Sunday 26 December 2010

Freeman Iceberg - Race 8 Boxing Day 2010

Lovely, Bright, Sunny, Cool (only a light frost) and barely a whisper of Breeze. That was when we got up however on arrival at Piddinghoe the apparent Ice cover made it obvious that this the last race of the series was not to be. The coverage was at least 3/4" thick and the safety boat was frozen in good and solid.

By normal start time there were eight or ten sailors and Kay (the series race officer) present in the gradually warming hut - the heaters were on. Coffee was not immediately possible - the taps were frozen up in the kitchen area. A hasty check found running water in the gents changing room and the oven hob was working so the mulled wine was soon warming up. The mince pies were another matter as no one present could navigate through the menu system to turn the oven on. Rescue came via the Microwave and so all were soon provided with the 'true' spirit of Xmas.
The only item on the agenda therefore was the prizegiving which then took place.


In third place in his full rig Laser was Paul Ryan sailing this year again after a two year break.







In second place was Laurence Venus in his Streaker, in only his second series on the pond.






Top spot went to Alan Simmons also in a Streaker, a long term winter visitor to Piddinghoe, who took home the Freeman Iceberg Trophy presented to him by John Freeman - the co designer/builder of the trophy. John gave all present ashort history of the Iceberg's origins back in 1973.

Kay was roundly thanked for her continual efforts in running the series, no matter what the weather - iced up pond execepted - and presented with a small gift on behalf of those who took part in the series.


The proceeding concluded with notification of the next race at Pidinghoe, due at 2.00pm on New Years Day and with the start of the first Numbum race the following day at 11.00am. Both of these events subject, of course, to a thaw of the pond's ice.

Monday 20 December 2010

Freeman Iceberg Race 7 - 19/12/2010

Alan awoke to a grim scene, dark grey skies, a flurry or two of snow and a complete lack of traffic on the road outside - no busses, no cars and not many pedestrians. It did not help that he was still suffering from a heavy head cold and thus not feeling the best, none the less something had to be done. The night before Alan had intended to phone Kay, the Race Officer and organiser of the series, before leaving to have a pond inspection. Once he saw the state of play he would phone her again to let her know whether to come along - she lives a lot closer than Alan.
As it happens she, Kay, forestalled him with a call at about 8.30am saying that she did not think it worthwhile as she expected the pond to be fully frozen over.  Alan had to concur with that presumption as the temperature had barely been above freezing all the preceeding week. He called round a few of the possible racers and Rupert Smith said that he would be going down to have a look and would phone him back. The outcome was that Rupert confirmed at least an inch (25mm) of ice covering the whole pond. The previous week's ice breaking would not have been sucessfull a second time.

Although these pictures - courtesy of Julian Dobson - show the situation at 10.00am they do not quite create the desolate scenes at Piddinghoe that morning. By the looks of it even the fisherman did not go along!
That leaves the Boxing day race, the final of the series and with the current weather conditions, on a knife edge in more than one way. Will it happen, and can it,  if it does will Laurence Venus snatch overall victory from Alan - they are but 0.3 points apart in the league table? It would be a pity not to be able to race but the Series prizgiving will take place (at Piddinghoe) provided every one can still access the pond.
The next scheduled race is due on New Year's Day - 2.00pm - with the Elford Numbum series starting the day after - 2nd January 2011 at 11.00am.
Freeman Iceberg Series Results Standing to date :-
1st. Alan Simmons - 4.7 pts, 2nd Laurence Venus -5.0 pts, 3rd. Paul Ryan - 12 pts, 4th. Rupert Smith - 20 pts, 5th. Steve Duncan - 20 pts, 6th. Julian Dobson - 24 pts, 7th. Michael Veale - 25 pts, 8th. Chas Humphries - 28 pts, 9th. Jonty Freeman - 28.5 pts, 10th. Davis Hitchens - 48 pts.

Alan.S 1700

Sunday 12 December 2010

Freeman Iceberg Race 6 - 12/12/2010

Sunshine, Blue sky and just a hint of a North Easterly breeze but fairly cool greeted our arrival at Piddinghoe this morning at 9.30am. What none of us were prepared for was that the pond was frozen over its entire surface – subsequently a small patch of open water was observed way over near the east bank but that was only visible from afloat.

