County Cooler January 2025
The 2025 County Cooler was just that, cool, but sunny with a light to moderate breeze, so good conditions. Thirty four dinghies and severn windsurfers entered the two day event.
Martin Hayhoe the race officer got the event off to a prompt start. The first race was held in great conditions, there was pause for lunch and two back to back races.Â
After Saturdays racing Joe Scurrah from Notts County was leading in his Aero, with John Tailby and Chris Martin (Notts County & Staunton) in a Scorpion in second place and Kevin Hope & Andy Stewart (Notts County) third in a Fireball. 4th was Chris Swallow (Burton) in a K1, so plenty to play for on Sunday.
Races on Sunday were noticeably colder with an increasing wind. There was a break after the first race to allow Sailors and Safety teams to warm up. About a third of the fleet decided to stay ashore for the final race. The Race team decided to run this as a handicap to give the option to shorten course, if conditions worsened, as was forecast. Conditions became gusty and testing, with a 16 mph average but 28mph gusts, causing plenty of capsizes. The rescue team were kept busy assisting competitors all morning. The Windsurfers sailed a windward – leeward course.
Joe kept his overnight lead to win overall, with two more firsts, followed by John and Chris in a Scorpion and Kevin & Andy in the Fireball. Nigel Potter and Gerry Haninabus improved on their overnight score to come in 4th. First Lady was Rebecca Ogden in an Aero in 6th overall.
The windsurfers saw Burton’s Sam Birch was equal points with Joe Faulkner but was second in the final race, ahead of Joe to take the trophy. The final race was won by Natalie Orgonova who could possibly have won overall if she hadn’t spent Saturday coaching the team.
