Streaker Ramblings - Freeman Iceberg - Races 7 & 8 - 24.11.2013

Sunday dawned Grey and overcast with just tiny breaks in the cloud as we arrived at Piddinghoe. The breeze was about a top force three and coming from the northern corner – Fisherman’s bay area. Ed Thorburn, RO for the day, set a similar course to last week’s except that this time we had Committee Boat starts from a line to a mark set halfway down the south side of the pond. The first leg was a beat to the mark up by the Fisherman’s bay and then a run back southwards, along the west side,  to a mark off the clubhouse. From this there was a close reach along the south side to a mark in the south east corner followed by another windward leg to a mark midway along the east side. The final leg was a broad reach across the pond back to the start mark.

 

 For the 11.00am race some 17 boats were afloat and the bias in the line split the fleet in two, some by the pin end mark and the others by the committee boat. Of the group at the pin end Bill Wates (Laser full rig) should have been first away but he stalled on the line just to wind ward of Laurence Venus (Streaker) and ahead of Alan Simmons (Streaker). Bill drifted into both but Laurence managed to get free just to weather of Rupert Smith (Laser Radial) with Chris Turner (Byte CII) just below him.

At the other end of the line Darren Field and crew Louise Currell (Vago) were just ahead but to leeward of Steve Duncan (Laser full rig). These two headed for the shore but then, after tacking, had to duck under just about all the rest of the fleet. By the windward mark, Laurence was several lengths ahead of Alan with Rupert next in line and then Darren and Louise. The next group were Chris Turner, Tim Cox (Laser Radial) and Michael Veale and Mike Rosier  (RS 200).
By the end of the first lap Laurence was out in front some 20 seconds ahead of Alan with Rupert lying 3rd and Darren 4th and Tim close on his heels. Chris was next in6^th with the two Michaels 7^th and Julian Dobson (Laser full rig) 8^th. Steve was lying 9^th ahead of Bill and then Graham Hardy (Laser full rig) was tying with Terry Jones (Laser full rig). John Smith (Laser full rig) brought up the tail of the faster boats at 13^th ahead of Eddie  Lansley (Topper), Dave Murley (Pico), Josh Smith (Topper) and lastly at 17^th Colin Cryer (Otter).
By the end of the second lap, Darren had managed to pass Alan and sit in second place whilst Steve had climbed three places to 6^th. Julian also gained a place overtaking the two Michaels whilst Chris dropped four places to 10^th and Bill lost  three to 13^th with John also passing him. There were no changes at the back amongst the slower boats.

At the end of lap 3 Laurence was still unchallenged at the front, some 60 seconds ahead of Darren who was followed by Alan, Rupert and Steve – who had overtaken Tim. Julian was 7^th, then Chris – having pulled past the two Michaels - with Graham having lost a place now in 10^th, then Terry, John, Bill, Eddie, Dave, Josh and Colin.

Lap 4 saw Steve gain two to 3^rd place overtaking both Rupert and Alan, next were Tim at 6^th, Julian 7^th and Michael at 8^th. Chris meanwhile dropped from 8th to 12^th having, it seems, done some exploring on the island!  Graham and Terry each gained a place to 9^th and 10^th and Bill went up the board to 11^th.  John dropped back one to 13^th.Eddie still led the slower boats at 14^th, ahead of Dave and Josh whilst Colin had already been finished at the end of the previous lap.
In the final lap Laurence crossed the line in first place with Daren coming home second, Steve third and Tim sneaked in 4th, just one second ahead of Alan. Julian overhauled Rupert to finish 6^th some 20 seconds ahead. The middle group had unchanged places but John gained a place to 12^th ahead of Chris who brought up the rear in 13^th . With the handicaps applied the top order was Laurence 1^st, Alan 2^nd, Tim 3^rd and Dave 4^th.

Race two of the day began, over the same course, at noon, with Darren first across the line a little to leeward of the pin end. Behind him but to weather it was Laurence who was next off but in clear air which allowed him to pull up to windward. Then came a group of three, Steve with Rupert down to leeward and Alan to weather but a bit behind. It turned out, however, that Darren had been a bit previous, was over the line and had to return to start correctly. Yet again Laurence was first around the windward mark but he was closely pursued by Steve and also Alan with Tim just behind them.

By the end of the first run, along the west side, and on arrival at the mark just off the clubhouse it was Laurence who just managed to turn ahead of Alan who had scraped, inside Steve. Not far astern of these three Tim was being challenged by Rupert with a gaggle of full rig Lasers behind them. Laurence pulled ahead on the next close reach – there was just enough breeze to be able to plane if one sailed high enough at the start of this leg. Alan held off Steve on this and the following windward leg but was passed by him on the next broad reach, to gain 2^nd place at the end of the lap. Graham pulled through to take 4^th spot ahead of Tim, Bill and Rupert. Terry was lying 8^th, the two Michaels 9^th, Darren 10^th and John11th. Dave was lying 12^th in front of Eddie then Josh and Colin. Charlie Rigg sailing a Topper (not having participated in the first race of the day) brought up the rear in 16^th place. Chris did not sail the Byte, having had an appointment with Lunch?

