Alton Water 2020 Fox's Chandlery & Anglian Water Frostbite Series - Week 9

Tim's Bees' shot of the Alton Water Fox's Chandlery & Anglian Water Frostbite Series © Tim Bees

We have come to the end of what will always be remembered as the windy series, with none of the usual Frostbite snow, ice and bone-chilling winds, but this time interrupted by Storms Ciara and Darren and a near miss by Jorge.

This series is a great way for sailors from across the region to get together during the winter, when there is no racing at their own club and this year was no exception with 93 entries from 19 different clubs, including visitors from far afield who turned up for just one or two weekends. There had been some doubt until late 2019 as to whether the series would go ahead, as Anglian Water had taken over the running of the sailing centre, so it was encouraging to see sailors from a wide area supporting the racing once again. The largest fleet this year was the Lasers with a mix of rigs.

Having had to cancel racing on two Sundays, one catch-up race was run on the penultimate day, meaning fifteen races were sailed of the planned 18, giving sailors five discards throughout the series. The final day was no exception, with a gusty 20+ mph breeze from the usual south-westerly direction which was forecast to drop by lunchtime, but held up until late in the second race, providing an exciting and dramatic finale to the series. In contrast to the previous week the sun shone, though it was chillier than the series had been so far.

As sailors were greeted by more breeze than anticipated, some decided not to go out and the five fleets were combined into two, with the Fast and Asymmetrics going off first, followed by the Laser, Medium and Slow fleets. There was a slight delay while the committee boat was anchored, the reservoir now being so full that extra chain was required to stop it drifting. Two two-beat races were sailed with some fleets doing three laps and there were several capsizes and retirements and some very tired sailors at the end. The wind veered a little just before the second start of the final race, giving a slightly starboard-biased line and there were some considerable shifts and strong gusts to be dealt with on the beats.

The fleet leaders have changed over the final three weeks of the series, with the single-handers enjoying the strong breezes and some of the RS200s and other double-handers not venturing out for the final few races of the series. With another discard coming into play if two races were sailed on the last day, no-one could anticipate the final results. Although the fleet leaders all had a good lead in the end, there was a tight battle for second and third place in the Laser fleet, with only one point separating them.

Rheanna Pavey overall series winner in the Alton Water Fox's Chandlery & Anglian Water Frostbite Series - photo © Tim Bees

The overall series winner was Rheanna Pavey in a Laser Radial, with Stephen Videlo/Ethan Davey in a RS200 second and Ben Powell in an RS Aero 7 third. The single-handers did better in the overall results this year in the windy conditions, taking six of the top ten places. A special award went to the first female helm not in the main prizes, which was Phoebe Willcocks in an RS Aero 5.

Best club was won by Waldringfield Sailing Club, with their top three boats of Stephen Videlo/Ethan Davey in an RS200, Christopher and Cathy Fish in a Lark and Alan Krailing/Charlotte Stewart in an RS200.

Alton Water Fox's Chandlery & Anglian Water Frostbite Series prizewinners - photo © Emer Berry

Fox's Chandlery generously sponsored the main prizes and Anglian Water provided prizes for the winning club team. The volunteer race team and results co-ordinator were thanked, as well as the Anglian Water, safety boat crews and café staff. Big thanks too to Tim Bees, our stalwart photographer, who captured the highs and lows of the series with his dramatic shots.

Full results of the series can be found on the Alton Water Sailing Facebook page.

Tim Bees' photos from the final day can be seen on flickr here and there are more photos on the Alton Water Sailing Facebook page.

Results from the final day: (top 3 or 4 in each fleet)

Overall Series Results: (top 3 in each fleet)