Streaker Ramblings - Numbum Races 13 & 14 - 17/02/2013

Nice bright Sunshine, cool after a light frost and next to no breeze as we left home.

Once on the Brighton By-pass and going up the hills there was a heavy mist/fog which persisted all the way to Piddinhoe. There was a light breeze  coming from the north across to the south, the boat rigging, side and there were signs that the sun was up there somewhere. At first visibility was down to 30 to 40 yards with only the clubhouse mark visible but as boats got rigged and on the water the last of the mist vanished and left a nice light sunny breeze.
Laurence Venus, RO for the day, set a course from  a line off the clubhouse – between a pair of adjacent marks – with a beat into the north west corner (Fisherman’s Bay). Rounding that there was a broad reach to a mark midway along the eastern side and then a closer reach to the south side of the Island. Next came a turn back to a mark in the middle of the pond – north west of the island and then a further reach to the mark off the clubhouse.

Some sixteen boats, lured out by a reasonable forecast, came to the start area but between the 4 minute gun and the 1 minute gun the breeze shut off almost completely and boats were virtually drifting across the line at the start. First to start was Jasper Thorp (Topper – NSSC) – who happened to be the only boat on the line at the gun – then a group of three Lasers Full rig) namely Roger McAll (Pevensey Bay SC, Bill Wates and Terry Jones (both NSSC). At the pin end Alan Simmons (Streaker – Lancing SC) moving a tiny touch faster (on the windward side) thought he had enough motion to get between Steve Duncan (laser full rig – NSSC and Paul Ryan (Laser full rig  - Hardway SC)  and the mark – in spite of their calls. He did get round the pin ahead but in hardening up was bumped on the stern by Steve. When clear of the line he found a tiny bit of breeze and took the penalty. In so doing he ended up furthest away from the west bank than the rest of the fleet, who were now a good bit ahead. Within seconds the breeze came in from the starboard side – southerly – whilst the fleet was still on port. Alan was the only boat to benefit from this change and carried it to the end of the beat with only Bill still turning the mark.

Thankfully Bill had left a bit of room on the inside and Alan saw the chance and took it. This allowed him to establish a substantial lead on the first lap. Paul clawed his way through the fleet and by the end of the lap was in second place (1 minute 20 seconds behind Alan. Next up was Bill with Roger in fourth place, Terry fifth and Julian Dobson (Laser full rig – NSSC) sixth. Jasmin Sayed (Topper – NSSC) was seventh, Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200 – NSSC) eigth, Steve at ninth and Graham Hardy (Laser full rig – NSSC)  tenth. At the rear of the fleet Alice Smith , having borrowed Laurence’s Streaker , was lying 11^th, Zoe McCaig (Gull – NSSC) was 12^th, Dan Ford (Pico – NSSC) 13^th, David Murley (Pico NSSC) 14^th,

Jasper.T 15^th and Quentin Thorp (Mirror – NSSC) 16^th.

In lap two there were no changes to positions of the front four boats, Towards the end of that lap Alan approached the mark in the middle of the pond on starboard tack with three port tack boats ahead – Jasper, Quentin and David. Alan had to pass astern of Jasper but was ahead of the other two who came rather close to one another and as a consequence Quentin capsized and was still being assisted by the safety boat when Alan came past the same mark on his following lap. Julian overtook Terry as did Michael as both he and Steve behind him passed Jasmin. Jasmin was also passed by Graham and Alice as the breeze began to fill in. The back four remained unchanged but Quentin retired before completing one lap.
Lap three saw Roger overtake Bill for third spot  and Steve overtook Michael in what was to become something of a duel. Both Graham and Alice moved ahead of Terry and Jasmin led the rear end of the fleet, David, Dan Zoe and Jasper.
The only change in lap 4 was when Michael went ahead of Steve In the final lap, Alan maintained his lead at the front although with the building breeze Paul pulled it back down to 50 seconds or so.
In the final (5^th) lap Paul closed up on Alan to be just 20 seconds behind at the finish. Roger was home in 3^rd place, Bill in 4^th and Michael, having overtaken Julian in this last lap, was 5^th. Although Steve  caught  up with Julian he could not make up the deficit of 11 seconds and finished 7^th with Alice 8^th and Graham 9^th.
With the handicaps applied the leading order was Alan 1^st, Paul 2^nd, Roger 3^rd, Bill 4^th and Alice 5^th.

