Upper Tamar Lake Sailing Club race report — Sunday, November 11

Frostbite Seven

FOR the last races of the season the fleet was made up of four Bosuns, two Toppers, a Laser Radial and a Laser Full.

It was a day when the sun shone, the wind was South Westerly and as fluky as wind can be, although the race was preceded by a two-minute silence on Remembrance Day.

Vicki Duncalf’s Topper was the first to take off from the far side start line with second Adam Hilton at the helm of his Bosun, John Dabbs crewing, a foredeck behind.

Nathan Pollard, braving the monstrous gusts in his Laser Full, started fifth but was soon past them on the way to Inlet and was first from then on, despite a couple of brief capsizes, with an eight-minute lead at the end.

For the rest, Inlet was chaotic; the wind funnelled in between the two hillsides, accentuating the gusts and making it exceptionally hard to round the buoy and tack away.

Several boats got stuck in irons, boats not stuck in irons ran into boats that were; the Hilton/Dabbs Bosun emerged still second.

Subsequent laps at Inlet were hardly better but at least the fleet was more strung out by then before the retirements began.

Toby Tobias was single-handed in his Bosun — he withdrew. Linda Spiller capsized at the end of the first lap — she withdrew.

At Far on lap three, Sally Wills helming the club’s Rob Eason Bosun, with Roger Heasman crewing, found herself holding a tiller without a rudder attached. They had to be towed home.

Once the handicaps had been applied, it was Jane Anderson who was victorious.

Winner: Jane Anderson (Topper); Runner-up: Nathan Pollard (Laser Full); 3rd: Adam Hilton and John Dabbs (Bosun); 4th: Vicki Duncalf (Topper); 5th: Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun)

Retired: Toby Tobias (Bosun), Linda Spiller (Laser Radial), Sally Wills and Roger Heasman (Bosun)

Icicle Seven

JOHN Dabbs, now helming the commodore’s Bosun, started first with Vicki Duncalf next.

Nathan Pollard started third but got to Inlet first and was never subsequently headed while Linda Spiller started fifth but was second by the time they rounded West.

Brian Pollard started nowhere but a gust or two got him coming up fast to leeward of the rest. He overtook Dabbs on the way to West, but by then, the Lasers were well away, Pollard leading Spiller by a couple of minutes at the end of lap one and three at the finish. However this was not enough to overcome the handicap difference. Spiller kept her second place but Nathan Pollard was demoted to third.

Jane Anderson, who had spent the race sitting in fifth, constantly threatening the Dabbs Bosun in front of her, got moved up to first place for her second victory of the day.

Winner: Jane Anderson (Topper); Runner-up: Linda Spiller (Laser Radial); 3rd: Nathan Pollard (Laser Full); 4th: Vicki Duncalf (Topper); 5th: Brian Pollard and Cilla Gilbert (Bosun); 6th: John Dabbs and Adam Hilton (Bosun)

Thanks were expressed to the officers of the day Nicky and John Buckett to Penny Abbott and Robin Spiller, who were in the tug boat, and to Mandy Pollard who took the photographs.