Snow Globe 2023 at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham - Races 1 and 2

Steve and Alison Hall lead the fleet - first races of the RCYC Snow Globe © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

Steve and Alison Hall, sailing on a Merlin Rocket, took the lead on the 2023 edition of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club Snow Globe, by winning the first two races of the series, over the Remembrance Day, 11th of November 2023.

A sunny and crisp day, with a westerly wind and ebbing tide, saw Mark Flynn, the Race Officer, set a Town Course, starting on the club line with an outer distance marker, beating towards West Quay, downwind to Fairway 3 and back through the gate, with a target time of 40 minutes per race.

Boats prepare for the start - first races of the RCYC Snow Globe - photo © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

The usual mix of Lasers/ILCA, Blazes and RS200 was spiced up by the addition of a Merlin Rocket, a Laser 2000 and even a Streaker, to bring the fleet up to 24 boats, with the regular RCYC dinghy sailors being joined by eight Royal Corinthian Otters, guests from Burnham Sailing Club and Up River Yacht Club, and the RCYC Commodore, Phill Aspinall, in his first dinghy event of the season.

The conditions made for interesting tactical choices, with the fleet splitting in two on the downwind legs, some choosing less tide in favour of stronger wind, and with quite a few competitors pushing too hard on the short tacking upwind legs and meeting the muddy bottom of the north shore.

The first race saw Steve and Alison take an early comfortable lead, which they kept to the end of the race.

Charlie Matthews leads the Blaze group - first races of the RCYC Snow Globe - photo © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

The wind direction did not do the Blazes any favours and despite Charlie Matthews, Nick Milton and Robert Coyle finishing second, third and fourth on the line, they were pushed back, on corrected time, by no less than seven Lasers, with James Hutton-Penman and Keith Gilmore, on ILCA 6 taking second and third, and Otter representatives, Nathan Flynn, on ILCA 6 and Lucie Prior, on ILCA 4, on fourth and fifth.

Nathan Flynn rounding the mark - first races of the RCYC Snow Globe - photo © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

The second race saw Phill Aspinall, on ILCA 6, take an early and very short lasting lead, with the Merlin Rocket and the top 3 Blazes rounding the windward mark first.

While Steve and Alison kept their lead to the finish, the Blazes fared better than in the first race, with Charlie and Nick losing only to James, for third and fourth, with Nathan finishing on a well deserved 5th, beating Keith and Robert.

James Hutton-Penman sails by the town quay - first races of the RCYC Snow Globe - photo © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

The RS200 fared better in the second race, with guests Jo Tribe and Marcus Collingbourne taking 8th and Corinthians Scarlett and Carl Anderson taking 10th. Talking about the two wins, Steve said: "We were lucky that we were the quickest boat on the water and could point fairly high compared to a Blaze or Laser.

"Without sticking our nose out too far, we were able to have a clear lane and the ability to tack pretty quickly after both starts.

"After that we could do our own thing and pick the wind shifts that we wanted."

The first two races see Steve and Alison on 1st overall, with 2 points, followed by James on 2nd with 4 points and Keith and Nathan, with 9 points each, on 3rd and 4th, respectively.

The series takes place between 11th of November and 9th of December 2023, with the next event taking place on 18th November, at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.

Corinthian Otters chasing the club's Commodore - first races of the RCYC Snow Globe - photo © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

Results after day 1: