Sunday
morning , before we left for Piddinghoe, was bright and sunny, freezing cold and
frosty with a bit of breeze. On arrival it was a case of removing the boat cover stiff with frost and when rigging
trying to thread a frozen control line through thye Cunningham pulley on the
sail.
The
sunny weather had brought the boats out in hoards – well twenty two took to the
water – in what turned out to be a solid force 3 to 4 north westerly breeze which although gradually
turning slightly westwards remained fairly constant in strength.
Rupert Smith, the RO for the day laid a course, starting from a committee boat in the centre of the pond with a beat to a mark in the north west corner followed by a run back along the west side to the double buoys off the clubhouse. From there there was reach along the south bank to a mark south of the island with next leg a beat to the east of the island itself to a mark midway along the eastern shore. Finally it was back south west to the start mark in the centre of the pond.
Rupert Smith, the RO for the day laid a course, starting from a committee boat in the centre of the pond with a beat to a mark in the north west corner followed by a run back along the west side to the double buoys off the clubhouse. From there there was reach along the south bank to a mark south of the island with next leg a beat to the east of the island itself to a mark midway along the eastern shore. Finally it was back south west to the start mark in the centre of the pond.
At
the first start, Race No 9, Chris Turner (Radial – NSSC) was first across the
line with Jonty Freeman (Radial – NSSC) just behind but slightly further
upwind. Next was John Smith Pico – NSSC) then Alan Simmons (Streaker- Lancing
SC). A length or so back was Tom Taylor (Megabyte – NSSC) and close behind him Paul
Ryan (Laser- Hardway SC). Tom.T powered
through and turned the windward mark in the lead and then stretched out in
front of the fleet.
By
the end of the first lap the order at the front was Tom.T then Jonty.F followed
by Paul.R, Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200 – NSSC) were up to fourth after
a nifty bit of
spinnaker work on the off-wind legs and Alan.S was next up in 5th
having overtaken Chris.T. In mid fleet were Darren Field (Byte CII – NSSC) then
Steve Duncan (Laser – NSCC) followed by the laser of Julian Dobson, Bill Waites,
Graham Hardy and Chas Humphries (all of NSSC).
Behind
them was, in the vanguard of the fleet were Ian Lambert (Radial – NSSC) , Dan
Ford and Becca Gibson (Magno – NSSC) , John.S, David Murley and Aiden Murley
(Pico – NSSC) Josh Smith (Topper – NSSC) Melissa Dodwell and Alexander Dodwell
(Topper – BLYM) with QuentinThorp (Mirror – NSSC) and Zoe McCraig (Gull – NSSC)
bringing up the rear.
In
lap 2 both Paul.R and Jonty.F reined in
and passed Tom.T with Paul out in front -just.
Bill. W overtook Julian.D both having passed Darren.F. At the back of the fleet
Melissa.D and Alexander.D gained a place
overtaking Quentin.T
Lap
3 saw Paul and Jonty out in front still but Michael.V went ahead of Tom.T,
whilst
a little further down the order saw Julian.D and Bill.W fighting it out and Julian.D
coming out the winner. Below them Josh.S pulled up two places to overtake dad
John.S. At the finish there was no change in the order of the 11 faster boats
with Paul.R crossing 10 seconds ahead of Jonty.F and giving Jonty first place
on handicap. Next up were Michael.V, Tom.T and then Alan.S ,at 1½ minutes behind Paul.R, was 2nd
on handicap.
Race
10 starting at 11.45 on the same course as before saw Jonty F and Tom.T first
off
across the line and by the end of the first lap the order was Jonty.F, Tom,
Paul.R, Michael.V, Chris.T and Alan.S. Behind, these first six, Julian.D led
Steve.D and Darren.F with Graham.H ahead of Bill.W and Ian.L. next up, 12th
on the water , were Dan.F and Becca.G ahead of Chas H then David.M and Aiden.M,
John S, Louis G and John S In the final group Terry.J led Quentin T Josh S,
Zoe.M and Meliissa and Alexander.D.
Lap two saw Paul.R overtake Tom.T for
second spot whilst Steve.D overtook both Chris.T and Alan.S with Julian.D and
Darren.F not far behind. A bit further down the fleet Louis.G climbed past David.M to cross the line at the
same time as Dan.F and Becca.G whilst
John.S also passed David and Aiden.M. Terry.J in his Wayfarer retired – the cause
of which action is unknown. In lap three the top pair stayed the same with
Jonty.F .ahead of Paul.R, but only by some 3 seconds (and a bit of on the water
vocalisation) whilst Michael.V and Mike.R passed Tom.T.In mid fleet Dan.F and
Becca.G went back ahead of Louis G and Mellissa and Alexander.D passed Zoe.M.
In lap 4 the only change was when Julian.D overtook Alan.S as they got caught
up with some back markers at one of the marks. In the final lap Michael.V and
Mike.R had some problems with their spinnaker which led them to drop from 3rd
to 6th on the water. The winner on the water and on handicap was
Jonty.F with Paul.R in second place and
Alan.S, although 8th on the water, taking 3rd place on
handicap. As a matter of interest had Alan.S been sailing on his Portsmouth
Yardstick he would not have improved his position in either race. There was a capsize in this race when one of the Lasers fell over while attempting to come ashore - the helm shall be nameless here.
For
full details of the results see the NSSC web Site (follow this link):-
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