Snow Globe 2023 at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham

Charlie Matthews leads the fleet on the last day of Royal Corinthian Yacht Club SnowGlobe © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

James Hutton-Penman narrowly missing a club double in the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club SnowGlobe © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

Charlie Matthews, sailing on a Blaze, wins the 2023 edition of Royal Corinthians Yacht Club SnowGlobe series after winning both races on the last day of the series, on 9th of December 2023.

With only 2 points separating the top two competitors, James Hutton-Penman, Laser Radial/ILCA 6 on first and Charlie Matthews, Blaze, on second, and Otter Nathan Flynn losing on countback to Keith Gilmore, both on Laser Radial/ILCA 6, 20 points each, all was left to fight for going into the last day of the 2023 SnowGlobe series.

The forecasted 24 gusting 30+ knots wind made for a very tense 1h postponement, waiting for the tide to turn and the wind direction to stabilize, but eventually Mark Flynn, the Race Officer gave the go head and 8 boats lined up for the first race, competing on a course starting east, through a start line between a triangle on the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club pontoon and a pin end on the second set of moorings, to Fairway 5, to a dumpy buoy just past the neighboring yacht club and back again through the start line.

Charlie's plan was simple, win the race and do so by a large enough margin to ensure a corrected time win and he delivered by taking an early lead and keeping it to the end, using to full advantage the superior reaching capabilities of his boat.

Disaster struck for Jason Phelps, on Blaze, 3rd at the time, when after rounding Fairway 5 he capsized and due to the strength of the tide he had to eventually request assistance from the safety boat and retire from the race.

As misfortunes never come singly, in the process of righting the boat, Jason snapped the tiller extension and was forced to compete in the second race using a string as a replacement.

It was not Nathan's day either, having to retire meters away from the finish line with a broken outhaul and despite his best efforts, abandon the day.

In one of their best races of the series, Burnham Sailing Club visitors Jo Tribe and Marcus Collingbourne, on RS200 took the second on the line, 5th on corrected time, followed by James and Keith, 2nd and 3rd on corrected time, respectively.

With the wind shifting south, the course for the second race was changed to start west, towards a buoy close to the Burnham Sailing Club, then upwind to Fairway 9, back to the pin end and up to Fairway 5.

Charlie took the lead and an indisputable win on the line, with the only question being if the time difference was enough to ensure the race and series win.

James did his best to claw back at Charlie's lead, coming second on the line and gaining almost 1 minute to Keith, who finished 3rd.

Charlie Matthews is presented with the SnowGlobe trophy by Nick Milton, Royal Corinthian Yacht Club's Rear Commodore of Sailing - photo © Petru Balau Sports Photography / sports.hub47.com

Talking about the close results, Charlie said: "I was worried right up to prize-giving!"

"The good and bad thing about handicap sailing is that everyone has a chance at winning but also makes it hard to know if you've done enough to win sometimes".

James took second overall, with 9 points, narrowly missing out on a club double, after winning the Super Saturday summer series.

Steve and Alison Hall, on Merlin Rocket, took the third, with 17 points, with Keith on 4th and Nick Peel, Laser Radial/ILCA 6 on 5th.

Otter Nathan Flynn finished the series on a well deserved 6th place, on countback from Nick Peel, after winning the club's Marco Polo race earlier in the year, an event that pits club dinghies against keelboats, such as Squibs, Dragons, Flying 15 and even cruisers.

Special mentions must go to Otter Amelia Kilgour, who earned a 4th on the third day of the series after her recent switch to Laser 4.7/ILCA 4 from RS Tera and to Otter Lucie Prior, who scored a 5th in the first race of the season, on her 30 years old Laser 4.7/ILCA 4.

Overall Results: