Icicle Series 4

Despite being faced with only the gentlest of breezes, a dozen optimistic sailors 
ghosted out onto the water for the midday race.  At the start, the Wayfarer of Neil 
Wallace and Nicky Buckett was first away, with Vicki Duncalf in close pursuit.  
Faced with only a short beat to the Dam Green buoy, much of the fleet were trying to 
make the turn at the same time, with much tense holding of breath from nervous 
helms hoping to avoid contact.  One unlucky sailor was Mary Carter who, with 
starting technique honed from a sailing holiday in Minorca, had made a great getaway 
only to have the gentlest of bumps as she pirouetted round the Dam mark.  As the first 
lap unfolded, Neil's Wayfarer maintained its lead, although Jane Anderson was 
progressing rapidly through the fleet into second, after a not particularly good start by 
her own high standards.  Meanwhile Simon Veal was sailing out of his skin to hold 
onto third place in weather conditions that should have favoured the lighter Laser 
helms.  Not far behind was Vicki Duncalf, who in response to the lack of wind had 
taken to the water in Laser rather than her trusty Topper.

On a short two laps course designed by a Race Officer wary of consigning the fleet to 
an interminable Doldrums-style drift, there was still time for Jane Anderson to edge 
past the Wayfarer at the Inlet mark before being first to finish the half hour race.  The 
Wayfarer came in just over 30 seconds later, but calculations showed that Jane had 
done enough to beat the larger boat on handicap by the narrowest margin of just one 
second.  In a scenario that has already been seen several times this season, however, 
the windspeed picked up dramatically as soon as the faster boats finished, thus 
favouring the lower-handicapped boats still out on the course.  The biggest 
beneficiary of this weather lottery was the Otter of John Buckett, which came through 
the line at a canter to take first place on handicap and push the first two boats home 
into second and third respectively.  John Chandler also did well to take fourth on 
handicap, keeping his heavy Bosun moving well in the early-race zephyrs, with the 
Enterprise of Alan Comber and John Weller showing good form to take fifth only a 
few seconds further back.

Results: 

1st John Buckett (Otter)
2nd Jane Anderson (Laser)
3rd Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett (Wayfarer)
4th John Chandler (Bosun)
5th Alan Comber and John Weller (Enterprise)
6th Katie Leveridge (Laser Radial)
7th Simon Veal (Laser)
8th Vicki Duncalf (Laser)
9th Mary Carter (Laser)
10th Hugh Norris (Mirror)
11th John Leveridge and Mike Ford (Wayfarer)
12th John Savage (Solo)

Frostbite Series 4

An enlarged fleet of fourteen boats tried their luck after lunch, with the breeze 
continuing to provide encouragement that the afternoon race would have a shade more 
excitement than the morning.  Nevertheless, in the pre-race countdown, the wind 
direction fluctuated wildly between SE and West, threatening at one point to blow the 
fleet across the line prematurely with a running start.  However, it swung back in time 
to get the jostling boats away cleanly, with Paul Whybrow and Neil Wallace both 
getting away quickly and John Chandler's Bosun showing well close behind in third.  
In double-quick time, Neil had pulled the Wayfarer away in first place and taking 
advantage of sailing in clear air, quickly vanished into the middle distance to pull out 
a huge lead.  Behind, the rest of the fleet scrapped amongst themselves:  Jane 
Anderson emerged in second place, but only just ahead of husband Paul, who on his 
last outing before departing to captain rather bigger vessels across the world's oceans, 
was having an excellent race in third.  

After a slow broad reach down to the Inlet buoy, the course gave the opportunity for 
wind-aware helms to make up places in a shifting wind on the beat across to the West 
mark.  Not far behind the leading Lasers, Paul Whybrow was coaxing good speed out 
of his elegant wooden Solo.  Bidding to create a major upset, for the first two laps 
Hugh Norris was going marvellously well, keeping his much-slower Mirror tucked 
close behind the Otter and staying in contention to take a podium position, before 
falling away on the third lap.  In the end, however, the Wayfarer continued to 
consistently knock out laps in 15 minutes or thereabouts and finish in exactly three-
quarters of an hour, nearly three minutes ahead of Jane Anderson, to become winner 
on handicap by a country mile.  Paul Whybrow capitalised on his good start to take 
second on handicap, with Jane Anderson in third.  Despite dropping back towards the 
end, Hugh Norris still notched up an extremely creditable sixth place on handicap, his 
best  result so far in his club racing career.

Results: 

1st Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett (Wayfarer)
2nd Paul Whybrow (Solo)
3rd Jane Anderson (Laser)
4th John Buckett (Otter)
5th Paul Anderson (Laser)
6th Hugh Norris (Mirror)
7th Vicki Duncalf (Laser)
8th Simon Veal (Laser)
9th John Savage (Solo)
10th John Chandler (Bosun)
11th Katie Leveridge (Laser)
12th John Leveridge and Mike Ford (Wayfarer)
13th Mary Carter (Laser)
14th Jorg Gawrisch (Skipper 14)