Category: Sailing

                                                  SUNDAY  25TH Feb  2018 Report

The weather forecast appeared  to have put sailors off with reduced numbers at Rollesby. The ten boats that launched, however, enjoyed two races on  a breezy and sunny morning. The easterly direction of the wind coming over the trees along the Broad lead to quickly changing conditions, from planning gusts to quiet periods with big wind shifts and adjusting to these was the key to the races.

In the four boat multi sail fleet Dave Houghton and John Symonds in their Wayfarer lead both races    comfortably, for two wins, followed by the fellow Wayfarers of Val and Chris Hanson and Bob Sparrow with Steve.

In the six single sail fleet the  first race, was lead round by Mike McNamara in his Harrier but the fickle wind allowed the fleet  to bunch up at the bottom mark on the last lap. This gave the handicap win to John Saddington in his solo, with second place to Keith Sykes in a Laser and third to the solo of Matt Boreham.  In the second race mixed fortunes on the start line allowed the two solos’  of Saddington and Boreham to lead the way round on the first lap but the Harrier and Laser pulled through and by lap five had established a good lead to give McNamara the win with Sykes second and Boreham third.

As a forerunner to its frostbite series, Rollesby Broad Sailing Club held their frostbite regatta with a fresh wind from the north. OOD Robert Sparrow set a simple course with a long run and beat over the length of the broad.
In the first race the small Multi Sail four boat fleet was lead by Chris Sallis in his D1 but Dave Houghton and John Symonds, in their Wayfarer won comfortably on handicap.
When the larger single sail fleet started the strength of the wind was increasing and on the first lap spectators were treated to the sight of 14 single handers planning on a run down the broad. Alas this was not to last as a vicious gust caused multiple capsizes. With nine boats over, some with masts in the mud, the rescue boat crew of Paul Warnes and Nick Whittle had their work cut out. In spite of doing turns at the first mark Roger Wilson prevailed and won the race in his solo followed by another solo helmed by Matt Boreham.
There was a much reduced turn out for the second race. In the Multi Sail fleet John Saddington and Dennis Manning crossed the line first in the Albacore but Houghton and Symonds in the wayfarer were not far behind to take first in the race and the regatta trophy. In the single sail fleet six boats went out and Dan Harvey won the race in the club Pico, followed by Matt Boreham and Roger Wilson. With Wilson and Boreham both on four points count back was required to give Wilson the single sail trophy.

John Saddington

Results Frostbite Regatta

Multi Sail Fleet
Race 1. (4)
1. Wayfarer Dave Houghton & John Symonds
2. Albacore John Saddington & Dennis Manning
3. D1 Chris Sallis

Race 2 (2)
1. Wayfarer,
2. Albacore

Overall,
1 Wayfarer,
2 Albacore

Single Sail Fleet

Race 1 (14)
1. Solo 5249 Roger Wilson
2. Solo 035 Matt Boreham
3. Laser Stuart Highfield.

Race 2 (6)
1. Pico Dan Harvey,
2. Solo 035
3.Solo 5295

Overall
1. Solo 5249
2. solo 035
3. Pico Dan Harvey

New Years Regatta Report

A complete mix of winds at Rollesby Broad for their annual New Year’s Day Open; with planing conditions in race 1, marginal hiking in race 2 and rather a drift in places during race 3 after lunch. At least the wind direction held almost perfectly allowing as long as possible a beat down the broad and the sun stayed out all day keeping the 24 competitors warm!

Race 1 was unsurprisingly led from start to finish by Richard Fryer and Dave Houghton in their RS300s, Fryer establishing a good lead early on. John Saddington & Dennis Manning in their Albacore escaped from the pack to follow the faster flyers with the Solos, initially led by Matt Boreham winning the battle with the Lasers for the mid-paced single-handers. Ian
Ayres and Bob Hawkins over took Boreham on the twisty downwind legs of lap one before Ayres nailed the beat on lap two and eventually took the handicap victory from Fryer and Saddington.
In race 2 despite a longer, evenly laid start line the well spread fleet needed a general recall before Fryer led once again; however with Ayres placing his Solo third at the first windward mark squeezing in between Saddington and Mike McNamara’s Harrier and with Hawkins and Roger Wilson in fairly close proximity, it looked like the handicap race might be over in favour of the Solo fleet. As the wind eased the faster craft were able to open out a good gap, only Ayres from the pack managed to stay with them and despite some closing at the end he took the win again from McNamara and Saddington with Hawkins and Wilson 4 th and 5 th .
With the majority of the fleet staying out to play after lunch it looked like McNamara, enjoying a very close on the water battle with Saddington, might take the race as the RS300s found the wind a little too light to make up their handicap. A little more space in the middle of the fleet allowed Ayres and Wilson to make up ground as the race went on and they rounded out podium places split by McNamara.
There were 6 tie breaks needed in the fleet, meaning working out the overall results took a while, prizes were awarded by the Sallis race officers in what they described as by far the closest set of results they’d seen in many years of running the event.