CYC Frozen Toe Series Final results
Chichester Yacht Club’s Frozen Toe Series, running from November to Christmas, attracted over 60 boats across three fleets. As is typical for early winter sailing, the conditions varied greatly—from warm and sunny to cold, wet, and windy. Fortunately, this year we avoided the worst of the storms and managed to run all four events without cancellation.
In the final event of the series, Races 7 & 8, race officer Ian Brookes, supported by many members of the Chichester Hadron H2 Fleet, set a trapezoidal course with a long beat from Marina to Birdham Racing.
The Fast fleet, bolstered by six Merlin Rockets, a Devoti D-One, a Scorpion, and a Hadron, saw fierce competition. In both races, the results were the same: Chris Gould and Sophie Mackley took 1st place, followed by Caroline Gould and Jonty Freeman in 2nd place, with Martin Orton in a borrowed Hadron finishing 3rd, much to the admiration of the Hadron Fleet members on duty.
The Medium Fleet, featuring 12 boats including a strong fleet of 2000’s, enjoyed competitive racing with positions changing throughout the races. In Race 7, Bill Bawber and Sue Manning finished 1st, 20 seconds ahead of Jonathan and Matthew Bailey, with a Laser II from Spinnaker SC in 3rd. In Race 8, Jonathan and Matthew Bailey from Weir Wood took 1st place, followed by James Gerwat in 2nd, and Bill Dawber and Sue Manning from Dell Quay in 3rd.
The Slow fleet had just two competitors this week, with Anna Swain taking the honors in both races ahead of Karen Cheeseman in 2nd place.
After the races, competitors came ashore to enjoy some mulled wine and canapés. CYC’s new RC Dinghies, Michael Olliff, presented the series prizes.
In the Slow Fleet, the winner was Anna Swain, who was praised by Karen Cheeseman for her commitment to racing in every race of the series, come rain or shine. Second place went to Karen Cheeseman, with Olivia Ashton taking 3rd place.
In the Medium Fleet, 1st place went to CYC’s Ian Barnet sailing a Solo. Second place was taken by Bill Dawber and Sue Manning in the 2000, with Mark Harper finishing 3rd in a Solo.
In the Fast fleet, 1st place went to George Yeoman in his Merlin Rocket with an assorted range of crews from Itchenor. Second place went to Jack Holden and Tim Blackmore in the RS400, with Pete Harrison taking 3rd in the Hadron H2.
The overall winner of the 2024 Frozen Toe Series was CYC’s Ian Barnett, who was presented with the trophy by Mark Harper, the original donor of the Trophy when the Frozen Toe was first created.
George Yeoman, representing the visitors, thanked everyone at CYC for arranging the series.
The next dinghy event at CYC is the start of the Snowflake series on Sunday, 2nd February.
Lots more photos and full results can be found on the Open Meeting Race results page
