Ardleigh Frostbite Series
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Starts this Sunday – Jan 8th. Hopefully a bit less windy than the last couple of days. There are two races back to back in the morning with 10.30am start. Everyone welcome. Helps keep you in trim ready for the new season. Weekly reports will be on the Forum.
Andy
See you there. With the forecast think i’ll be in 1885 not the merlin. I’ve missed the racing over the christmas break. Dan/RobertD are you there?
Nine OKs on the start line today and a great morning’s sailing in a force 2 and ten degree temperature. Toby Ramsay was having his first sail in an OK, having abandoned his Laser for the day and did really well in Trevor Child’s boat (1689). Simon Davis (2141) again drove all the way from Beaconsfield to sail. Paul Church(2144) was sailing the new Synergy OK and Jon Fish (2136) and Simon Cox (2100) also joined the regulars.
In race 1 Jon Fish was first out of the blocks and rounded the windward mark with Andy Turner (2123) in close attendance, followed by Paul Church, Simon Cox and Simon Davis. Lee Child (1885) had a bad start and struggled to re-connect with the leaders in his elderly Seamark Nunn. Next came Toby Ramsay, Tim Hurst (1924) and Mark Earley (1748). Only Dan was missing but is making promising noises (Naomi’s birthday apparently). Fish made a mistake at the leeward mark sailing into a flat patch and Andy took full advantage by sailing right round him and into the lead. Paul Constable (2075) also used his local knowledge to good effect to close tight up on the leaders. Andy proceeded to pull out a good lead sporting his new Quantum sail and Paul Constable got into second, with Simon Cox right on his tail at the finish.
1st – Andy Turner, 2nd Paul Constable, 3rd Simon Cox, 4th Jon Fish, 5th Simon Davis, 6th Paul Church, 7th Toby Ramsay, 8th Tim Hurst, 9th Mark Earley (1 capsize)
Race 2 started similarly with Jon Fish away first, but this time Andy just squeezed into the lead at the windward mark. On the run Jon was informed by the safety boat that he was OCS. Simon Davis and Paul Constable both picked the shifts really well so that on the last run the first three boats were covered by 5 boat lengths. Andy held on to win with Paul Constable just getting second and Simon Davis third. Lee Child had an excellent race after a much better start to finish 4th. No swims for anyone.
1st Andy Turner, 2nd Paul Constable, 3rd Simon Davis, 4th Lee Child, 5th Simon Cox, 6th Paul Church, 7th Toby Ramsay, 7th Mark Earley, 8th Tim Hurst, OCS Jon Fish.
Another day of incredibly close racing. Dan Ager had a good day on his first outing in his OK for some time. Lee Childs borrowed Pete Turner’s boat (2059) and also sailed a couple of good races.
Weather was force 1 with quite a cold south easterly – not Ardleigh’s best direction but thankfully Bob Stannard and Paul Constable got the committee boat out and set an excellent triangular course.
In race 1 Dan stormed out of the start line and into the lead at the windward mark, followed by Andy Turner and Paul Church in his new Synergy Marine built boat (2144). Dan pulled away on the second reach to establish a good lead, but this was gradually eaten away by Andy who pulled right up on to Dan’s Transom but couldn’t break through the close cover.
First Race: 1st Dan Ager (2120); 2nd Andy Turner (2123); 3rd Paul Church (2144); 4th Simon Cox (2100); 5th Lee Child (2059) ; 6th Trevor Child (1683; 7th Paul Berry (2075); 8th Tim Hurst (1927).
In race 2 the OKs occupied 1st to 8th positions in a 25 boat fleet at the windward mark, with Lee Child in the lead, Simon Cox second and Andy Turner third. Dan and Paul were struggling to stay in contact but a lot of covering and tacking by the three leading boats let the rest of the fleet back into contention. Up the final beat Simon slipped to 3rd and Andy to 5th as Dan pulled off a master stroke to get up to second and Paul Church finished 4th. All 5 of the leading boats were covered by 20 metres on the finish line.
If any other OKs would like to join us, even for an occasional Sunday, you would be most welcome.
Second Race: 1st Lee Child; 2nd Dan Ager; 3rd Simon Cox; 4th Paul Church; 5th Andy Turner; 6th Trevor Child; 7th Paul Berry; 8th Tim Hurst.
Andy
Should have come to Burghfield SE force 3 great beat straight up the lake
Vistors welcombe anytime
Deryck
Well it was more like a F2-3 with a bit of F1 in a small patch at Ardleigh. I seem to recall hiking on occasion and Paul Church was definitely seen hiking so it must have been breezy! It’s been great racing so far this winter at Ardleigh. I was even reminiscing of how much I missed winter sailing at Frensham. There’s a promise of more than 8 boats in the coming weeks which I suspect makes Ardleigh the place to sail this winter in the UK?
Deryck – a “great beat straight up the lake” at Burghfield?!?!?!? Is that possible with all those islands!
Bloody windy today – gusts above 30 knots accompanied by 30 degree shifts – just ask Dan!
