Andy Prior signalled his intent to be a contender in Welland Yacht Club’s Frostbite Series this year with victory at round two on Sunday.
Some seven boats took to the water to compete in the second round of action – but round one winner Ros Nickols found herself struggling to get back on the right side of the start line, having been caught out by a drop in wind.
While the others started, she would have to get back over the line, then turn and start. That pushed her all the way down to last place.
With Paul Burton, Prior and the pairing of Alan Cox and Roger Ackroyd all level from the start as they headed to the first mark, they were followed by Paul Wilson and the pairings of Tom Bell and Andy Agar, Ian Thompson and Dave Sauntson and finally Nickols.
It was Burton who made it first around the mark, followed by Prior, Cox and Ackroyd and then Bell and Agar.
Once all of the boats had rounded the run down, wind would see the faster boats of Prior and Cox/Ackroyd pull ahead.
At the rear, Nickols started to take back a few places – helped slightly by Bell and Agar still trying to master the deployment of their spinnaker.
As the first lap completed, Nickols managed to move up to fourth on the water but was still some distance behind Burton (third), Cox/Ackroyd (second) and race leader Prior.
The second lap saw the front two boats open up the lead slightly as they tried to break any handicap time which would be applied later.
In the end, the order on the water would remain unchanged – with Prior across the line first from Cox/ Ackroyd and then Burton and the resurgent Nickols.
Once the handicaps were applied, Prior just managed to keep the win from Burton in second, with Nickols up in third and the pairing of Cox and Ackroyd falling back to fourth.
- The night before race two saw Welland hold their annual awards and presentation night, where all of the year’s event winners got their hands on the silverware won throughout the campaign.
If competing sounds like something you’d be interested in trying out, anyone wanting to find out more about sailing should contact the club via email [email protected]
