Crewsaver Tipsy Icicle Week 2 – Another Punchy Sou’easter
The most popular dinghy winter series in the UK, the ‘Crewsaver’ sponsored Tipsy Icicle series at Leigh & Lowton sailing club, recommenced on the 12th January with another fantastic turnout for races 3 & 4 in the series.
Due to events elsewhere and a few ‘no-shows’ there was a reduced turn out this weekend but we still managed to get 78 boats actually on the water and racing of which 25 were new to the series. This means that to date, only two weekends into the series, we have had an amazing 113 boats entered and actually on the water racing.
This weekend the competitors arrived to find a steady 9 knot breeze from the east with the occasional 16 knot gust. As the day went on the breeze went and slightly to the south. Once again Peter and Judith Baldwin lead the race team and they had to be on their toes as a few single boat and general recalls were signalled as the over keen fleets pushed their luck.
As per the revised starting procedure for the series meant the first fleet away was the 17 strong Laser fleet which included 7 new entries from last week. This start resulted in a general recall and on the restart there was a single boat recall. When the dust settled it was Jack Hopkins (Delph SC) , who carried on were he left off from last week, who took the bullet from Neil Skellam (LLSC) second, Graham McWhirter (UKLA) third and Stuart Belfield fourth.
Second away was the 31 boat handicap fleet which included 14 Solos (the results of which will be taken separately from the handicap finish) This fleet had a single boat recall for a Solo who returned but in the main fleet, which included 4 new entries to the series, the winner on corrected time was Alex Morrison (Phantom – LLSC) who was pushed hard by the RS300’s of Peter Mackin (Bolton SC) and Richard Catchpole (LLSC) who finished overall in that order. Fourth was Andy Flitcroft (Supernova – Bolton SC) In the Solo fleet, which had 6 new entries, Chris Robinson (Royal Windermere YC) took an early lead and was miles ahead until he lost his bearings and sailed to a wrong mark. This allowed Patrick Hamilton (Burwain SC) and Ian Harridge (Nantwich & Borders SC) to sneak through into the lead positions. The originally OCS Ian Hopwood (Nantwich & Borders SC) having restarted then sailed through into third and Robinson finished off the top four.
Next away were the 15 boat Asymmetric fleet, with 5 new entries, who sailed a windward/leeward course. On corrected time the race winner was the RS200 of Matt Mee/Emma Norris (Red Wharf Bay SC/Hollingworth lake SC) Behind them the battle of the RS400’s continued and winner was Joshua/Patrick Metcalfe (Port Dinorwic SC) followed by Paul/Mike Allen (LLSC) and fourth was Hamish Gledhill/Simon Dowse (RS400 – West Riding SC)
Last away was the 13 boat junior fleet of which 3 were new entries. Due to training events elsewhere a number of Toppers and Optimist were missing from the junior fleet but this did not diminish from the quality and closeness of the racing as can be seen on the video link ( see below) Today was a Topper day as they took all four places in each race. After a general recall the fleet got clean away on the second start and first home was the new entry of Toby Cope (Rudyard lake SC) who was shadowed all the way by George Graham (LLSC) in second, Rachel McClusky (LLSC) third and James Wynn-Edwards (Chester SC) rounded off the top four.
After lunch, served by Ann and Helen from our now world? famous galley, the fleets launched in a steady 10 knot breeze which fluctuated across the course with the occasional 18 knot gust recorded from the committee boat.
It was a case of ‘the same old same old’ in the Laser fleet as Jack Hopkins took his fourth win of the series to sit firmly on top of the leader board. Neil Skellam finished second and McWhirter third while Glyn Purnell (LLSC) finished fourth.
In the second fleet away the handicap fleet was won by Andy Flitcroft (Supernova) with Richard Catchpole (RS300) second, Peter Mackin (RS300) third and Alex Morrison (Phantom) fourth. Overall the top of the leader board is tied with Flitcroft and Catchpole on 6 points and Mackin just behind with 8 points. In the Solo fleet it appeared Robinson had took time over lunch to study the layout of the marks as this time he made no mistakes and sailed off into the distance to take the win. There was close racing behind as Hopwood sailed well to finish second with Hamilton third. Fourth was a dead heat on the line between Harridge and Paul Heath (LLSC) As it stands
Hamilton leads the series with 3 points from Harridge in second.
In the junior fleet Cope took his second win of the day with Wynn-Edwards improving on his first race result to finish in second place. Matt Harrison (Topper – Rudyard Lake SC) also improved on his earlier sixth place to finish third and Rachel McClusky came home in fourth. As it stands Cope leads the fleet but there is still a long way to go and those junior fleet sailors who were missing today aim to return next Sunday so there is sure to be a shakeup in the series results.
The asymmetric fleet once again sailed a windward/leeward. The Mee/Norris machine sat this one out but the battle of the RS400’s continued at the front of the fleet and it was Paul/Mike Allen who took control of the race to win it on corrected time from the Metcalfe brothers in second. The RS200 crews found the conditions a lot more to their liking as third overall on corrected time went to the 200 of Louise McKeand/Cathy Partington (LLSC) while fourth went to the newly entered 200 of John Chapman/ Wendy Martin (Budworth SC) Its tight at the top as the Allens and Metcalfes share the lead with 5 points. Who will blink first?
Sound exciting? Want close, top class racing and some fun? Well come and join us next Sunday, 19th January for races 5 & 6 in the ‘Crewsaver’ Tipsy Icicle series the largest dinghy winter series in the country. It’s a midday start and full details on how to enter the series online via webcollect or enter on the day at the reception desk.
See the Crewsaver Phase2 range here
We look forward to seeing you. LLSC website: http://leighandlowton.wordpress.com/
Full results can be found on: https://llsc.org.uk/LLSC/Results/2014Tipsy.htm
Race 4 Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3U9Z8NJ1ok&feature=youtu.be