High
Grey clouds, with the odd break showing blue patches, on the way to Piddinghoe this Sunday with a light breeze – shown from
the Incinerator chimney exhaust - coming from the eastern side of the Pond. By
the time the boats were rigged or on the water it was a steady top end force
three.
The
Race Officer for the day, Chris Turner, set a figure of eight course with the
start close to the clubhouse - the twin
buoys – with a beat to a mark about midway and off the east shore. This was
followed with a reach back to the north west corner (fisherman’s bay) and then
a long reach past the island to the
south eastern corner and finishing with another reach along the southern side
back to the clubhouse.
Eighteen boats took to the water and at the start it was Steve Duncan (Laser full rig – NSSC) who was first to cross the line but close to the shore as the gun went with Paul Ryan (Laser full rig – Hardway SC) a little further up wind. The best start however went to Alan Simmons (Streaker – Lancing SC) who, being close to the pin end of the line had clear air and could sail a higher course than the Lasers. .Steve.D got caught up with the later starters when he tacked out from the shore and got left behind somewhat in the first lap. Meanwhile Alan led Paul round the first lap with Jessica Cox (Laser Radial – NSSC) staying ahead of Rupert Smith (Laser Radial – NSSC) and Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200 – NSSC). In the middle of the fleet Steve D was in 6th position on the water ahead of Laurence Venus (Streaker – NSSC) followed by Roger McCall ( Laser full rig - Bexhill SC, )Graham Hardy (Laser full rig – NSSC), Tim Cox (Topper – NSSC), David Murley (Pico – NSSC), Chas Humphries (Laser full rig – NSSC) and Jasmin Sayed (Topper – NSSC). Bringing up the rear of the fleet were Dan Ford (Pico – NSSC) in 14th spot with Quentin Thorp (Mirror – NSSC), Jasper Thorp (Topper – NSSC), David Hitchens (Laser full rig) and finally Colin Cryer (Otter –NSSC) who retired.
Lap
2 saw Paul squeeze past Alan to take the lead
and Steve climb three places to just behind Alan. Michael.V overtook
Jessica – lots of lovely off wind legs on which to fly his spinnaker but Rupert
came under attack from Laurence and Roger. Further down the order Chas overtook
Tim and David.M to rise to 9th whilst Dan passed Jasmin.
Lap
3 saw no change in the top three with Alan closing the gap on Paul to just 3
seconds. Roger, with the added close windedness of the full rig Laser, overtook
both Rupert and Laurence and Chas passed Graham. There were no changes of
position lower down the fleet. Lap 4 saw Steve sneak past Alan (by 2 seconds)
whilst Paul stretched out ahead a little
and Jessica briefly overtook Michael. Again there were no changes down
the fleet. In lap 5 there was yet again no change at the top but Roger passed
both Jessica and Michael and Michael moved ahead of Jessica again by nine
seconds. At the other end David.H ended the lap
ahead of Jasper. In the 6th and final lap both Paul and Steve
extended the lead over Alan but not by far enough on handicap. Laurence
although crossing the finish line in 5th place had his time
corrected to place him second with Pual in third and David.M in fourth with
Steve fifth.
The
second race of the day (Numbum race 4) was held on the same course but with two
less starters, neither Jasper nor Colin ventured out in the slightly stronger
wind
-
a good mid force 4.
Again
it was Steve Duncan first across the line but this time Laurence Venus got the
pin end spot, squeezing Alan Simmons outside the mark into the bargain. Third
up was Jessica Cox - sailing in the Topper in this race having, swopped the
Radial with dad Tim – with Michael Veale on her Starboard quarter.
Alan,
having to break away and gybe away for a 360 degree turn crossed the line with
some eight boats ahead of him. By the end of the first lap Steve was just 3
seconds ahead of Laurence with Paul over half a minute behind, then Tim Cox and,
having recovered somewhat, Alan in 5th just ahead of Roger McCall.
Michael V was lying in 7th position with Graham Hardy behind, then
Chas Huphries Jessica and Rupert Smith. The last four were David Murley ahead
of Jasmin Sayed, Dan Ford and finally Quentin Thorp.
Shortly after the start of
lap 2, Alan having been caught up by Roger, was heading along the west shore but
to windward of him. Whether it was a shift, or Roger beginning a tack to clear
the shore, Alan ended up capsizing. Having pulled the boat up once it fell over
again so he lost at least a couple of minutes.
By the end of lap two Laurence
had overtaken Steve, seven seconds ahead, and Paul had closed up on him too.
Roger was up to fourth with Michael behind him and then Tim, Chas, David.H and
Rupert at ninth. Graham was next in line ahead of Alan with Jessica behind him.
David.M was lying thirteenth with Jasmin next , then Quentin and finally Dan.
Lap
3 saw no changes in the top 7 positions but David.H dropped to last place
(presumably he had at least one capsize) allowing Rupert up to eighth followed
by Alan who also overtook Graham. Further back Dan climbed up to thirteenth and
Jasmin- also having a swim – retired.
Lap 4 and the only change of places was
mid fleet where Rupert and Alan climbed to seventh and eighth by overtaking
Chas.
There were no place changes in lap 5 but Laurence pulled out 22 seconds
ahead of Steve. In lap 6 Michael dropped
from fifth to eighth, moving Tim into fifth, Rupert to sixth and Alan seventh.
The final lap saw no further place changes although Laurence slightly increased
his lead over Steve by another five seconds with Paul also closing in to be just six
seconds further adrift.
With
the handicaps applied and times corrected Laurence was the clear winner with
Jessica, having sailed a blistering race, in second place, Alan third, Steve
fourth and Paul fifth.Once all were ashore and de-rigging the skies went black and a squall rushed across the pond – it would surely have caught a few out had it come a few minutes earlier.
Alan.S
1700
For full (Official Results) follow this link to the relevant page on the NSSC web site :-
http://www.nssc.org.uk/results/2013/numbum.htm
http://www.nssc.org.uk/results/2013/numbum.htm
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