Lap 2 saw Laurence still ahead but closely pursued by Steve – just 14 second adrift – this in spite of Steve falling out of the boat  (missed the toe straps) on the reach down the south side  - and Alan staying some 15 seconds ahead of Tim. Rupert had pulled up from 7^th to 5^th but Darren had shot up the board to lie 6^th and Terry had gained a place to 7^th. Bill had dropped back two places to lie 8^th and John climbed up from 11^th to 9^th.  Graham  lost out heavily with a six place drop to 10^th and the two Michaels dropped a couple of places to 11^th. Eddie clawed past Dave back into 12^th and Josh stayed ahead of Colin and Charlie. Charlie’s race finished on this lap.
For lap 3 there were no places changes amongst the top six runners. Bill got a place back by passing Terry to go 7^th whilst Terry also lost a place to John. There were no further recorded changes to 11^th place and below.
In lap 4 the order remained Laurence 1^st then Steve, Alan, Tim at the top. Darren gained a place passing Rupert to go 5^th but there were no place changes below this. Josh and Colin finished at the end of this lap.
For lap 5 there were no places recorded as having changed in the top eight but Graham pulled up on to 9^th ahead of Terry who in turn was ahead of Michael, Eddie and Dave. That was the end of the race for the last three mentioned above.
The final lap, lap 6, saw Laurence cross the line in first place with Steve in second and Tim third having just overtaken Alan (yet again)  with Darren 5^th ahead of Rupert, then Bill, John, Graham and finally Terry. With the handicaps applied the winners were Laurence 1^st, Alan 2^nd, Tim 3^rd and Steve 4^th.

The conditions were not easy with lots of shifts and strength variation and quite a bit of windward work plus lots of downwind. This resulted in a fair bit of place changing and passing not to mention the odd capsize. In spite of the grey start the sun soon came out to play and then went home after the racing finished. .All in all a very pleasant morning’s sail.

Results :-

R7

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Posn	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Mistyblue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		37.36	0.00.00	1.0
2	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		39.22	0.01.46	2.0
3		Finn	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		OOD		3.0
3		Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tim Cox		39.21	0.02.46	3.0
3		Laser		NSSC	Yves Horent		OOD		3.0
3		Laser Radial		NSSC	Anne Bush		OOD		3.0
7		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		37.45	0.02.51	4.0
8		Topper	6		Eddie Lensley		37.30	0.03.06	5.0
9		Laser Radial	163443	NSSC	Rupert Smith		39.57	0.03.22	6.0
10	Frayed Knot	Laser	203084	NSSC	Steve Duncan		39.05	0.03.29	7.0
11	Bob	Vago	808	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Currell	38.45	0.03.54	8.0
12		Laser	7	NSSC	Julian Dobson		39.38	0.04.02	9.0
13	Bandit	Byte C11	2941	NSSC	Chris Turner		42.23	0.04.51	10.0
14		Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		40.35	0.04.59	11.0
15		Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		40.59	0.05.23	12.0
16		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		41.12	0.05.36	13.0
17	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	39.58	0.05.29	14.0
18		Laser	177611	NSSC	John Smith		42.14	0.06.38	15.0
19		Topper	4	NSSC	Josh Smith		44.03	0.09.39	16.0
20		Otter	981	NSSC	Colin Cryer		39.28	0.12.15	17.0

R8

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Posn	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Mistyblue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		43.53	0.00.00	1.0
2	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		45.43	0.01.50	2.0
3		Finn	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		OOD		3.0
3		Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tim Cox		45.22	0.02.40	3.0
3		Laser		NSSC	Yves Horent		OOD		3.0
3		Laser Radial		NSSC	Anne Bush		OOD		3.0
7	Frayed Knot	Laser	203084	NSSC	Steve Duncan		45.10	0.03.37	4.0
8		Laser Radial	163443	NSSC	Rupert Smith		47.06	0.04.24	5.0
9	Bob	Vago	808	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Currell	46.37	0.05.57	6.0
10		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		47.51	0.06.18	7.5
10		Topper	6		Eddie Lensley		48.10	0.06.20	7.5
12		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		49.50	0.07.24	9.0
13		Laser	177611	NSSC	John Smith		49.12	0.07.39	10.0
14		Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		49.20	0.07.47	11.0
15		Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		49.43	0.08.10	12.0
16		Topper	4	NSSC	Josh Smith		41.26	0.07.58	13.0
17	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	43.20	0.09.47	14.0
18		Otter	981	NSSC	Colin Cryer		50.46	0.15.28	15.0
19		Topper	37585 (297)	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		48.06	0.23.00	16.0

Alan.S 1700