1st October 2023 Race Report

by Adam Hilton

Mandy Pollard

Frostbite 1

The water near the pontoon was glassy; no wind at water level to produce the slightest ripple. Fortunately at masthead level there was a little movement in the air and the fleet was able, slowly, to reach the start line and then the wind freshened as the day went on, although it never looked like reaching the forecast force 4, gusting 5.

Vicki Duncalf’s Topper, Sue Murray’s Laser Radial and Adam Hilton’s Solo crossed the line as a leading bunch but coming up from the rear at speed was Nathan Pollard’s Laser which had taken the lead well before the first buoy and as the others rounded Dam Green he was away and building a lead that reached three and a half minutes after four laps.

On the first leg the Solo began in second but to leeward of the others and at the buoy Vicki Duncalf, Sue Murray and Brian Pollard’s Bosun (Cilla Gilbert crewing) all rounded in front. In that first lap an order was established. Sue Murray was nearest to Nathan Pollard in second, threatened from time to time by the Solo. Brian Pollard led the Toppers of Jane Anderson (recovered from a slow start) and Vicki Duncalf. The handicaps tossed that order up in the air, only the Pollard Bosun retaining the place it had had on the water.

  1. Jane Anderson (Topper)
  2. Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
  3. Vicki Duncalf (Topper)
  4. Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)
  5. Adam Hilton (Solo)
  6. Sue Murray (Laser Radial)

 

Icicle 1

The fleet was reduced to four boats; it was nearly three; Sue Murray spent a while beached on the Devon shore sorting a rigging problem. At the restart Brian Pollard, his Bosun now crewed by visitor Alara Vural Wedgwood, started first but Nathan Pollard was again fast enough to round the first buoy, Dam Green, in the lead, a lead he never lost. Sue Murray got past the Topper and the Bosun and was a couple of minutes behind after two laps; the race being shortened as the afternoon advanced and the always present mist thickened. The handicaps again rewarded the Topper and left Brian Pollard in the third place he had had on the water.

  1. Jane Anderson (Topper)
  2. Nathan Pollard (Laser Full)
  3. Brian Pollard and Alara Vural Wedgewood (Bosun)
  4. Sue Murray (Laser Radial)

Many thanks to Dave Perrett who ran the races and to Mandy Pollard who managed to get her camera to pierce the mist.