With the reservoir as of last night still completely covered by ice up to 1.5 inches thick we have decided , regrettably, that races 3 and 4 of the Blithfield Barrel are abandoned. Looking at the fixtures over the Christmas and January period  re-scheduling without clashing with another major event is impossible, so the races will not be resailed.
 
Races 5 and 6 of the series take place on 16th January. Provided 6 races are sailed there will still be two discards so newcomers to the series can still qualify.

Chris, does this mean we will get a refund on our entry fee?

What a shame races have been cancelled so early with warm weather forcast for fri and Saturday with breeze aswell. I don't think I'm alone by saying decision was to early.

Well I think the ice will be gone. Will there be club racing instead?

I agree with ? all people who have entered for just the barrel, should have 1/4 of their entry fee given back. Can't believe it has been canceled sooooo early with the current forecast. Bonkers!!!!!!!!!!!

Can we make sure that the duty team turns up.

Right folks, thanks for being understanding :)

The reservior is completely covered by ice, pretty thick ice at that. The wind direction forecast is NNW so what wind there is (Maximum of 10mph) will send the ice to the clubhouse end of the lake. The ground is freezing and the water temperature obviously cold for it to freeze in the first place so i can't see much of a thaw happening, it's reliant on wind to break it up. It's going down to -2 again saturday night, and add to that a forecast of 1mph on Sunday according to the BBC and you'll see that the likelihood of any racing is pretty remote, and the prospect of 50-60 boats turning up to be sent home is not something we relished when we KNOW that there is a strong possibility of a problem.

Club racing. If the lake is clear this can go ahead as normal.

I'm fully aware that whatever decision is made will be the wrong one, but we have to do something and I don't want to waste people's time and money getting there to be sent home when we know what the situation is.

Chris   As an OOD can never get it right on the day someone had to make a decision and thank you for doing so sufficiently far enough ahead that we can go and do other things....

Love sailing at Blithfield but the access roads are also not the best.

regards

steve

Surely we should respect the opinion of the home club - who would know more about the likelyhood of racing on Sunday? I'd be pretty fed up if I dragged the boat up to Blithfield for an hour to find it wasn't happening - of course it's dissapointing. 
Anyway, how can a refund be given to someone if no name is posted :)

This is the state of the lake yesterday evening.

Pretty solid!!

I agree with Steve and KM.  Blithfield have given us plenty of notice so we can make alternative plans - and the photo on their website, together with the forecast for the weekend, supports their decision.  As for a refund on the entry fee,  the fee for the whole series represents a good discount on the fee for each separate Sunday.  In view of the early notice we've all been given we will have saved the cost of a wasted journey.

No ice at blithfield I am there now! Nice bit of breeze club racing will still be on so anyone at a loose end pop down for a sail

Excellent chance to test the Biggs/Hollis tweaks to my boat!

What Mr Hollis (Shame he didn't use his real name before.) has neglected to mention is that the club marks are currently something of a disaster area. We have one on the dam, presumably minus tackle, three all tangled together in the clubhouse corner and one with four or five limit marks wrapped around it. This is going to take a bit of sorting out especially as all 10 marks are out of position.

We are going to try and run normal club racing if we possibly can. It's a shame the forecasters didn't predict the 40mph gusts that went through last night, but there you go, I said before that whatever we decided would turn out to be wrong! If people do decide to came please also bear in mind that the water at the top of the reservoir is still extensively frozen, as are the bays. If this moves and you hit it you WILL damage your boat!

Chris

Well the mammoth task of replacing the marks was completed in time - just!! Myself, Pete Male and a number of other members got the marks roughly back to where they should be and 10 Merlins had a drift round in not much wind for the 12:00 race, which died to almost nothing in the 2:00 before changing through 180 degrees. Thanks to everyone who has expressed their support for their understanding, as it turns out we may have got one half decent race in but the second would have been something of a joke.

Hopefully the freezing conditions will give us a miss in time for the next barrel! We'd prefer not to be in a similar situation again, but we will keep everyone posted should this happen again.