE836Trevor Bawden Stone SC103312:41:1701:16:1701:13:519
10KESTREL1605Paul WilkinsonJane O'BrienMBSC103512:41:5001:16:5001:14:1410
11ILCA 6 / Laser Radial189327Vicki Riley HBSC115412:50:5101:25:5101:14:2411
12ILCA 4 / Laser 4.7189093Noah Mathers Burnham YC121312:55:5201:30:5201:14:5512
13ILCA 4 / Laser 4.7138209Callum Marshall Blackwater SC121312:56:1301:31:1301:15:1213
14ILCA 6 / Laser Radial146904Martin Tarling HBSC115412:52:0201:27:0201:15:2514
15PHANTOM1267Dean Saxton MBSC100012:40:4701:15:4701:15:4715
16ILCA 7 / Laser151292Karin Grice MBSC110212:49:1201:24:1201:16:2416
17RS AERO 92917Andy Lager HBSC100812:42:3201:17:3201:16:5517
18FIREBALL14682Mike BryantKeith TaftHBSC95512:38:2801:13:2801:16:5618
19HADRON H2118Phil Spillane MBSC104512:46:1701:21:1701:17:4719
20ILCA 7 / Laser183113Barry Knights HBSC110212:51:0401:26:0401:18:0620
21HADRON H2132Andrew Trembath MBSC104512:47:4601:22:4601:19:1221
22470854Annabel Jones‑LaurieRobert LaurieHBSC97312:42:4101:17:4101:19:5022
23SOLO4165Ian Simons RCYC114212:58:4801:33:4801:22:0823
24ILCA 4 / Laser 4.744Chris Harris MBSC121313:07:3001:42:3001:24:3024