Alan Simmons (Lancing) was on duty as rescue boat helm but ended up as Icebreaker Extrordinaire as he attempted to clear a passage around an estimated course. At first glance it appeared that there was only a light coating of ice – about 1/8” thick near the clubhouse – but further out and to the south east it was found to be nearer 1/2”thick and as the race – yes one was started – progressed it was re-freezing as soon as broken up.
By the time the competitors had made up their minds to attempt to sail a light force 2 breeze had filled in from the northeast and some 8 craft made it onto the water among them Callum Johnson (NSSC) sailing, for the first time, in a Laser Radial with a sail borrowed from Rupert Smith (Laser Radial - NSSC) who found yet another sail to use. Michael Veale (RS 200 – NSSC) could find no crew so opted to sail single handed and Mike Rosier (having crewed Michael.V previously) did find a crew for his Topper Mango.
The course, once Alan.S had cleared enough water, was the same as last week – up to the Northeast corner then around the Island, followed by a beat to the middle of the pond. From there it was a fetch to the south side and then north turn back to the start/finish mark just off the clubhouse.
First off the line was Michael.V followed by Laurence Venus (Steaker – NSSC) himself hot pursued by Rupert.S.
By the end of the first lap Laurence.V was nearly a minute ahead and each lap pulled up even further and was never challenged. Similarly Michael.V slotted into second place and stayed there. Rupert. S, heavy enough to break his way through the ice was however a wee bit too heavy for the gentle breeze and was soon overtaken by Darren Field (Laser Radial – NSSC).
After lap 1 Bill Wates (Laser Radial – NSSC) made a call ashore (for reasons unknown to the writer) and after re-starting was left in the tailender’s spot for the remainder of the race, having to follow Mike.R, in the Mango, around who himself was spotted jammed in the ice at one time.
Chas Humphries (Laser full rig) although 7th at the end of the first lap pulled up to 5th spot by the finish behind Rupert.S
The outright winner – using his original and not new sail - was Laurence.V, some four minutes ahead of the second boat of Michael.V and 6.1/2 minutes ahead of Darren.F.
Although there was little place changing during the race Callum.J must be congratulated on a brilliant performance and yes it is a little faster in a Laser but, in that breeze, not a lot. The rest of the fleet had to put up with some trying conditions too but hopefully the hot coffee afterwards helped. The R.O. sitting on her bench outside the club house, even if she was in the sun, deserves a medal – well done (as always but especially today) Kay!

After application of the handicaps the results were as follows (Unofficial, Provisional*) :-

1st. Laurence.V, 2nd. Darren.F, 3rd.Michael.V, 4th, Rupert.S, 5th. Chas.H, 6th. Callum.J,
7th. Mike.R, 8th. Bill.W.

Hopefully and in spite of the drop in temperature forcast it will be clear water and a trifle warmer next Sunday.

Alan.S 1700.

*For the official results see – http://nssc.org.uk/results/2010/freemanicberg2010.htm

Sunday 5 December 2010

Freeman Iceberg Race 5 - 5th December 2010

The external thermometer – in the car – was hovering between1 and 2 degrees C on the journey to Piddinghoe. The sky was grey and overcast with just a hint of the sun trying to break through. The pond was free of ice and a tiny breeze (4 to 5 knots) was blowing from the north eastern corner, along the top bank. By the end of the race and the packing up of the boats the sun did show itself briefly.
This has been the predominant wind direction for all the races to date so it was no surprise to have to sail a similar course. Leg one was a beat along the northern side to a bright (day-glow) pink mark. From thence it was a broad reach to a yellow mark northeast of the island and then a run to the other side of the island to a mark in the south east corner. After a short reach, to a mark north west of the island, it was a second beat to a turning mark near the middle of the pond, followed by a broad reach across to the southern side and finally a sharp north turn back to the start/finish line.
A little breeze had come up in time for the start – the low end of force 3 – and it was Laurence Venus (Steaker – NSSC), sporting his new P & B sail, who was first across the line at the start. Paul Ryan (Laser full rig – Hardway SC) was close behind Laurence and Steve Duncan (Laser full rig – NSSC) on their heels. Michael Veale (RS 200 – NSSC) was just to leeward of these three and Alan Simmons (Streaker – Lancing SC) found himself shoved even further down the line to avoid the leading bunch.
Paul.R and then Steve.D tacked off onto port to find the breeze in the middle of the pond whilst Laurence.V stayed near the north bank and by the time the windward mark was reached it was Paul.R a couple of boat lengths up on Steve.D with Laurence just behind him and Alan.S another length astern.
Tom Taylor (Megabyte – NSSC) sailing in his first race of this year’s Freeman Iceberg series had been a bit shy of the rest at the start but slowly but shurely began to pull up and was closing on Alan.S by the end of the lap. It was not however until the middle of lap 3 before he got ahead.
Paul.R held the lead throughout the race by an average of no more than 15 seconds during the first 5 laps and that only increased to 30 seconds in the next four – each lap lasting on average 7 minutes.
Laurence.V was in a continual struggle with Steve.D, passing him in lap 3, losing out in lap 4, getting ahead once more in lap 5 and then losing out yet again in lap6 whilst staying behind then to the finish at the end of lap 9.
Michael.V (crewed by Mike Rosier – NSSC) although using their asymmetric spinnaker were unable to hold off a challenge from David Hitchens (Laser full rig - NSSC) and David got through them in lap 5. At the finish the order was 1st. Paul.R, 2nd. Steve.D, 3rd.Laurence.V and 4th Tom.T. The light, but shifty, breeze – which faded a bit towards the end - gave little chance for the faster boats to sail to their handicaps whilst the two Streakers revelled in the conditions and took overall first and second places.
Frozen fingers and feet were the order of the day but a nice steaming hot cup of coffe helped a little.
Results (Unofficial-Provisional) :-
1st. Laurence.V, 2nd. Alan.S, 3rd .Paul.R, 4th. Steve.D, 5th. Tom.T, 6th. David.H. 7th. Michael.V
Alan.S still leads the series, just, but next week has a rescue boat duty (hope today’s little problems with the engine are a thing of the past) – Laurence.V has one too the following week so there is still a battle to be joined.
Alan.S 1700.