After two weeks of ice covering the Broad and preventing any sailing, Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club gathered once more after Christmas for the annual Jonathan House Memorial Salver held on Boxing Day.
With 20 boats on the startline, there was a decent westerly breeze giving a good long beat down the length of the Broad.
Normally, this would be enough to sort out the faster boats, but apart from Jonathan Jones slipping around the first mark in the lead in his Laser, everyone else seemed to arrive at the mark at the same time.
Marc and Joe Moncrieff in Pot Black got their spinnaker sorted out quickest to lead the eight Squibs down the following two reaching legs.
On the second beat, several boats managed to miss the gate in the middle of the Broad and had to turn back, leaving Croc (Chris and Gill Jordan), chasing Pot Black, but surrounded by the Becketts in their Lasers and Veronica Falat in her Streaker.
After three laps, the race was shortened to give one of the closest finishes of the whole year.
The top seven boats, including four Squibs, all finished within a minute of each other, with the first two boats separated by just three seconds on corrected time.
Once the boats were put away, people gathered in the absolutely packed clubhouse for mince pies, mulled wine and the Christmas raffle.
Jonathan House Memorial Salver
1 Laser Jonathan Jones
2 Doh-Nut Topper Nathan Clark
3 Pot Black Squib Marc and Joe Moncrieff
4 Croc Squib Chris and Gill Jordan
5 Paramour Squib Chris Schonhut and Laurence Read
6 Pickle Streaker Veronica Falat.
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