Streakerramblings -Freeman Iceberg Race 6 - 11th December2011

Grey, totally overcast and breezy as we set off to Piddinghoe. As we got closer the sky did seem to be brightening up to the south and whilst above the cloud the sun may well have had his hat on he did not come out to play.

Kay set the same course as last week, except that with a south westerly wind, we went round in the opposite direction. The start was by the clubhouse with just a few yards to the first mark and then a hairy reach down the long southerly side of the pond. At the end there was a gybe and another reach behind the Island thence onto a beat to a mark just off the shore by the flagpole. From there it was another very broad reach back to the north east corner and a final beat back to the start mark.

Some fourteen boats took to the water in a good ‘top end’ force 4 – the gust were, as usual at Piddinghoe, horrendous and close on mid force 6. At the start it was Paul Ryan (Laser full rig, Hardway SC) tight on the line with Jonty Freeman (Laser Radial, NSSC) tucked in behind and Rupert Smith (Laser full rig, NSSC) a little to windward. The next group of four were Nathan Bloss (Laser Radial, NSSC), Edward Thorburn (Finn, NSSC), Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS 200, NSSC) and Alan Simmons (Streaker, Lancing SC).

  The long reach, with the occasional violent gust, sorted out the order at the gybe into Ed.T as leader then Jonty.F followed by Rupert.S , Alan.S and  then Nathan Bloss Paul.R had dropped back a touch as had Michael.V who had problems lowering his spinnaker for the next leg. The next beat, back towards the Pole, allowed these two to pull back through ahead of Alan. At the ‘Pole’ mark it was either a tack or bearing off – depending upon which tack the mark had been approached – but gusts caught out the unwary. Also at the North east mark the gusts were coming fast and furious giving some competitors a dip.

By the end of the first lap Ed.T was in front, ahead of Jonty.F by 10 seconds, then came Rupert.S  just ahead of Paul.R. Next up was Michael.V then Alan.S followed by Jack Turner and James Bovington (Laser II, NSSC).

  Next up was Alice Smith sailing a Topper(NSSC) ahead of Nathan.B and then Darren Field (Byte CII, NSSC). Bringing up the tail were Alex Stonard in a Topper (NSSC), John Smith (Pico, single sail, NSSC) Dan Ford and Becca Gibson (Magno, NSSC) and finally Josh Smith (Topper, small sail, NSSC) - this group had all been well off the start line at the intial gun. Josh.s  having capsized fairly early on in lap 1 got rather cold and retired to the bank side.
In lap 2 Jonty.F got ahead of Ed.T on the long reach – and stayed there until overtaken in lap 4. Paul.R also overtook Rupert.S whilst Alan.S, having nearly been forced into the bank by an out of control RS200 on the long reach, just escaped to move  into 5^th spot with Jack.T behind him.  Michael V having finally regained control dropped back to 7^th.

In lap 4 Alan.S capsized just after leaving the ‘Pole’ mark and had his mast stick in the bottom mud. After the Safety boat had had a couple of attempts to right the boat Alan floated off – or the boat did  and was ‘cornered’ by Rupert.S who had himself been upside down for quite a time. When eventually aboard the Safety boat the Streaker was righted but Alan had lost best part of a lap in time.  The Pond Rules allow for assistance by the safety boat and then continuation of racing. This lap also saw Nathan.B retire having spent a good time in the water and Jack.T and James.B also retired when one of their trapeze wires broke  - shades of Steve Duncan last week.

Lap 5 saw Paul .R, who had been in third position, suffer a broken mast and had to be towed ashore. This time Ed.T and Jonty.F crossed the line at exactly the same time but then Ed went back in front to finally finish some 16 seconds ahead.

Few but the two leaders and  Alice Smith – who sailed a blistering race - stayed upright throughout  the event. Most of those spoken to afterwards could not recall how many times they upended but mostly sem to have enjoyed their outing.

Results (Unofficial, Unchecked) :-

1^st. Jonty Freeman, 2^nd. Ed Thorburn, 3^rd. Alice Smith, 4^th John Smith, 5^th. Darren Field, 6^th. Rupert Smith, 7^th. Alan Simmons, 8^th Michael Veale, 9^th Alex Stanard, 10^th Dan Ford,

DNF. Paul Ryan, Nathan Bloss, Josh Smith and Jack Turner.

Alan S 1700

PS. To my reader(s?) I wish you a very Happy Christmas and Prosperous/Joyous New Year