Top turnout as ace Emma grabs glory at round three of Welland Yacht Club’s Frostbite Series

Young gun Emma Agar raced to first place at round three of Welland Yacht Club’s Frostbite Series on Sunday.

With a reasonable wind blowing strong gusts, the safety boat crew were preparing for a busy morning. Despite that, some 12 boats – four with crew – made for the biggest attendance so far for the series (16).

New juniors Rosie and Samuel Willerton were prepared to have a go, but it soon became apparent that the conditions were going to be too severe.

As the clock ticked down a few boats opted to hang back but, once under way, there was a near miss between a couple of boats.

It was Paul and Lucy Burton in their Graduate who took the early lead, followed by the Scorpion of Andy Prior and Tom Bell, with the RS200 of Alan Cox and Roger Ackroyd close behind.

A little further back, the remainder of the fleet was led by Ian Thompson and Andy Stopper (Enterprise), with Mark Holland (Laser Radial), Gerri van Haren (Phantom), Agar (Topper), Ivan Hirst (Laser) and Alistair Mitchell (Laser) just behind.

The faster Scorpion and RS200 had taken the lead by the second bend and were soon joined by the Phantom of van Haren.

On the run back from the top mark, Bell missed his toe strap and ended up going over the side – leaving Prior to circle back and recover. They lost time to the Phantom and the RS200 ahead, while junior Agar managed her own race and fought to keep her boat upright in the gusts.

With the Burtons maintaining fourth on the water in a much slower boat a second win in the series was looking likely.

However, once handicaps were applied it was Agar who took the win from the Burtons, with Prior and Tom Bell third.