National 12 events 2005
Midwinter Championships
After a fantastic dinner and eastern area prize giving on the Saturday night a small but hardy group of sailors arrived at the club on the Sunday morning for the Royal Harwich Midwinter Championships. After some debate as to whether it would be better to have a snowman building competition or brave the blustery North Easterly wind, occasional snow blizzards and near freezing temperatures a compromise was reached. Fran and Sophie would build a snowman before joining the five other boats on the water. It was decided to sail just one race rather than the usual 4. Race Officer Chris Brown set a figure of eight course from the committee boat. Tom Stewart and Liz Ross got off to a fantastic start and led for all of the race. Jon Ibbotson and Charlotte Stewart were never far behind but just never managed to catch Tom over the three laps that were sailed. Third place was hotly contested. Having reached the first mark in third place, Chris Mayhew spectacularly somersaulted out of the back of the boat much to the horror of his crew! Fran Gifford and Sophie Mackley took full advantage and led for the next few legs. However the places changed several times before the end. Chris Mayhew and Helen Hunt had a good last beat and managed to get ahead to finish in third. Richard Williams and Stella Brown got stuck in the mud before the start and the only way off was to capsize the boat. They caught up considerably but didn't manage to catch Fran and finished in fifth. With such good planing conditions Jerry and Simon Garner in the only admirals cup boat were slightly left behind but they sailed a really good race. Everyone had a fantastic race and it was quite an exhilarating way to start the season! 1 Tom Stewart and Elizabeth Ross
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