Saturday 9th December 2017

A hardy bunch of sailors ventured out for the last day of the 2017 Snowglobe series on Saturday. With all to play for, they were not going to let the -1 degree temperatures put them off however discussions were had as to the number of layers required (Christie Peel won with about 10). The morning started with the usual briefing and prize giving for the previous week’s races – the Zhik hats have been brilliant prizes each week and this week saw Tom Rands and Christie pick up snazzy red hats following their excellent second in the light and flukey winds of last week.

On to the racing and with winds gusting 17 knots competitors were treated to some champagne sailing. Malcolm Hutchings and Ian Simons in the Fireball revelled in the breeze and flew round the course whilst the RS200s and Laser Radials battled it out with guest appearances from Keith Gilmore and Howie Enkel joining the Laser Radial fleet and Richard Franklin in the Blaze. The red hatted pair of Tom and Christie suffered the first capsize of the day – not the last for the fleet with all the double handed boats suffering a dip, some being more successful than others in keeping dry! After zipping round the marks and the RS Fevas training at BSC, the first race finished with the Lasers of Lizzie Brown and Alex Porteous taking the top two spots and the remaining podium spot going to Malcs/Ian under handicap.

The second race was shortened to ensure no cases of frostbite were reported, although many of the fleet had taken up the offer given by Yachting Solutions and Zhik and were sporting the fantastic Superwarm kit, so were snug as a bug as the second race commenced! Again, the Fireball took an early lead and with the tide coming in the fleet were quickly up by No11 and avoiding the RS Fevas who were still blasting across the river having a great time. Racing was close and positions changed frequently however this time it was the turn of Howie Enkel to lead the Lasers round whilst Tom and Christie led the RS200s. Final places were Malcs/Ian in first, Howie second and Lizzie third and everyone rushing back to the pontoon and into the warm bar to discuss the fantastic racing.

As this was the last race of the series, once boats & kit were packed up and drinks/lunch bought it was onto the overall prize giving. Thanks were given (and echoed) to the brilliant work performed by all those in the race box and rescue boats (not an easy task in the cold weather experienced this series!). Thanks also went to Zhik and Yachting Solutions for their sponsorship of this extremely popular event. The final results saw Malcolm Hutchings and Ian Simons pip Lizzie Brown to the top spot by one point and Alex Porteous taking third place. As Malcolm pointed out, it was great to see competitors from all three Burnham clubs competing on the water.

Finally, huge thanks to Carl for organising the event which yet again was a storming success!

Alex Porteous