Streaker Ramblings - Freeman Iceberg Races 11 & 12 - 08.12.2013

We awoke to clear blue skies,almost, there was a band of thick dark cloud out to the west ,a soggy wet car and no breeze. On arrival at Piddinghoe the cloud bank had arrived, there were breaks, but the breeze was still absent. By the time the boats were all rigged – twenty one competitors – the breeze had begun to fill in and by the start it was up to force three.

John Freeman, RO for the day, who presented the Trophy and after whom the Series is named, set a course around the outside of all the marks and the Island, with a start from a mark laid off the middle of the south side. The first leg being a short windward leg to a mark off the clubhouse and where the laps were to finish.

At the gun Alex Mills-Barton (Laser full rig) was first across the line at the bank end whilst Alan Simmons (Streaker - LSC) was second over at the pin end and Steve Duncan (Laser full rig) was third away in the middle of the line. Next away were Jazz Sayed (Laser 4.7), Bill Wates (Laser full rig), Tim Cox (Laser Radial), Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) and then Laurence Venus (Streaker). There was still another bigish group including Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial), Eddie Lansley and Alex Mortimer (Laser II), Rupert Smith (Laser Radial), Chris Turner (Byte CII) and Darren Field and Louise Currell (Vago) and a few more straggelers behind them.

Alex led the leg to the turning mark off the Fisherman’s Bay followed by Steve, Alan and then Laurence who had negotiated the pack near the weather mark. Behind these four were the Two Mikes and Darren and Louise, both boats flying their Gennakers. By the time Steve reached the original start mark Alan was right on his stern but Laurence was tight behind him and overtook by the clubhouse mark with Jazz less than ½ a minute behind Alan and Tim just a second behind her.

Lap 2 saw Alex edging further out ahead of Steve who was then overtaken by Laurence. Alan was lying 4^th but Tim was pulling up behind him. Next in line at 6^th was still the RS200 and then the Vago. The Laser II came next ahead of John Smith (Laser full rig).

Lap three finshed with Alex out front then Laurence, Steve and then Tim, having overtaken Alan on the reaching leg across on the east side of the pond. Darren was next having passed the RS200 then came Bill Wates, who had overtaken the Laser II, and Jazz followed by Chris, then Rupert, Graham Hardy (Laser full rig), Zoe, Chas Humpries (Laser full rig), Josh Smith (Topper), Bill Gates (Solo) and finally Charlie Rigg (Topper).

During the fourth lap there was no place changing amongst the leading three boats but Alan and Tim crossed the line simultaneously and further back Rupert climbed ahead of Jazz and Chris.

The final lap saw Alex still out in front , nearly three minutes ahead of Laurence who was 17 second in front of Steve, himself 26 seconds ahead of Alan with Tim a further 21 seconds adrift in 5^th place.The breeze was too light for both Rupert and Chris who had to be content with position in the lower half of the fleet although once the handicaps had been applied they finished 6^th and 8^th respectively out of the 19 strong fleet.

Race 12, starting at12.00pm, was held over the same course and with the same line which was very much port biased, the breeze had freshened a little and was in the low force four range not to say a bit gusty. First away once more, at the shore end was Alex but Steve starting a little further off the shore was well aligned to make the mark. Jazz also had a cracking start and Alan was up there too.

Steve led Alex along the west shore and on the following leg behind the island only to be passed on the log windward leg up the south side. Laurence had been late for the start and got caught up in the boats milling around the mark off the clubhouse and was led by the Laser II and then Rupert. The Laser II caught up with Alan along the east bank but he stayed ahead up the ensuing beat and pulled away but was still led across the line at the end of the first lap by Alex, Steve and Jazz, with the Laser II and then Rupert 35 seconds behind and Laurence just 2 seconds behind him.

Lap 2 saw Alex lead Steve with Alan and Jazz tying for 3^rd place as Laurence got ahead of Rupert who in turn was caught up with the Laser II and crossed the line for the second dead heat. Next up at 8^th was Tim and behind him Bill and the RS200 crossed the line in equal 9^th position. Then came John followed by the Vago and Bill Giles in equal 12^th place with Chris, Graham, Chas and Zoe with Jamie and Carolyn Turner (Pico) and finally Josh Smith (Topper)  and lastly Charlie  Rigg (Topper).

Lap 3 saw Alan overtake Jazz and Steve to take 3^rd place with Laurence moving up behind. Rupert also passed Jazz to go 5^th and Tim gained a place to 7^th. crossing the line with the RS200 alongside. These were followed by Bill.W then John and Chas, the Laser II having dropped back four places. The Vago stayed in 12^th place in front of Chris then Bill.G, Chas, Graham and Zoe. Jamie retired putting Carolyn up to 18^th with Josh next and Charlie as the ‘tail end Charlie’.

