Highcliffe Sailing Club Icicle Series - Day 2

As motivation goes, flicking ice off your boat cover is never a very appealing start to a morning's racing and the fairly glassy look to the harbour didn't feel very inspiring for racing either, however, nothing stops the committed sailor and so, 36 of us, in woolly hats and winter gear, lined up for ready for races 3 & 4 of the Highcliffe SC Icicle Open.

Highcliffe Sailing Club Icicle Series day 2 - photo © Melanie Blackman

Joining us on the start line were an assembly/attack/army/array of Aeros set to contest these 2 Icicle races as part of their RS Aero UK Winter Series. Highcliffe SC were thrilled to welcome them, and it was a beautiful sight to see 13 Aeros whizzing around the harbour, well, as whizzing as one can manage in 4 knots of wind. With an ebbing tide, high pressure and low seasonal rainfall, the water levels in the harbour were 'board half up' kind of depths and as usual, time was of the essence if we were to get two races in before the water drained to un-sailable levels.

RO Paul Walker had left us a fairly short start line to play with and with 36 boats including a fleet of Finns and an army of Aeros, all pushing, nudging and pinching as they fought to capitalise on the huge Club House end advantage, it was no particular surprise that many, many boats were over the line. Total recall... oh well it happens.

Highcliffe Sailing Club Icicle Series day 2 - photo © Melanie Blackman

Our RO cracked on, going promptly back into sequence for the second start, and with a no-nonsense approach, the black flag was flying from the off. But with a fairly short start line to play with and 36 boats including a fleet of Finns and an army of Aeros, all pushing, nudging and pinching... Total recall 2. Now, establishing who exactly was pushing their luck here was not easy, the Finn sailors were most certainly not blameless in their approach, coming down on the line like tankers on an unstoppable mission but then again, the Aero sailors, although nifty and more manoeuvrable, were hanging out, toe to toe with the big boys and were most certainly not innocent in all this either.

The start line was widened, and the countdown sequence was started once more. Sill under a black flag and with a chalkboard at the ready to jot down the numbers of the naughty, it was evident that with 5 seconds to go, this was turning into Groundhog Day - this wasn't going to work, again. Total recall 3. It's ok, we have the all the time in the world, plenty of water...

Highcliffe Sailing Club Icicle Series day 2 - photo © Melanie Blackman

The blackboard now listed 7 disqualified sail numbers and despite the sun shining and the wind picking up a knot, time was slipping away and frustration was setting in. At the fourth attempt to start, we finally made it, and once everyone realised that the horn wasn't going to blast, a cheer went up across the fleet and the race was on, at last.

Mudeford's Reid, had parked his Laser for the day and in a borrowed Aero 9, and even though his was the only capsize of the day, (spectacularly done right outside the RNLI station in between one of the many starts), he was now giving the Aero guru, Lymington Town's Barton, the run around, managing to take him on the second beat as the battle for the front 3 positions played out between Lymington Town's Rolfe and Barton and Mudeford's Reid. In the end, they finished, after 3 laps, with Barton taking the win, then Rolfe, then Reid with just 7 seconds separating them, in brilliant display of concentration, tactics and skill. Behind them, and locked in their own fight were Christchurch's C. Arnell (RS 300) and the Christchurch Finns of Atkins and New, who like the Aeros ahead, enjoyed a very close finish and some cracking competitive sailing. Mid fleet, the Radials and 4.7s were chasing each other down and after 2 rounds finished with Mudeford's Ben Reid leading the way. After correction, the Aeros were nudged aside, and it was New who took the top spot, beating Barton's Aero 9 and Rolfe taking the third spot.

Highcliffe Sailing Club Icicle Series day 2 - photo © Melanie Blackman

The start line for race 4 was little diminished, whether some boats had sauntered home in a sulk, or had just headed back wanting to outsmart the tide who knows, but one Aero sailor, still keen to take part, took the advice of Lymington Town's other guru, Thorne and 'got right in there' on the start line. Much good did it do her, for she ended up in a raft of Aeros going nowhere as the rest of the fleet once more marched off to the windward mark... oh well, it happens. At least race four enjoyed a clean get away and it was Rolfe who dominated proceedings this time, forcing Barton to take second place and despite being disqualified in the first race, Lymington Town's Herbert, persisted and was rewarded the third spot. Not far behind was Highcliffe's Rusden (Laser) who had sailed a blinder both races but didn't manage to outsmart the LTSC trio of Aeros this time and was forced to settle for 6th place in both attempts.

Highcliffe Sailing Club Icicle Series day 2 - photo © Melanie Blackman

The racing finished literally as the water began to drain from the harbour and much chit chat ensued on shore. It was the same old story with similar camps uttering similar comments and similar complaints about the whole start debacle. As the wise Rooster man says listening to it all ' is like the Judean People's Front moaning about the People's Front of Judea'. All just a load of fun really and great way to spend a Sunday morning and thank you to all the Aeros for coming to play, you are all welcome any time. The next two races of the series will be on Sunday 3rd February at 10.30am.

Results after Day 2: