Week 1 Tipsy Report – 71 boats make for busy competitive racing!
Results On the 8th January 2012 the much anticipated UK’s biggest Winter Series, Leigh & Lowton’s Tipsy Icicle, commenced its run of 11 weeks which ends on the 18th March. Fleets consist of Asymmetric, Handicap, Solos and Lasers. On the day there were in total 71 boats on the water. Visitors are paying on a week by week basis or for the full series. Entry fees are £10 per day for adult double handers, £5 for single handers, £8 for junior double handers and £4 for junior single handers. Visitors paying for the full series are leaving their boats at the club for the duration of the series. Full series fees are £70 per person including 3 pursuit races and 16 Sundays and £50 for juniors. Spectators are also watching the racing from the newly built lounge. The galley is open all day and the bar is serving cold beer from 3pm! The sailors and visitors were treated to a light and fickle force 1 in race 1 which built to a steady force 4 for race 2.
The Asymmetric fleet in race 1 saw the reformed RS400 team of Paul and Mike Allen return to winning ways with the previous series winners of Hamish Gledhill and Simon Dowse (West Riding) taking the second spot. In race 2 Hamish and Simon were again second but a new winner in the form of the RS200 of Tony Taylor & Sarah Tyson from SCYC took top spot. In total there 17 boats in the fleet.
The Laser fleet was not dominated by any boat this week. Dave Shiel, Graham Macwhirter (Scammonden Water), Andy Green and Ian Jones (Dovestones) all played at the front at some point in both races. In the end Graham and Ian took the wins and Dave and Andy took the second spots. 18 Lasers were on the water.
A rather depleted fleet of 5 Solos ventured out in both races. Chris Gillard (Sheffield Viking) and Steve White traded blows all day both scoring a bullet and a second each. Ian Hopwood was just off the front and scored two 3rds.
The handicap fleet was the star of the day with 33 boats on the water. Richard Catchpole in the RS300 took the honours in the first race and a second in race 2 whilst the Flying Fifteen of John and Roseanne Walters reversed the position with a second in the first race and a bullet in the second race. The handicap fleet was boosted tremendously by a fleet of 20 Toppers and Optimists. Leigh really is the club for junior racing in the North West.
A special mention has to be made of the PRO, his assistants and the safety teams who ran the whole day from on the water making the start lines great and as bigger courses as possible. The results can be found on the club website at http://leighandlowton.wordpress.com