Warming up for the Bough Beech SC Icicle

Bough Beech SC Icicle © Deborah Maynard

Next year Bough Beech Sailing Club looks forward to celebrating its 50th anniversary. Back in the 1970s, dinghy sailors from the South East coastal clubs started to come to the then newly built Bough Beech reservoir so they could continue sailing through the winter.

Appropriately, 2020's racing kicks off once again with the Club's major annual event, the Icicle. This open handicap event continues to attract entrants from the south coast as well as other clubs around the region. Almost 90 boats of 20 different classes raced in the 2019 series and the Club hopes numbers will be above the 100 mark this time.

The format for the event is a sixteen race series for monohull non-foiling dinghies to be sailed under PY handicap over eight Sundays, starting on 5th January and finishing on the 23rd February. Racing will be on the "average lap" format and organised into two classes and courses, one for asymmetric rig boats and one for the rest. Races to count will be half the total number sailed plus one, so there is no pressure to come every weekend.

All participants, crews and, families and sailing support are extended membership privileges for the duration of the series and boat storage is available at the club. The club looks forward to giving a warm welcome to visitors in its 50th year.

Competitors can enter on the day but the NoR and entry form are at www.boughbeechsc.org.uk/news/get-ready-for-the-bough-beech-open-icicle-series-2020