Streakerramblings - Freeman Iceberg Races 5 & 6 18/11/2012

As Bett and I were up in Stratford upon Avon - after seeing the Spanish Riding School Lipizzana Horses at the Birmingham NIA on the previous day - I did not sail in either race on Sunday. However so that my readers do not go 'hungry' I have pinched (with his permission) the report drawn up by Laurence Venus - the other Streaker sailor, and my rival, competing in the Iceberg Series and publish it here below. Regretably there are also no pictures available to hand to insert. The only other camera buff, Anna Freeman, having been invegled into acting as ARO taking down the results.

"Winter Series 2012 Races 5 & 6

On arrival at Pidinghoe it was sunny but a little chilly with a light F2 northerly breeze. Rupert Smith was race officer and set a similar course to the previous week but with the start line further out from the bank with a committee boat. The course was the same for both races, a beat to the north end of lake then a run/broad reach, followed by an almost beat which turned into more of a beat later in the race as the wind gradually veered, a run pass the island to the next mark followed by a fetch along the south side back to the finish mark off the clubhouse. The start line was a little short for the large number of boats sailing, 23 boats, so it was very congested.

Paul Ryan, Steve Duncan and Jonty Freeman had a good start at the pin end of the line on starboard. It was a tricky beat with shifting winds. Laurence Venus managed to tack behind the leading batch of boats into clear air and stayed out of the conflict ensuing amongst the Lasers. He tacked across to just make the mark on starboard and was pleasantly surprised to find himself in second place just behind the lead boat Paul Ryan’s Laser. Paul R and the Streaker managed to find clearer air than the other boats on the run and then on the beat, a wind shift enabled the Streaker to make the next mark without tacking which enabled him to pass Paul R who had to put a tack to get to the next mark. Having clear air from then on was a great advantage with Steve Duncan, Julian Dobson Lasers and Tom Taylor’s Megabyte fighting it out behind Paul R with the following bunch of Chris Turner and Jonty F sailing Radials and battling it out with Darren Field and Nathan Bloss in their Vago. Gradually Jonty F and the Vago pulled away from Chris T. On the 3rd lap the Streaker put his daggerboard back down a little too early as he was passing the island, struck mud and stopped which allowed Paul Ryan to catch up. Paul remained on the Streaker's tail and overtook on the run as the Streaker tried to clean some of the mud from the bottom of his daggerboard. On the beat out to the next mark with the help of some wind shifts the Streaker again caught up with the Laser. Paul R couldn’t make the mark and almost headed up into wind trying and in the process hit the mark, as the Streaker passed Paul R he heeled his boat to windward causing his sail to touch the Streakers sail and demanded a penalty from the Streaker. The Streaker reluctantly did the 720 deg penalty while Paul did his 360 deg penalty and in the process passed the Streaker again and managed to stay ahead on the next leg to finish 3 seconds in front of the Streaker. Meanwhile Steve D took advantage of the incidents ahead of him and manages to gain on both the leading boats to finish just 13 seconds behind Laurence V, following Steve was Tom T and Julian D. Out of the slower boats (mostly Picos and Toppers) Louis Gorringe lead the way in his Topper and did very well in such light conditions, he eventually finished a credible 7th on handicap and was the leading cadet. The final positions on handicap were: - 1st Streaker - Laurence V, 2nd Laser - Paul R, 3rd Laser - Steve D, 4th Megabyte – Tom T.
Second Race.
It was basically the same course but the start line was re-set for the veering wind and made a bit longer to accommodate the number of boats. The third leg was now much more of a beat. The Streaker tried to start on port at the committee boat end but was too late and was caught out by most of the fleet bearing down on starboard so ended up taking action to try and avoid the other boats. Paul R again soon took the lead and he and most of the fleet headed to the left hand side of the beat while the Streaker was forced to go to the right where he found the wind and a good couple shifts to find he was leading at the windward mark with Paul R just behind followed by Tom T sailing his Megabyte and then Steve D in his Laser. The order stayed much the same throughout the race but with a dropping wind the slower boats were struggling. After the second lap Chris T (Radial), David Hitchins (Laser) and Darren F (Vago) all retired. By the time the Streaker finished the wind dropped still further so the gap between the finishing boats increased, therefore, the finishing order tended to be the same as the final positions on handicap. Considering the very light winds the two radials of Jonty F and Ian Lambert did very with a 5th and 6th and also Louis G did very well again in his Topper to come 7th overall and was 1st cadet. We should also admire the determination of David Murley and Aidan Murley who struggled on in their Pico in virtually no wind during their second lap to finish in 1 hour 12 min and 4 secs about ½ hour after the first boat had finished.
The final positions on handicap were: - 1st Streaker - Laurence V, 2nd Laser - Paul R, 3rd Megabyte – Tom T, 4th Laser - Steve D.

Laurence Venus S 1706 "
If the forcast strong wind do not materalise this coming Sunday I will be back on the water once more
and hopefully report the events myself
Alan.S 1700