Chichester sailors were ahead of rest with Snowflake action

The day was overcast with light winds from the south-east. Even with temperatures in the low single figures, the hardy sailors were describing the weather as quite warm.

Race officer Pete Harrison set a reverse P course positioning Cyclone (the CYC committee boat) close to the west shore of the lake, and the windward mark close to the marina channel near Perch.

In the fast fleet the Fireball of David and Fiona Sayce won the first race, followed by Merlin Rockets sailed by Will and Mary Henderson and Alex Warren and William Carroll.

For the second race, Dell Quay’s Bill Dawber and Clare Power managed a convincing lead over the water which secured them first place after the handicap was applied.

In a medium fleet of 25 boats the day favoured the light weight Aeros. That said, the race at the front of the fleet was between a National 12 sailed by Dave and Hugo Dobrijevic and the Aero7 sailed by Steve Cockerill.

In the racing they were neck and neck throughout, with Cockerill chasing the National and gradually overtaking them to build a small lead that was not enough to take the points from the Dobrijevics after handicap.

The duo took first place in both races, followed by Cockerill, then John Derbyshire also in an Aero7.

CYC’s Nick and Biddy Colbourne split the Aeros in race one to claim a good fourth place in wind conditions that defied their expert local knowledge.

In a Mirror, Alice and Richard Bullock further extended their slow fleet lead with two first places to keep their 100 per cent record.

In the first race CYC’s Alex Cray and Ellie Cawley had their best result of the series with a second place, followed by Thomas Lawson in third. They exchanged places in the second race with Lawson taking the second place.

MARK GREEN