Bough Beech Sailing Club Icicle 2020 - Day 4
by Nick Marden 26 Jan 2020 14:51 PST
5 January - 23 February 2020
Race 7 of the Bough Beech Sailing Club Icicle © Debbie Maynard
After four Sundays and eight races, the 2020 Bough Beech Icicle is halfway through. Like last year, the weather has alternated between lighter and more breezy days with varying wind directions, so local knowledge and all-weather consistency is paying.
In the Conventional fleet, last year's winners, John Clementson and Mel Titmus (Wayfarer, Chipstead SC) are the form boat with four bullets, and are building a bit of a cushion between them and second placed Guy Marks and Sam Pygall (Wayfarer, Bough Beech).
It is great to see 14 year old Joe Warwicker (Bough Beech) in his Topper only one point adrift of Guy in third place. Another young Topper sailor, Hugo Valentine (Chipstead), lies seventh overall in a fleet that has swelled to 60 entries.
In the Asymmetric fleet, it's tight again between Matt Fowler and Lynn Ratcliffe (RS200, Pevensey Bay) and Mick and Sarah Whitmore (RS400 Eastbourne Sovereign) in first and second respectively. They both finished in the top three in 2019.
Two Bough Beech boats are on equal points in third/fourth places - Rich Sheridan and Andy Fryer (RS400), and Bruce Kidd and Liz Denbigh (2000) - though Luke and Heather Boughton (2000, Itchenor) are sailing well enough to podium once they can discount four DNCs.
It looks as though races 9 and 10 will be more windy, which will be welcome to the trapeze boats, especially the RS600s of Richard Smith (Wilsonian) and George Smith (Bough Beech), who are poised to make inroads into the top ten of the Conventional fleet.
Results can be found here.