Yeoman Winter Championship and club racing at Snowflake Sailing Club

Yeoman Winter Championship at Snowflake © Paddy Wildman

On Sunday the 29th October Snowflake sailors gathered in glorious conditions of sun and a nice gentle breeze for the Yeoman Winter Championships and points racing for the dinghies and Stars.

With the course set the Yeoman's set off with Chris Bunn and Roger Hannant in Firefly taking an early lead round the first mark, followed by Chris Bolton and Hamish Harmer in Folly Too following in second and Michelle and Tim Stephens in Sandpiper in third. Chris and Roger extended their lead over the following laps and although Chris and Michelle tried to close the gap the race finished with the same top three.

The second race two started in similar fashion with Chris and Roger leading Chris and Hamish around the course, Ez Male sailing Monthelie managing a better start this time round to claim third place from the team of Sarah Knight, Anna and James Dugdale in Peridot.

Yeoman Winter Championship at Snowflake - photo © Paddy Wildman

With only two races of three to count, only four Yeoman's approached the start for the final race, with first and second decided third place was still up for grabs. Chirs and Chris continued the form from the morning races to finish first and second with Michelle and Tim securing third in the final race to secure third overall.

With Stars joining Snowflakes for points racing four stars set out in some close racing followed closely by over 20 dinghies. In Race 1 Nick Eastwood held off the young team of Tom Wildman and Jenson Jakob to take first place with Natalie Chalk finishing third. Race Two saw a repeat of race 1 with Tom and Jenson unable to overhaul Nick. Race Three saw some challenging conditions as the rain came and with it some nasty squalls, with only two stars racing Nick again led from Tom and Jenson, with the later having to retire due to the high winds.

Points racing at Snowflake - photo © Paddy Wildman

Race 1 for the dinghies saw Mark Cartwright sail away from the fleet in his Phantom, being chased hard by Willum Johnson in his 470 and Steve Carver in his firefly. However, once handicaps were applied race 1 went to Zoe Barnes in her Oppie, followed by Richard Whitefoot in a Laser Radial and Steve in his Firefly. Race 2 saw some really competitive racing and many positions changed, once results were calculated Steve in his Firefly finished 1st with Mark in the Phantom 2nd and Zoe in her Oppie finishing third.

The third race after lunch saw a smaller fleet tackling some challenging conditions, as the race started the rain came and wind went, and the boats battled around the first lap, when the wind suddenly came, it caught the fleet by surprise and caused multiple capsizes, Steve in his firefly managed to battle the conditions well to claim first place, Hamish Harmer, jumping in a splash for the last race claimed second with Jasmine Herring in her Topper finishing third.

Points racing at Snowflake - photo © Paddy Wildman

Yeoman Results:

Star Results:

Dinghy Results:

Points racing at Snowflake - photo © Paddy Wildman