North wind means Chichester's Frozen Toe races live up to name

Chichester Yacht Club held the second of their Frozen Toe winter series.
Frozen Toe racing at Chichester YCFrozen Toe racing at Chichester YC
Frozen Toe racing at Chichester YC

Tide times allowed competitors a good lie-in while temperatures were notably colder than the week before, with a northerly direction to the wind.

Race officer Pete Harrison set a trapezium course from just north of the marina channel up toward Dell Quay.

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Racing in the fast fleet was very close for the race three in the series, with the RS400s covering each other. The 400 of Jack Holden and Mark Oakley got ahead of Steve and Sarah Cockerill at the leeward mark, then worked hard to defend their lead.

The approaching shore forced an extra tack from Holden which the Cockerills avoided giving them back the lead. They went on to win race three to maintain their clean sheet. Holden and Oakley took second, with John and Charlotte Fildes third in their new Merlin Rocket.

In race four the Cockerills led from the start, with Holden and Oakley second and Tom Sully and Alicia Stephenson in their RS200 finishing ahead of the Merlin after their elapsed time was adjusted for handicap.

The medium fleet had five Aeros, four Solos and only two Lasers in the 16-strong fleet.

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In race three, CYC’s Ian Barnett in his Solo was fastest over the water and clear winner on handicap. He was followed by Sophie Bentley sailing an Aero 5 and Ian Lissamore in a Solo.

In race four, it was close over the water between Ian and James Gerwat sailing a Supernova, with Burnett’s Solo handicap giving him his second win.

The Slow fleet had 13 competitors in a mixture of Mirrors, Toppers, Laser 4.7s and Byte C1s. After the handicap was applied race three was a Mirror one, two, three with CYC’s Bas Bush finishing ahead of Effie and Sarah Grant, with Itchenor’s George and Camilla Bullock third.

In the fourth race, the Mirror results were reversed with the Bullocks taking the win. The Byte C1 sailed by Felpham’s Paula Bentley squeezed in between the Mirrors to take second.

There are more Frozen Toe races this Sunday (Dec 1) and on December 15.

After Christmas, CYC’s Snowflake series starts on January 12.