Grey
skies, with the occasional break to blue, and a light breeze from the west
greeted us on our trip to Piddinghoe Sunday Morning. On arrival the sky had
cleared to all blue but the breeze was still very light.
Ian
Lambert, RO for the day, set up a course with a committee boat start in the
middle of the pond – just north of the island. The first leg was a beat to the
double buoy mark just off the clubhouse which then turned onto a run down the
southern side . Rounding a mark just south of the island the leg was a reach to
a mark half way up the eastern side and then a beat to a mark in the centre of
the pond. From there there was a reach to a mark just off the fisherman’s basin
in the north west corner and a final beat back to the club house buoys.
By
the time the fleet assembled on the water adjacent to the starting line there
were 22 assorted craft – for which it has to be said the line was a little short.
Among the first away were Jonty Freeman (Laser Radial- NSSC), Terry Jones
(Laser full rig – NSSC), John Smith (Pico – NSSC) and David and Aiden Murley
(Pico – NSSC). In the second row, so to speak, were Darren Field and Rupert
Smith ( Vago – NSSC), Michael Veale and Mike Rosier ( RS200 – NSSC) , Tim Cox (Laser
Radial – NSSC) and Chris Turner (Laser Radial – NSSC). By the end of the first
beat Jonty.F was out in front followed by Tim.C and Tom Taylor (Megabyte –
NSSC). By the time Alan Simmons (Streaker – Lancing SC) arrived at the windward
mark he had eight boats ahead of him but managed to overtake a couple on the
first long run to make up to 5th position by the end of the lap whilst
Tom.T had , briefly, overtaken Jonty.F and Michael.V held third spot having
used his spinnaker well on the downwind leg.
By
the end of the 2nd lap Jonty.F was back in front of Tom.T with Michael.V lying third and Paul Ryan (Laser full rig –
Hardway SC) – having had a miserable start – pulling through to 4th
ahead of Tim.C and Alan.S. .A little further back Chris.T was having a battle with
Julian Dobson (Laser full rig – NSSC) crossing the line at the same time and Darren.F
was in close contention with Chas Humphries and Bill Waite (both Laser full rigs – NSSC).
Jessica Cox (Topper – NSSC) was doing extremely
well in the light breeze – which had freshened a little to a good force 3 – in 13th
place on the water ahead of Dan Ford and Declan Davies ( Magno – NSSC) Louis
Gorringe (Topper – NSSC) and Terry Jones (Laser full rig – NSSC).In the slower
boat part of the fleet Zoe McCaig (Gull – NSSC) stayed ahead of Alex Dodwell (Topper
– BLYM), Josh Smith (Topper – NSSC), Colin Cryer ( Slipper – NSSC) and Melissa
Dodwell (Topper – BLYM). In lap 4 Tim Cox managed to lose one of his contact
lenses and capsized on the first beat of the lap – not sure which came first –
allowing Alan.S to pass him and take 5th place. Meanwhile Jonty.F continued to stretch out his lead
from Tom.T who was passed by Michael .V in the final lap. With the handicaps
worked out Jonty.F was the convincing winner with Alan.S in second place and
Paul.R in third spot.
The
second race of the day – Race 14 – set off on the same course, albeit with a somewhat
longer line, at 12.05. At the pin end
Chris.T was off up the line on port hoping to tack in front of the rest of the
fleet. Unfortunately during his manoeuvers his tiller extension got stuck and
he sat there, a sitting duck – warranting having to subsequently do 720 degree
turns. Up at the front was the Topper of Jessica Cox – but she seems to have disappeared
in the first lap and is seen no more. Also near the front were Jonty.F, Tim.C,
Tom.T and this time Alan.S - tucked in near the start boat.
At
the end of the first lap the order was Jonty.F
in front of Tom.T with Alan.S in third place just ahead of Paul.R. Behind
this group were Julian.D, Darren.F Michael.V
and Tim.C. Next up, and lying 9th
on the water, was Chris.T ahead of Bill.W, Chas.H and Louis G.. Leading the afterguard
was Terry.J, Dan.F, David.M, Josh.S and John.S. The tail end group was headed
by Colin,.C, Alex.D, Zoe. M and Mellissa.D
In
lap two Tom.T went to the front overtaking Jonty.F and Michael.V also passed
Darren.F. There was also a bit of a change a bit further down the field – as the
breeze dropped off a trifle – with Terry.J pulling up past Louis.G and Dan.F
also passing Louis. In lap 3 there was another change at the top when Alan.S
pulled ahead of Jonty for 2nd spot and a bit further back Julian.D
picked up 8th place as Chris.T dropped to 11th. In the 4th
and final lap Tom.T was the clear winner, on the water with Alan.S just pipped,
by one second, by Paul.R who found a tiny puff right on the line. Darren.F
managed to regain a place ahead of Michael.V but was unable to catch Jonty.F. With
the handicaps worked out the winner was Alan.S , 2nd. Tom.T, 3rd
went to Jonty.F and 4th to Paul.R
For
full detail of the results click this link :-
See
also the separate page for the cadet series results to date :-
Alan.S
1700
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