Twist and Shout's unfortunate incident last month when her mast snapped in two seems to have done nothing to dent the enthusiasm, nor expertise, of her crew, as Pat and Nick Elmore demonstrated in the opening race of Crouch Yacht Club's Nutcracker Trophy series on Sunday.

The Elmore's season appeared to be over after the fifth race of the Autumn series when she was dismasted after being hit by a fierce squall.

But they managed to order, have delivered and then refitted a new mast, at considerable cost - amounts around £8,000 - have been mentioned and the Hod 35 was back in the water a fortnight ago to win the final race in the Autumn series.

On Sunday, in similar conditions to those in which she lost her mast, Twist and Shout again looked impressive, comfortably beating Mike Harrison, the champion of East Anglia and winner of Class 2 of the Autumn series, who is on board Alan Bartlett's 34-footer Inn Spirit, the 1999 Autumn winner, for the Nutcracker series.

Twist and Shout finished 35 seconds ahead of Inn Spirit and, after handicaps had been taken into consideration, was over two minutes to the good on corrected time.

Ernie Breavington, on Mr BoJangles, was third.

Class 2 was dominated by the Stellas, Polaris (Mick Willett, Mike Nash and Rona Thompson) and Rollicker (Neil Pitman).

Polaris did the Autumn series and Nutcracker double last year and few would bet against her achieving similar success this time round.

Colomen, the glass-fibre Folkboat of Jan Balaam, was third.

The wintry conditions brought a prudent response from skippers and small headsails and reefed mainsails were the order of the day, with much caution taken in the use of spinnakers in winds that gusted from between F5 and F7.

Even so, it was surprising that there were reports of no gear failure and the only incident involved Mike Owers and his Cork 1720, Quiet Fizzer, who spent time on the mud, but refloated without damage.

Fifteen boats took to the water for this opening race, but it is expected this overall figure will rise over the next three Sundays if conditions improve.

All four races will count towards the overall Nutcracker Trophy, but one discard will be allowed in the separate class racing.

Paul Weedon (Laser) will go into the final two races of the slow handicap division of the winter series run jointly between Harlow (Blackwater) SC and Maylandsea Bay SC with a commanding five-point lead over Simon Dayes (Finn).

Weedon was the only finisher in Sunday's squally conditions.

But three dinghies, including current third-placed Brian Sargent, who broke his mast on Sunday, are within just two points of each other, which means there should be some exciting racing in prospect on December 10.

The fast handicap section looks a much closer affair, with the three overall leaders all finishing in the top three in Sunday's race.

Alan Jackson, from Halfway Yacht Club, in a Merlin Rocket, leads the way on eight points after his third place on Sunday, two points ahead of Harlow's Dave Griffiths (Contender).

Malcolm Cross, of Harlow, in a Fireball, Sunday's winner, is third overall on 13 points.

The Blackwater Icicle, one of Harlow's oldest events, is scheduled for Boxing Day (12 noon start).

The event, organised alternately by Harlow and Maylandsea, has been running for nearly 40 years and regularly attracts a good turnout.

Last year 31 monohull dinghies took part, though in the past there have been as many as 50 boats on the start line.

Results

Crouch YC Nutcracker Trophy - Class 1: 1 Twist and Shout (P and N Elmore), 2 Inn Spirit (A Bartlett), 3 Mr BoJangles (E Breavington). Class 2: 1 Polaris (M Willett, M Nash & R Thompson), 2 Rollicker (N Pitman), 3 Colomen (J Balaam). Harlow (Blackwater) SC/Maylandsea Bay YC Winter series - Fast handicap: 1 M Cross (Fireball, HBSC), 2 D Griffiths (Contender, HBSC), 3 A Jackson (Merlin Rocket, Halfway YC). Slow handicap: 1 P Weedon (Laser, MBYC).

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