The 6th & Final Frostbite Sunday

Sunday 11th December 2011 - Glasson Sailing Club

Gales or near gales had been raging for over a fortnight.  A Russian vessel was recovering alongside the new quay - sailors threatening to jump ship, their crossing had been that bad.  From the bridge they couldn't see the deck the seas were that wild.
But, even though it was very dull (you could see the signal lights shining on the grass in front of the OOD box) and raining the wind had dropped to allow the Glasson sailors the chance to take part in the last Frostbite Sunday.   Southerly F1 ! and no gusts.
Because it had started to rain and looked cold Robin was reluctant o rig his boat and Anthony was quite happy to call it off. However Ian came storming in, full of beans and said of course we're racing.
Michael was OOD for the day helped by Mick Bull.
The wind wasn't cooperating in setting a course so we just pretended it was coming form the west and started into the west.  The course was Ss - Bs - Gs - Ap - Hs - Ss, where S is the OOD buoy and H is the nearest Dock's channel marker.  Three laps for Robin and two for the other two.
It was one of the best starts ever:

Cath has a photo of the start showing the boats all together as they crossed the line, here they are settling down in handicap formation.  Robin in his OK, Ian and Jessica in their GP14 and Anthony in his Yachting World Dayboat with John crewing, Cath had left her kit at home having decided it would be too cold and rough - she was to be proved wrong and later regretted her decision - but she kept the crews supplied with hot drinks so every cloud had a silver lining, and there were plenty of clouds.

There was a huge flock of Lapwings entertaining us landlubbers!

Robin leading the fleet, starting his second lap.
Ian and Jessica went wrong somewhere and Anthony got well ahead of them.
Anthony doing only two laps finished first and, as the wind was falling away, it was touch and go whether Robin would complete his third lap in time, the wind had eased even further, but he just made it winning the first race on handicap.

We were late starting the first race plus the wind had eased somewhat, so there was only time for one lap in the second race.
Again it was a superb start by all three boats - Robin just managed to avoid crossing the line!

We'd chosen a shorter course, just in case, Ss - As - Hs - Ss.  Robin led them home, Anthony finishing a few minutes later and Ian closely afterwards.

Everyone was delighted that they had made the effort and gone on the water!

We entered the results in the Series table and worked out that Robin was the overall winner, Anthony was the first Crewed boat, Ian third overall, John Glynn fourth overall followed by Martin Lord fifth overall.

Doug, Vice-Commodore, presenting the Loyne Trophy to Robin with today's sailors.

Full Results - PDF file

Frostbite Series Overall Results - PDF file