Twenty boats entered the Notts County Sailing Club First of the Year meeting on the 1st January 2002.

Conditions were freezing and there were some patches of ice on the lake, which the safety boats broke up. However at least there was a light breeze and sunshine, which eventually warmed the atmosphere a little.

The event in aid of the RNLI has been a regular fixture of the local sailing scene for decades, and visitors came from Birmingham, Burton and Lincoln to sail with the Notts County sailors. In the event Notts County won the top four places in the handicap fleet. The fleet was led by the RS400 boats, which were eventually victorious, Pete Walters and Lindsey Ogden and Martin Gunn and Stef Pilkington had a close battle throughout the race, often swapping places, and never far from each other.

Pete Walters just crossed the line first and after the handicaps were worked out the also won overall with Martin Gunn second and M Cook third in a National Twelve.

Over £100 was raised for the RNLI.