In Lap 4 there were no changes in the leading five boats with Tim passing Jazz and Chas dropping to 12^th behind the Laser II. Darren in the Vago had a near capsize leaving him in 15^th whilst Zoe overtook Graham and Carolyn stayed behind him

Lap 5, the penultimate  lap, saw Alex unchallenged at the front with Alan second and Laurence passing Steve to be some 37 seconds behind but on a charge. Rupert stayed at 5^th ahead of Tim and Jazz. There were no place changes in the next seven boats but Darren pulled back a place to 15thand Zoe got ahead of Graham with Carolyn in last place the Toppers. In the final , 5^th lap, Laurence continued his charge and just short of the line caught up to just astern of Alan. On the final approach to the finish mark Alan, on port, had to tack for Carolyn on starboard and Laurence dived behind their sterns to be able to make the final tack and cross the line in second place. He had made a remarkable recovery but Alan was a bit miffed having led him for the rest of the race.

With the handicaps applied Alex was the winner – 3.1/2 minutes ahead on the water – with Laurence second, Alan third, Jazz 4^th , Rupert 5^th and Steve 6^th. There had been some good racing, somewhat crowded at the marks at times but it turned out bright and sunny if not exactly warm and every one had a very pleasant sail. Someone, believed to be Chas, fell in at the jetty by the clubhouse, between the races when attempting to re-board his Laser. – not recorded  on film however.

Results:-

R11

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Posn	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Laser	203084A	NSSC	Alex Mills-Barton		29.14	0.00.00	1.0
2	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		32.11	0.01.19	2.0
3	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		32.54	0.02.02	3.0
4	Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tim Cox		33.15	0.03.13	4.0
5	Laser	203084	NSSC	Steve Duncan		32.28	0.03.14	5.0
6	Laser Radial	7757	NSSC	Rupert Smith		34.00	0.03.58	6.0
7	Laser	177611	NSSC	John Smith		26.45	0.03.22	7.0
8	Byte C11	2941	NSSC	Chris Turner		35.30	0.04.41	8.0
9	Laser 4.7	206330	NSSC	Jazz Sayed		29.34	0.04.11	9.0
10	Vago	808	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Currell	33.21	0.04.44	10.0
11	Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		34.17	0.05.03	11.0
12	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	33.37	0.05.18	12.0
13	Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		29.18	0.05.16	13.0
14	Laser 2	4157	NSSC	Eddie Lansley	Alaex Mortimer	34.38	0.06.48	14.0
15	Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		29.54	0.06.31	15.0
16	Laser	175741	NSSC	Chas Humphries		30.35	0.07.12	16.0
17	Topper	4	NSSC	Josh Smith		29.38	0.08.27	17.0
18	Topper	6	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		30.31	0.09.20	18.0
19	Solo	3754	NSSC	Bill Giles		30.3`1	0.12.00	19.0

R12

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Posn	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Laser	203084A	NSSC	Alex Mills-Barton		30.51	0.00.00	1.0
2	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		34.18	0.01.43	2.0
3	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		34.27	0.01.52	3.0
4	Laser 4.7	206330	NSSC	Jazz Sayed		36.35	0.03.06	4.0
5	Laser Radial	7757	NSSC	Rupert Smith		35.15	0.03.33	5.0
6	Laser	203084	NSSC	Steve Duncan		34.47	0.03.56	6.0
7	Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tim Cox		36.21	0.04.39	7.0
8	Byte C11	2941	NSSC	Chris Turner		32.32	0.05.26	8.0
9	Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		31.13	0.05.30	9.0
10	Solo	3754	NSSC	Bill Giles		33.07	0.05.58	10.0
11	Laser	177611	NSSC	John Smith		32.01	0.06.18	11.0
12	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	31.07	0.06.13	12.0
13	Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		33.09	0.06.44	13.0
14	Laser	175741	NSSC	Chas Humphries		32.18	0.06.35	14.0
15	Vago	808	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Currell	32.46	0.07.36	15.0
16	Laser 2	4157	NSSC	Eddie Lansley	Alaex Mortimer	32.06	0.07.37	16.0
17	Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		35.02	0.09.19	17.0
18	Pico	4	NSSC	Carolyn Turner		34.23	0.09.11	18.0
19	Topper	4	NSSC	Josh Smith		35.01	0.16.23	19.0
20	Topper	6	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		40.00	0.21.22	20.0
21	Pico	No No	NSSC	Jamie Smith		DNF		21.0

Alan.S 1700