Reply To: Ardleigh Frostbite Series
A nice warm day at Ardleigh today but extremely tricky wind, never above 5mph with extensive flat patches all over the reservoir. Nine OKs lined up on the start line with Simon Cox making the best start and arriving at the winward mark first, followed by Dan Ager and Andy Turner. Dan took the lead on the first run,and Andy passed Simon on the next short beat. Dan pulled out a good lead on the long reach to the turning buoy, managing to navigate his way through the flat patch without stopping. Simon was swallowed by by the rest of the OKs and a couple of Solos. Andy managed to keep clear of the following mayhem and closed up a bit on Dan on the second lap. We had taken 40 mins to complete two laps when the OOD decided we wanted to go round again. Having just passed the start/finishing line the wind disappeared completely where Dan was and Andy caught him up but couldn’t quite overtake. Paul Constable had been working his way up the fleet in his usual fashion but also sailed into a flat patch and stopped. Lee Child took over third place, but Paul recovered third quite quickly. It took a further 40mins to complete the third lap, and as the wind filled in from behind Dan and Andy finished side by side with the whole fleet coming at them in fresh breeze.
Everyone had had enough after one race and retired to the bar.
Results: 1st Dan Ager, 2nd Andy Turner, 3rd Paul Constable, 4th Lee Child, 5th Toby Ramsay, 6th Trevor Child, 7th Mark Earley. DNF – Simon Cox and Tim Hurst,