As I was still launching my boat when the start gun for the first race went I can’t tell you too much about the first beat – maybe someone else can. I can say that as I was coming down the run 100 metres away from the jybe mark all hell seemed to be let loose as the OOD had changed the course and mark rounding (to starboard) after Lee Child (2059) had passed the mark. Others came back and went round the right way (to port), some (Paul Church – 2144) capsizing in the process. I was quite grateful as it allowed me to re-establish contact. Going up the next beat Dan (2120) was ahead of me when he got a ginormous gust and a 30 degree header. The boat heeled violently to windward, but when it came back up Dan wasn’t in it. It them promptly fell in to leeward finishing Dan’s racing for the day. In the meantime Paul Constable managed 6 capsizes, and several sub-capsizes as he tried to right his boat, and Trevor Child (2136) had gone in at the gybe mark. Simon Cox had also disappeared somewhere (out of my sight), so all this left me chasing Lee, not trying to close the gap too much as my first priority was to stay out of the freezing water. Mention must be made of Toby – sailing an OK (1689) for only the second time. He was well up with the leaders on round 1 and stayed up to finish the race. Mark Earley decided his boat or him wasn’t going to stand this pounding and headed for the clubhouse. Tim Hurst (1924) was watching all this from the safety boat making encouraging noises at appropriate moments.
Race 1 – 1st Lee Child (1 capsize); 2nd Andy Turner (no capsizes); 3rd Paul Church; 4th Trev Child (3 capsizes); 5th Toby (no capsizes). dnf Dan, Paul Constable, Simon, Mark.
Race 2 was held in similar conditions. Paul Church and Simon Cox were first round the windward mark, followed by Trev Child, Andy Turner and Lee Child. Trev did a crap gybe and forced Andy into a long diversion to miss him. Lee got past Andy on the next beat – Simon was still in the lead with Paul Church right behind. For some inexplixcable reason best described himself Simon rolled his boat down the run in the only part of the reservoir where the wind was quite moderate, so Paul Church took the lead. For two further laps Paul and Lee were never more that two or three boat lengths apart, with Paul holding on to win by a boat length, Andy capsized at the final gybe mark (getting knackered) letting Trevor through to 3rd and Simon finished 5th.
No boat damage to any of the boats except for a loose traveller in 1689 which should be fixed by next Sunday. A testament to the durability of the OK Dinghy in extreme conditions.
Race 2 – 1st Paul Church; 2nd Lee Child; 3rd Trev Child; 4th Andy Turner; 5th Si Cox.
Feel free to add anything that escaped my attention. Andy
A very challenging days sailing.
I was offered to swap my safey boat duty before the start by Mr Ager, I knew I’d made the correct decision as we Picked Dan up out of the water and abandoned his turtled boat to go and rescue 2 young girls in an RS Feva. After carrying out 1 or 2 subsequent rescues, we delivered Dan back to his boat and got him on his way.We learnt some new swear words courtesy of Mr Cox, he has a wide and varied vocabulary, he seemed most upset with himself after surrendering the lead in race 2.
Hoping for slightly less wind next week.
I must remember to tone down the language aimed at myself -sorry about that! :oops:
Anyway, that was just a bit too full on at times. 3 gybes to get around the course was the sign of an enthusiastic race officer. Paul Church and Trevor both finished in front of me in Race 1 and I definitely RTD when the water turned black in race 2. Congrats to Paul Church for winning the second race, the boats first race win.
Here are a couple of pics from 15th Jan (I think)
and
contributed by Andy.
DaveEight OKs out today in a force 1. Paul Constable rounded the windward mark first with Andy Turner hot on his heels. Andy took the lead on the run and held it for a lap only to be passed on the run by Paul who held it to the finish. Dan closed up to third. Simon Cox decided it was too cold to sail and went home!
Race 1: Paul Constable; Andy Turner; Dan Ager; Paul Church; Trev Child; Lee Child; Tim Hurst; Mark Earley
In race 2 there was a recall signal. Trev and Lee went back, and so did Andy half way to the windward mark when they called out his boat number. Trev rounded the windward mark first with Paul Church on his tail. These two were nip and tuck round the course for a couple of laps, until they became so embroiled with each other they didn’t see Dan getting past on the beat to take the lead. Paul Church just pipped Trev for second on the finishing line.
Race 2: Dan Ager; Paul Church; Trev Child; Paul Constable; Andy Turner; Lee Child; Tim Hurst; Mark Earley (DNF)
Andy
[attachment=0:2gl1t25o] ard_frostbite3.jpg [/attachment:2gl1t25o][attachment=2:2gl1t25o] ard_frostbite1.jpg [/attachment:2gl1t25o]Pics from last week emailed by Andy. i thought this one was particularly enjoyable! Dave
[attachment=1:2gl1t25o] ard_frostbite2.jpg [/attachment:2gl1t25o]
Ah tosspots! this forum only lets me attach 3 pics! 2 more posts coming. Dave
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