Blue
Skies with the odd patch of brownish cloud, a tickle of breeze from the west,
greeted our drive to Piddinghoe on Boxing Day morning. Part way through
Kingston village there was a flood half way across the road but it was easily
passable.
Laurence
Venus (NSSC Recorder) came across to say that he had set up the discard numbers
on Sailwave forgetting that there would be more races in this series. As a
result instead of the two point separation at the top of the leader board (as
reported in the previous blog) both Jonty Freeman (Laser Radial – NSSC) and
Alan Simmons (Streaker – Lancing SC) were on equal points going into this last
race of the Iceberg series, so it was all to play for!
The
course that Laurence Venus set – yes he was acting as RO yet again – was
identical with that on the 23rd December. The start was between two
marks set adjacent to the middle slipway on the south side of the pond. From
there it was a beat to the double mark off the clubhouse and then a run/very broad
reach along the western shore to a mark off the fisherman’s basin. After a gybe
it was back to the middle of the pond (the outer mark of the start line) and
another gybe. A close reach to the middle of the eastern side of the pond with
yet another gybe and off along the east side, behind the island to a buoy in
the south eastern corner. Finally there was a long beat up, through the gate to
the twin buoys, with the lap finishes at the gate.
There
was only a single race programmed for the day and sixteen boats were on the
water for the start. Chris Turner (Laser Radial – NSSC) was first across the
line with Jonty Freeman next up but a bit higher. Close up but again to
windward of Jonty was Mike Rosier (Laser Radial - NSSC) with Alan Simmons
tucked in behind but yet further to windward close to the limit mark. Chris. T
had to tack as he closed the south bank and whilst doing so he capsized.
Meanwhile Jonty.F revelling in the now top end force 3 breeze pulled ahead to
round the top mark in the lead hotly pursued by Alan.S who had found clear air
away from the pack. Behind these two Matt Springhall (Laser Radial- NSSC) had
come from nowhere to slip into third place only to lose out in a notable
capsize at the first gybe at the end of the run.
This allowed Tom Taylor (Megabyte-NSSC)
up to third spot on the water. With the breeze increasing all the while this
first lap saw the demise of all the youngsters – bar Josh Smith - in the
Toppers – at one point (including Matt or was it Chas Humphries (Laser full
rig-NSSC) in his Tigger suit -
there were five capsized boat keeping the safety
boat somewhat busy. Fortunately with the westerly wind direction the young ones,
largely ended up on the eastern bank in complete safety but a couple did get
blown away from their craft and had to be scooped up.
By
the end of the first lap Jonty.F had pulled well away from Alan.S who stayed
ahead of Tom.T and the by then recovered Chris.T. Behind them Michael Veale
(RS200-NSSC) and Mike.R were having their own battle but with Darren Field
(Byte CII-NSSC) and, the now recovered, Matt.S. The second half of the fleet
was led by John Smith (Pico-NSSC) in ninth place in front of David and Aiden
Murley (Pico-NSSC) then Josh Smith (the only surviving Topper-NSSC). Behind
this group was Dan Ford single handed in the Magno (NSSC) then Chas.H and
lastly Zoe McCaig (Gull-NSSC).
In
lap 2 Both Josh.S and Zoe.M succumbed to the increasingly strong wind – gusts
well into the mid force 5 range under completely grey skies by then – and
either capsized or had gear failure. Zoe was later heard to mention something
along the lines of ‘sinking’ so presumably somehow filled with pond water.
Jonty.F revelled in the conditions – the best wind he had been able to sail
throughout the series – and continued to extend his lead with Alan.S just managing
to stay ahead of Chris.T who had just overtaken Tom.T whilst Matt.S had pulled
up behind Mike.R having passed Darren.F on the way.. With three gybes per lap
in the strong gusts it made the course somewhat interesting and even on the
upwind legs there were a few near knockdowns.
Lap
3 saw Jonty.F extend his lead and Alan.S was overtaken by Chris.T on the close
reach behind the Island. Elsewhere in the rest of the fleet there were no place
changes but the list was now down to eleven boats. Lap 4 was a similar story
with Jonty.F continuing to pull away as did Chris.T from Alan.S with Tom.T also closing in. Similarly Matt.S
decreased the gap behind Michael.V. Lap 5 saw the only remaining change when
Matt.S finally passed Michael.Vto get into 5th place whilst Alan.S
just managed to hold off a last minute challenge from Tom.T and stay two
seconds ahead. Jonty.F having been so far ahead had to complete yet another lap
after he had passed through the gate before the RO decided to shorten course.
Once
all were ashore the wind dropped almost completely although by the time of the
prizgiving it had re-surfaced somewhat.
With
the lead that he had established it was obvious that Jonty,.F was the well
deserved winner of the race and after the calculations second place went to
Alan.S with
Chris.T third and Tom.T fourth.
Not
only had Jonty Freeman won this last and
final race of the series but he won the overall prize, the Freeman Iceberg.
This
Trophy was originally presented to the club by his father John Freeman in 1973.
The Trophy is now complete with a plaque recording the winners from 2010 to
2011 as re-discovered following research by Anna Freeman. If anyone has records
of earlier years - past or present NSSC members - John and Anna would be most
gratefull to receive any data. Alan Simmons was second in the Iceberg just one
point adrift of Jonty after the fifteen possible races. Third in the series was
Paul Ryan fourth Tom Taylor and fifth Chris Turner.
It
should be noted that Louis Gorringe not only won the Cadet series but was 6th
overall in the Iceberg. Dan Ford was 2nd Cadet and Aiden Murley was
third. As noted at the prizegiving this year the number of competitors (and the
standard ) was very high and consistent for recent years.for the official
overall Series results (and Cadet results) follow this link to the NSSC web
site :-
Alan.S 1700.
Note :- Next
race (one off - not series) on New Year’s Day at 2.00pm at Piddinghoe.
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