Chichester Yacht Club Snowflake Series 2025 - Day 2
by Mark Green 19 Feb 21:18 GMT
16 February 2025
Chichester Snowflake Series day 2 © Chris Turner
The February Snowflake Series featured a day of challenging sailing, with a cold east wind blowing at 10 to 15 knots and grey skies overhead. Race officer Richard Anderton set a trapezoid course for the fast and medium fleets, starting from a line west of the Birdham Channel and heading towards the windward mark placed near Copperas Point.
The third race for the Fast fleet had an interesting start. The fleet may have misjudged the strength of the tide, resulting in all boats pressing the start line and causing a general recall. On the second attempt, the race began smoothly. Alex Jackson and Pip Kilsby won this race in their Merlin Rocket.
The fourth race saw a strong performance from the Merlin Rockets, which took all the top positions. Chris Gould and Sophie Mackle came out on top, followed by the other skilled crews.
In the medium fleet's third race, there was a close contest between solo sailors Ian Barnet and Alex Butler. Alex led the race halfway, but Ian managed to get ahead and win by less than 20 seconds.
The fourth race continued with close competition. Iain and Sarah Yardley faced pressure from Jonny Hepworth and Nikki Lomax. Despite this, Ian and Sarah maintained their lead. With CYC's Nick and Biddy Colbourne finishing third.
The Feva, sailed by Thomas Knight and Sam Machell, added some excitement. Despite facing spinnaker problems at the leeward mark, which impacted their performance, they managed to finish fourth and seventh in the two races.
In the Slow fleet, Charlie Hunt showed consistent skill, winning both races in his RS Tera Pro.
The next Snowflake event is scheduled for the 2nd of March, with the first race set to begin at 11:30.
Register here: www.cyc.co.uk/event/cyc-snowflake-series-2025-snowflake-race-2
Full results: www.sailwave.com/results/chichesteryc/cyc-2025-snowflake.htm