The first in the Frostbite series for the 2009/10 Sailing Season was sailed yesterday 23 August. The Port Elizabeth Windguru unfortunately got it wrong with a prediction of a South South West of around 11 knots for the 11:00 a.m. start.

The format for the day's race was a pursuit and the South South West prediction would have suited the Pacer's for the chosen course - Harbour Start, sail towards and pastthe Bell Buoy for an hour then turn back and race to the finish.

As the weather gods would have it the wind was a westerly and rising.

The boats got off the start at 11:34 a.m. and proceeded to charge (some were seen to be sedately meandering rather than charging, though) for the Bell Buoy. On Wild Thing the decision was made to take advantage of the inshore 'protected zone' before charging for the Bell Buoy with spinnaker flying, sails flapping and various sailors holding on for dear life as we wrestled with the beast.

As we flew past the Bell Buoy just before 12:00 noon and with 35 minutes in hand before being able to turn back and beat, we decided to change direction towards Noordhoek, lest we run away from ourselves and bump an iceberg or two in a headlong charge away from the land.

With Cape Receife looming we did a smart about turn (way before the hour was up) and headed back towards the finish line. Good thing we did too, as we noticed that a number of boats had broken stop watches and with the loss of this 'vital piece of safety equipment' they had also decided to turn tail and race for the finish line.

No matter - we had great fun playing in the large swell off of Boilers and sailed on a tight fetch back to the finish.

Final Results:

1. Le Chevalier
2. Shady Lady
3. Duette
4. Jouster
5. Bonita
6. Umbaleki
7. Wild Thing
8. Seralon
9. High Spirit

Greg on High Spirit was having such fun that he decided to sail there for longer than hour - much to the dismay of Phil and Ashleigh on the finish boat as they had to wait in heaving seas and high winds for Greg to return.