Streaker Ramblings - Freeman Iceberg Races 5 & 6 - 16/11/2014

Predominantly grey skies, with just the merest of blue poking through, as we left Hove for Piddinghoe for races 5 & 6 of the series on Sunday morning. On arrival at the pond there was a whisper of breeze from the east and the RO, Simon Suter, set a Crossover course. With the start from the flagpole on the southern shore there was an initial windward leg to a mark in the south east corner and then a broad reach/run past the island –with either side passable – to a mark off the Fisherman’s bay in the north west corner. From there it was a short beat to a mark midway along the east shore and then a broad reach to a mark off the clubhouse in the south west corner before a final short leg back to the start line. Some eighteen boats took to the water, with a few new faces included and even another RS 200 – with Jamie Smith at the helm.

At the gun it was Laurence Venus (Streaker) who led off at the leeward (pin) end of the line with Graham Hardy (Laser full rig) next and closely followed by Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial). Alan Simmons (Streaker) was fourth away but partially shielded by Jo and Bea West (Mirror) with Rupert Smith and Chris Turner (Vago) a little further to windward. Alan tacked off onto port , to keep away (and in clear air) from the Rupert’s Vago whilst Laurence continued on starboard toward the eastern shore and rounded just behind Darren Field and Louise Currell (RS200) with Rupert in close attendance. Alan chose to stay on the east side of the Island but could not pass Darren who went on the west side. After the next beat, then the reach back towards the club and final beat to the line Darren was still ahead, with Alan Second , Rupert third and Laurence fourth after some 8 to 9 minutes racing.

In lap two there were place changes galore, as the breeze eased a little, and Rupert came to the fore – the two man boats were all spreading extra sail area with their Gennakers and this paid, off wind. Alan still clung to second place but Laurence had moved up to third – changing position with Darren. Further back in the fleet Graham held on to 5th place with John Nash (Laser full rig) next in line having climbed up from 9th previously, Michael was 7th – down from 6th and Bill Wates (Laser full rig) still held 8th. Zoe McCaig had dropped back from 7th to 9th with both Bill.W and John passing her. Carolyn Turner (Laser Radial) still held 10th spot with Terry Jones (Laser full rig) behind her and Chas Humphries (Laser full rig) astern of him in 12th having passed David Murley (Laser Radial) and Tiger Cox (Laser Radial) on the way. Bill Hudson (Topper) took Jasper Thorp’s (Topper) scalp and pulled yet further ahead of last placed Jo and Bea to finish the lap 1n 16th place.

 

The third and final lap saw Laurence having a coming together with Rupert at the end of the second beat when both of them came in to the mark on starboard just ahead of Alan. Laurence was claiming water but Rupert disputed the call. Both continued up the next reach with Alan calling for one or the other to carry out turns. Laurence finally complied but still finished up in front of Alan and crossing the line ahead of Rupert with Darren sneaking in front of Rupert as well to take third place. Graham and John held on to 5th and 6th place respectively whilst Zoe climbed up in front of Bill and Michael, the latter dropping from 7th to 12th as the breeze dropped away almost to zero. With the handicaps applied it was yet another win for Laurence with the other Streaker – Alan - second and Graham third. 4th place went to Rupert, 5th to Darren and 6th to John.

Whilst awaiting the tail enders to finish the breeze dropped to almost nothing and it looked a bit 'iffy' for the start of the second race. It finally got underway at 12.05 with Bill breasting the line to windward and just ahead of Laurence at the pin end and Terry at the shore (unflavoured) end.

Laurence soon began to pull away and rounded the south east mark in the lead followed by Darren and then the Lasers of Graham, John and Bill. Alan having gotten himself boxed in at the start was still behind this group. At the end of the lap Laurence was ahead of Darren by about 1.1/2 minutes with Alan 50 seconds adrift on the 5th placed Laser (Bill). Chas was lying 7th, Michael 8th, Zoe 9th , Terry 10th Rupert 11th, David 12th Julian Stephens (Laser 2 Fun) 13th, Carolyn 14th, Jamie 15th and Tiger 16th. Jasper, Bill.H, Charlie and Jo did not sail, perhaps they did not fancy Paddling their boats around the course! Lap 2 saw Laurence way out in front and continuing to increase his lead over Darren. Alan closed on the Laser ahead of him and rounded the mark at the end of the second beat (middle of the east shore) in front but with a dead downwind (when the breeze blew) to the penultimate leg. Just short of the mark off the clubhouse he gybed onto starboard but had a coming together with Bill.W who had not heard his call. Whilst entangled, Graham passed both and John also got entangled. Alan eventually got free and crossed the line in 4th place. Meanwhile Laurence continued on for a third lap although Alan thought he had already finished . once the handicaps had been applied Laurence was declared the winner of the race with Darren placed second, Alan third, Chas fifth and Bill sixth.

Results :-

R5

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY No	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146	30.57	0.00.00	1.0
2	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1146	31.28	0.00.31	2.0
3	Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1088	32.16	0.02.53	3.0
4	Vago	808	NSSC	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner	1064	32.11	0.03.27	4.0
5	RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Lousie Currel	1051	31.52	0.03.29	5.0
6	Laser	136424	NSSC	John Nash		1088	34.25	0.05.02	6.0
7	Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1122	36.35	0.06.17	7.0
8	Topper	3		Bill Hudson		1322	29.45	0.05.57	8.0
9	Topper		NSSC	Jasper Thorp		1322	29.57	0.06.09	9.0
10	Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1088	37.34	0.08.11	10.0
11	Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	David Murley		1122	39.06	0.08.48	11.0
12	Laser Radial	83663	NSSC	Carolyn Turner		1122	40.03	0.09.45	12.0
13	Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		1088	39.42	0.10.19	13.0
14	Mirror	43533	NSSC	Jo West	Bea West	1385	35.23	0.10.27	14.0
15	Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tiger Cox		1122	44.38	0.14.20	15.0
16	Laser	138193	NSSC	Charles Humphries		1088	43.30	0.14.07	16.0
17	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1051	42.12	0.13.49	17.0
18	Pico	No No	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		1335	DNF		19.0
18	RS 200	402		Jamie Smith	another	1051	DNF		19.0

R6

 

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY No	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146	25.11	0.00.00	1.0
2	RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Lousie Currel	1051	26.27	0.03.21	2.0
3	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1146	31.03	0.05.52	3.0
4	Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1088	30.49	0.06.54	4.0
5	Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1122	32.01	0.07.22	5.0
6	Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	David Murley		1122	32.19	0.07.40	6.0
7	Laser	138193	NSSC	Charles Humphries		1088	31.39	0.07.44	7.0
8	Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1088	31.44	0.07.49	8.0
9	Laser	136424	NSSC	John Nash		1088	31.49	0.07.54	9.0
10	Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		1088	32.09	0.08.14	10.0
11	Vago	808	NSSC	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner	1064	31.58	0.08.35	11.0
12	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1051	31.51	0.08.45	12.0
13	Laser Radial	83663	NSSC	Carolyn Turner		1122	34.57	0.10.18	13.0
14	Laser Fun	7729	NSSC	Julian Stephens	Paul Vincent	1055	37.46	0.14.35	14.0
15	Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tiger Cox		1122	DNF		16.0
15	RS 200	402		Jamie Smith	another	1051	DNF		16.0

 

Two ‘interesting’ races , in light to very light conditions, made it hard going for some, frustrating for others and good competition for all. With six races now sailed the leader board for the series stands with Laurence at the top – with 4 straight wins – Alan in second place, Darren third, Graham fourth and Michael 5th. Alan.S 1700