SAILING: CHESTER sailors found the expected force four or five winds just a flurry on the water on Sunday and the experts found wind or created it by judicious roll tacking and pulled away from the rest of the fleet.
Ahead was Andy Todd who seemed able to sail in the absence of wind. Second was Peter Hadfield and crew Liz Whitehead in the RS200 then Wally Riley and crew Leslie in an Enterprise who battled it out with Phil Snewin in a Laser.
Further back in the fleet there were log jams of boats as the fleet headed slowly for the top buoy in the light wind and against the current.
Boats were locked together with booms narrowly missing heads, then the down-river drift separated the competitors. A trio of Hamish Collin and Mike Kneale in Lasers and Reg Binnersley in his vintage Topper exchanged positions all round the course with Binnersley making rapid surges ahead in a local wind pocket before the Lasers caught him up.
The final positions were Todd first, Hadfield second, Riley third and Snewin fourth.
The wind was extremely light and variable in direction for the racing at Gresford Flash on Sunday, but at least it was a lot milder for sailors to endure the still conditions and the lack of activity in the boats.
Race number one was a beat from the start line to the number eight-marker buoy in an easterly direction. Trevor Ward, GP with Kevin Forbes as his crew made a good start and managed to escape from the rest of the fleet, and very soon they had built up a substantial lead and finished the race some seven minutes ahead of their nearest rival.
Nick Blore was late getting to the start line, but managed to work his way up to second place by the time the finish gun was sounded.
Meanwhile, a battle developed between Frank Page (Enterprise), and Les Tucker (GP) for third spot, but Page had enough of the still conditions and retired from the race leaving Riley third.
Race two was again sailed in light conditions, but a light breeze did come along as the race progressed. Kevin Forbes was helming his GP in this race and although the start was a lot closer he pulled out a nice lead on the other boats and went on to win the race.
Blore, in the Solo, had a steady race, but failed to make any impression on the lead boat and finished second. Page took ages to cross the start line, but once he was moving had a steady race to take third place. Tucker, with Gethin Morris as crew, came home in fourth position.
Members are reminded that there is only one race on Sunday, the last in this Frostbite Series.
