Ros Nickols made the perfect start to Welland Yacht Club’s Frostbite Series with victory in Sunday’s opening round.
With bright sky and a fair breeze, Welland members were joined by members from neighbouring Witham Sailing Club – meaning 12 people in nine boats took to the start line.
The Europe of Nickols was first away, followed by the RS200 of Alan Cox and crew Roger Ackroyd, then the Phantom of Geri van Haren, Paul Burton (Solo), Tom Bell and crew Andy Agar (Scorpion), Ivan Hirst and crew Andy Stopper (Merlin Rocket), Katie Follington (Topper), Aistair Mitchell (Laser) and Gail Follington (Laser Radial).
Once around the first mark, the run up river allowed the faster classes to move through the fleet, with van Haren soon having the lead on the water, with Cox and Ackroyd second and Nickols close to in third.
Bell and Agar appeared to have lost ground while setting their spinnaker, hoping to make it up once set.
As they completed the first lap, the lead boats were still fairly close to each other – although on varying class handicap.
The final stretch to the finish was into a head wind, with van Haren and Cox and Ackroyd neck and neck as they tacked towards the finish.
In the end, Cox and Ackroyd were first across followed by van Haren then Nichols.
But, once handicaps applied, Nickols took the opening win from Burton second and Cox and Roger Ackroyd in third.
