With last night's ice still solid on the boat covers and a bitterly cold easterly breeze taking the wind chill factor well below zero, the prospect of racing on Boxing Day was less than appealing to many of the generally bloated and hungover competitors. The sense of being on a beach in Australia with the class Chairman suddenly dawned on many. However, a hardy 15 boats turned up to compete for Royal Harwich's annual Boxing Day cup for National 12s.

The race officer, David Kerridge, got the fleet away first time and promptly at 11am. With a strong bias towards the port end and a foul tide, the fleet bunched together closely, resulting in various localised pockets of carnage. Antony Gifford in his new boat N3447, crewed by Jo Brown, and Frances Gifford and Neil Ravenscroft in N3431 made the most of this to work themselves into first and second at the windward mark, with Jonathan and Jessica Brown in N3426 third. Jon and Charlotte Ibbotson in N3445 and Richard Williams and Stella Brown in N3450, both of whom had been victims of the early carnage, followed.

Two legs later at the top of the run, the two Gifford boats had worked themselves clear of the chasing pack, Antony with a comfortable lead over Frances, and the Ibbotsons had overtaken the Browns. The Browns unfortunately fell into a hole and were absorbed into the pack, never to recover. Seeing this, Williams took avoiding action and, staying in steadier breeze, consolidated his fourth place.

With some good shift spotting upwind and consistently quick downwind sailing Frances managed to overtake Antony. With the puffy, shifty conditions the top four boats all closed up on each other by the middle of the next run, giving these boats some close, exciting racing to the finish. This, combined with the fact that, for some of the competitors, feeling had returned to some of their hands and feet, made the outing seem almost enjoyable, despite the weather !!

Antony, making his new boat go impressively quickly despite a year's sabbatical from sailing in New York, was by now challenging his sister strongly. Sibling rivalry perhaps made the ensuing luffing match slightly more aggressive than it was prudent, allowing the Ibbotsons to overtake Antony into second place. Upwind, it was now the Ibbotsons who got the better of the shifts but only just, the top three boats rounding the windward mark nose to tail - Ibbotsons, followed by Antony then Frances Gifford. Despite some very close racing, the boats held this order for the final lap to the finish, with Richard Williams coming home fourth.

Results

1. N3445 "Purple Turtle" Jon and Charlotte Ibbotson, RHYC
2. N3447 " " Antony Gifford and Jo Brown, Aldeburgh YC
3. N3431 "Zippy" Frances Gifford and Neil Ravenscroft, Aldeburgh YC
4. N3450 "Carbon 12" Richard Williams and Stella Brown, RHYC
5. N3426 "Purple Pants" Jon and Jessica Brown, RHYC
6. N3454 "Amy" Ben Powell, RHYC