Despite this winter being one of the coldest on record, a fleet of twelve boats came out to make Le Chalet Frostbite series one of the best in recent years. This fleet varied from our juniors in the newly acquired RS Fevas to the spectacular Hobie Tigers. To make fair sailing and give each competitor a fair time on the water the races were held under “average lap” rules.The Tigers would then sail up to seven laps of the windward/leeward course and the Fevas only maybe three but the laps times would be averaged and the handicaps applied.

Such was the success of this method that half the fleet were in contention for podium places coming into the last race. Charles Cooper in his Olympic class Finn headed the fleet but had a critical discard he could not afford to come into play. Dave Le Page and Stuart Bloese, clear winners of the tatty boat prize, sat as bridesmaid but could take first place from Charles if they beat him in the last race. Behind that Keith Le Page in his Laser, Adam Goddard and Hannah Rickards in one of the GYC RS Fevas, Mat Atkinson and James Read and Ben Garnham and Jamie Hamilton both on their Hobie Tigers all tied for third place.

Sunday morning arrived for the last race with a three out of four in the Charles Cooper weather rating: - Sun, moderate breeze and high tide. The course was set with a beat from on the Great Bank towards Castle Cornet and returning back downwind.

It looked as if the conditions were in Charles’ favour but this was not to be the case. At the start he got involved in the melee at the pin end of the line and left Dave and Stuart free to make a classic port end start under the committee boat. Only briefly challenged by Sam Van de Velde, Dave and Stuart stormed away and set up a lead which they would only relinquish to Charles, in his faster boat, over halfway through the race. To make matters worse, the wind died on the lead boats then filled in for the slower ones, dropping Charles to 5th place in this race. Sam rode the new wind to victory although only seconds split the whole fleet.

In the end, a second place was good enough to give Dave and Stuart overall victory, Charles had to settle for bridesmaid with Adam and Hannah, although not flying the spinnaker on all downwind legs, picking up third prize.

A big thank you goes out to all the various volunteers for acting as Race Officers and Guard Boat helpers, without whom the races could not have been held and to Le Chalet Hotel, whose support and generous prizes have contributed to make a very enjoyable series and have set a high standard for the rest of the season.

Pictures (from the top): Dorothy with Dave LePage and Stuart Bloese took the overall victory; Adam Goddard and Hanna Rickards finished third in their RS Feva and received a well deserved prize from Commodore Gordon Wilson.