Notts County Cooler

The Notts County Cooler dawned calm and grey, but this didn't deter 50 dinghies and 9 windsurfers from signing on.

The entrants were local from the East Midlands. The Midlands mini series started as an inter club race and now takes place at four clubs round the region. The series started at Burton a couple of weeks ago, it moved to Notts County SC on 28/29 Jan and then visits Staunton SC on 18/19 Feb and Ogston SC 25/26 Feb 2023, some more info on the series here.

The County Cooler got off to slightly later start to allow for lunch, their idea being to have three back to back races. The wind had other ideas, the fleets got off to a good start, but after about half a lap the wind dropped to a zephyr, just enough to finish the first lap but no more.

Kevin Hope and Andy Stewart third in the Notts County Cooler, part of the Midlands Mini Series - photo © David Eberlin

Kevin Hope (Notts County) in a Fireball managed to cross the line in first place, and was third on handicap, Nigel and Diana Pepperdine (Staunton) in an RS200 won on handicap with Will Hitcham (Carsington) second. The wind was too light for another race that day so Ken Twemlow, the race officer, called it a day, with a 10.30 start on Sunday. There was a good contingent of windsurfers from Burton, and Sam Birch won with Oscar Chow second in the windsurfing fleet.

Overall winner Will Hitchman (to the right) approaching a mark during the Notts County Cooler, part of the Midlands Mini Series - photo © David Eberlin

Sunday was a much better day, with some sunshine, and a good westerly breeze, gusting to 30 mph. The extra wind saw some new faces at the front of the fleet Will Hitchman being the most consistent and winning overall, though Jamie Mawson from Notts County in his RS600 was on equal points, he had a worse discard so was second. Kevin Hope and Andy Stewart continued their consistency to come third with a win in the forth race. Peter and Rachel Gray (Staunton) in their Scorpion were next, followed by Chris Martin & John Tailby in a Merlin, there were only 5 points between the first 5 showing there was some great close racing. Sam Grayton (ICLA 6) in 7th overall, just beat Samantha Mason (Topper) by one place for the Junior Trophy, but a great result for both, Samantha even managed to beat her Dad!

The windsurfers, all from Burton saw Sam Birch win, with Oscar Chow second and willow Woodhouse third.

More photos at www.ncsc.org.uk/county-cooler-23

A large turnout for the Notts County Cooler, part of the Midlands Mini Series - photo © John Sears

Overall Results:

Dinghy

Windsurfer