Cold,
High grey cloud and a light westerly breeze as we left home for the drive to
Piddinghoe. On arrival the breeze was a good notch or two higher and the heavy
weather sail was rigged on the Streaker. It did not seem too inviting but Laurence
Venus eventually decided to sail, lest he lost too many points by not doing so
he said, altogether nine boats eventually came on the water.
Chas
Humphries, on his inaugural duty as Race Officer set a figure of eight course.
The start, in the force four westerly (with a bit of southerly), was from near
the slipway in the middle of the south side and with a windward leg up to the
mark just off the clubhouse. On turning this mark there was a dead run across
the pond to a mark just north of the Island and close to the eastern shore. After
a port rounding another beat followed up to a mark off the Fisherman’s bay turning
which led to a ‘Roaring’ reach back past the island to the mark at its southern
end and a final beat back up the southern shore.
At
the start signal it was Alan Simmons (Streaker – Lancing SC) who was first away
from the middle of the line with Paul Ryan (Laser full rig – Hardway SC) the
closest having started near the pin. Just astern of Paul.R were Michael Veale
and Mike Rosier in their RS200. Further back Steve Duncan (Laser full rig – NSSC)
was ahead of Roger McCall (Laser full rig – Bexhill SC) and Laurence Venus
(Streaker – NSSC). Bringing up the rear were Matt Springhall (Laser full rig –
NSSC) – having capsized just before the start and needing to make his way back
to the correct side of the line, then came Dan Ford and young crew (Pico -
NSSC) and Jasmin Sayed (Topper – NSSC).
The heat began to turn up in the second lap when Roger.M, on the fast reach from the Fisherman’s bay, had a spectacular capsize and even though he had assistance from the safety boat took so long to recover that he decided to retire. Jasmin.S suffered some gear failure and returned ashore to fix it before venturing out again.
Next
to take a dip was Laurence.V, in lap 3, close to the Eastern shore. He was
picked up from the ‘vertical’ hull (boat on its side) by the Safety boat and
was in some considerable pain having suffered some compression to his ribs. An
ambulance was called – the service could not, at first, locate the Pond on
their maps – and a Para-Medic arrived within minutes. It was thought that
Laurence might have a cracked rib and so was taken off to Hospital for X-Ray. A
call, to his wife Ingrid, later Sunday evening revealed that he had the X-rays
which fortunately showed no significant damage to his ribs but that his finger was
broken. After a couple of hours at the hospital he is now home again but
somewhat chastened. We wish him a speedy recovery and return to Piddinghoe. At
the end of this lap the order was Paul.R in front then Michael.V with Steve.D
next. Alan.S was in fourth place with
Matt.S fifth and Dan Ford 6th. – the latter having somewhere during this lap placed his crew ashore.
Lap
4 also had its fair share of capsizes when Michael.V and Mike.R went over near
Laurence’s boat. Unsure whether anyone was still attached (or underneath)
Michael.V, who was already in the water, swam over to inspect the hull and upon
finding no one swam back to the RS200 finally recovering it with Mike.R,s help.
In
the final lap (Lap 5) Alan.S suffered a wipe out but fortunately recovered
quickly, Matt.S also yet again and So did Paul.R allowing Steve.D into the lead which he maintained to the finish line.
At
the finish Steve.D was ahead of Paul R by some 14 seconds and Paul about 3.1/2
minutes ahead of Alan. With the handicaps applied Steve.D was the winner
from Paul.R with Alan.S 3rd ahead of Michael.V. Dan.F was 5th and Jasmin.S 6th. Alan had hoped for a win to
celebrate his 75th Birthday (on the previous Wednesday) but was none
the less happy to survive and finish.
It
was not clear, given the conditions – strong breeze (at least top end force
four) with even stronger gusts and now rain setting in - whether the second
race would take place. Eventually there were six entrants, Paul.R, Steve.D,
Michael.V, Roger.M, Dan.F and Jasmin.S. First
away, on the same course, was Michael.V followed by Steve.D and, having to tack
away from the shore Paul.R had to duck their transoms. By the time they reached
the ‘top’ mark close to the clubhouse Paul was out in front once more with
Michael.V behind then Roger.M. Dan.F and lastly Jasmin.S. Alan.S, Matt.S and Laurence.V (who was
otherwise occupied ) had decide not to sail in this race.
Roger.M
did not make the end of the first lap having yet another wipe out and only Paul
and Michael.V made it to the end of the second lap – Steve.D capsized close to
the ‘clubhouse’ – providing all with a close up view – and had his mast stuck
in the mud. After a lengthy wait he was helped to release his rig and headed
for shore. After applying the handicaps Paul.R was the winner, Michael.V second
and Dan.F adjuged to finish in 3rd
place with Jasmin.S in 4th place. Unfortunately Bett’s camera ceased
to operate just before the start of race 2 of the day so there are no pics of
this race to display.
Alan.S
1700
For
the official results follow the link to:- http://www.nssc.org.uk/results/2013/numbum.htm
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