Any end-of-season cobwebs were blown away as the 20-boat fleet braved boisterous conditions for the third and final race of the Crouch Yacht's Red Insurance Nutcracker Trophy on Sunday.

The 30 knot gusts livened up proceedings and there was much chaos as boats struggled to keep upright - and afloat - especially when carrying spinnakers.

Though there were plenty of incidents - and duckings - in the end there was probably more damage to personal pride than anything else.

Honours overall went to David Warner in his quarter-tonner Panic.

His second place behind Bonzarella (Chris Boshier) in the last race gave him the Squib Trophy as Class 2 champion and his performance over the three weeks also won him the overall Nutcracker Trophy to add to his Class 3 success in the club's recent Autumn Trophy series.

Mike Harrison in Jiminy Cricket had to take a bridesmaid's role yet again.

He was squeezed out of the Autumn Trophy Class 2 prize by just one point last month and was out of luck again this time.

He went into the final race with a three-point lead, but finished fourth, just 50 seconds behind third-placed Fiddler (Kevin Munich), which meant he missed overall class honours - and the Nutcracker Trophy - by just one point.

Holo Graphic (Len Baker) recorded her second victory of the series to take the Sigma 38 Trophy as the leading Class 1 yacht ahead of Mickey Mouse (Martin Corrie) and Inn Spirit (Alan Bartlett), whose hopes of adding to his Class 1 Autumn Trophy success disappeared when he, like many of the competitors, broached on a spinnaker run.

Holo Graphic did not have it all her own way either, as she also encountered spinnaker trouble and at one stage was laid flat to such an extent that the crew had to jump overboard to right her.

Mick Willett and Polaris continued their dominance of the series and were the only Stella team to complete the course, making it three wins out of three and finishing ahead of Rangitira in the battle overall for the Crouch Trophy.

Results

Crouch Yacht Club Red Insurance Nutcracker Trophy - Class 1: Holo Graphic (L Baker), 2 Ace of Hearts (I Hart), 3 Shoot the Bar (C Mills). Class 2: Bonzarella (C Boshier), 2 Panic (D Warner), 3 Fiddler (K Munich).

Stella: 1 Polaris (M Willett). Overall: Class 1 (Sigma 38 Trophy): Holo Graphic, 2 Mickey Mouse (M Corrie), 3 Inn Spirit (A Bartlett). Class 2 (Squib Trophy): 1 Panic, 2 Jiminy Cricket (M Harrison), 3 Bonzarella.

Stella (Crouch Trophy): 1 Polaris, 2 Rangitira (N Stanbury), 2 Rollicker (N Pitman). Nutcracker Trophy: Panic.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.