For Race 14 the RO changed the course and sent the fleet round the pond in the opposite direction but just outside all the outside marks, starting with a beat down the south side towards the Island southerly mark.

 

With the wind now at about top end force three coming from the South East a staring berth close to the bank seemed to be a good idea and Alan managed to get it although he was a bit late and Steve, at the pin end , led Paul down the pond. A bit closer to the shore but still well ahead of Alan were Michael and Mike in the RS200 whilst Alice was just down to leeward of Alan. By the time the leaders got to the windward mark the order was Michael, then Paul, Alan then Alice with Julian and then Graham behind him. Paul managed to pass Michael on the final reaching leg – along the west shore - to lead him by 4 seconds. These two were to be joined in close ‘combat’ throughout the seven lap race rarely being more than ten seconds apart. The Spinnaker on the RS200 was flown at every opportunity with the planeing of the Laser on the long close reach being the compensation for the lesser sail area. Behind these two in lap 1 were Alan in 3^rd spot then Alice 4th, Julian 5^th, Graham 6^th,  Terry 7^th,  Bill 8^th, David 9^th, Jasmin 10^th Quentin (now recovered from his earlier swim) 11^th, Zoe 12^th Dan 13^th and Steve 14^th- the latter having had some problems and gone ashore before returning to the race in this first lap. Jasper capsized up in the Fisherman’s Bay, was assisted by the safety boat and came ashore without completing his first lap. Roger had not sailed this race having had more urgent family commitments to attend to – given the weather conditions he seemed quite torn!

The breeze stayed fairly constant at the top end of a force 3 with occasional puffs in the lower force 4 areas and in lap two the order of the top three was unchanged although Paul gained another 5 seconds on Michael whilst Julian overtook Alice. Jasmin went from 10^th to 9^th passing David on the way and Steve pulled up from last to 11^th ahead of Zoe.
So to Lap 3 and Michael passed Paul to be 9 seconds ahead Alan meanwhile stayed just 23 seconds behind Michael. Julian overtook Alice then it was unchanged for Graham Bill and Terry. Steve however passed Jasmin slowly closing in on Terry while the order of the last three remained unchanged.
Lap 4 saw Michael pass Paul to get 6 seconds ahead but with Alan still holding on just 19 seconds off the lead. Mid fleet positions remained the same with Julian 4^th, Alice 5^th, Graham 6^th, Bill 7^th, Terry 8^th and Steve 9^th. The rest were led by Jasminin 10^th, Quentin 11^th, David 12^th, Dan 13^th and Zoe 14^th.
In lap 4 there were no changes above 10^th place (Jasmin) but Quentin managed to move up two places to 11^th, David slipped one to 12^th, Dan made one place to 13^th and Zoe dropped back to last.
In lap 5 Michael maintained his lead ahead of Paul (9 seconds) and Alan dropped back a tad but pulled out a little on Julian. Alice failed to un-cleat the mainsheet whilst tacking up the southern shore and went for a swim. She spent quite a while having the boat go over twice again when she had gotten it upright and finally the safety boat came along to help. She continued racing but had dropped from 5^th to 8^th place on the water. Graham, Bill, and Terry all moved up one ahead of Alice and Steve also closed to within 14 seconds of her. The last four positions remained unchanged from the previous lap.
Lap six, the penultimate lap saw Paul slip ahead of Michael once more  and pull out a touch on Alan in third place whilst he extended in front of Julian a little. Bill, Graham and Terry remained behind Julian whilst Steve passed Alice to get up to 8^th with Jasmin still sailing and bringing up the rear in 10^th position on the water.
The seventh and final lap was led home by Paul 20 seconds in front of Michael and 35 in front of Alan, 4^th was Julian then Bill in 5^th, Graham in 6^th and Terry in 7^th.
With the handicaps applied Alan was the winner – for the second time this day – with Paul 2^nd, Michael 3^rd, Julian 4^th and Jasmin 5^th.

For the official results see the NSSC web site, Results page :-

http://www.nssc.org.uk/results/2013/numbum.htm

 Alan.S 1700

PS. Bett and I have created CDs/DVDs of the exploits on the pond for the Numbum series. We hope to complete the ‘picture taking’ next Sunday 24^th Feb but will therefore not have them completed for the last race and Prize Giving. Will the following please let me have their postal addresses :-

John and Jasper Smith

Jasmin Sayed

Michael Veale

Roger McAll

Steve Duncan

These pictures are warts and all and you may need a magniftying glass to see yourself but – if you were in the picture – it will be on the CD/DVDs