Streaker Ramblings - Freeman Iceberg Races 11 & 12 - 02.12.2014

The weather forecast for the morning was up to 17 knots (Windfinder) or up to 21 knots (Windguru ) – for Seaford so Sailing looked rather iffy for Alan as he left home in Hove on Sunday morning. The sky was grey, it was not very warm and at Hove there was quite a bit of breeze. On arrival at Piddinghoe however it did not appear to be that windy so the Aero 7 was rigged in preparation for Race 11.

Seventeen boats entered for the racing including a couple of rare visitors (to the series), Matt Springall and Charlie Gribble together with the returning Alex Mills-Barton – all sailing full rigged Lasers.
John Cornish the RO, assisted by Adam, set an ‘M’ shaped course starting in the south east corner of the Pond with a beat up to the south side towards the clubhouse. From the clubhouse mark there was a broad reach to a mark off the Fisherman’s Bay and then a gybe onto a close reach to a mark in the middle of the pond. After the second gybe there was another broad reach/run to a mark midway along the eastern shore and yet another gybe onto a reach behind to Island followed by a windward leg back up the south side through the start/finish line. The breeze had begun to increase from its earlier ‘mildness’ and was a good force 4 by the start.

At the gun it was Alex who was first away – too ‘first’ as he was over the line and had to return to start again. Second off, with a quick tack onto port was John Nash (Laser full rig) and thirdly, heading to the shore end, were Darren Field and Louise Currell (RS 200). Close behind were Charlie.G, to windward of Darren, and Matt to leeward.

Just behind them were Alan Simmons (Aero 7) and Rupert Smith - with Penny Springall crewing in the Vago and Michael Veale and Mike Rosier in their RS 200.
The first casualty, on the first windward leg was Josh Smith (Laser 4.7) shortly joined by Rupert when they each capsized in the gusts that now started to rain down on the course. By the time the leaders were on the reach at the back of the Island Alex had caught and passed them all to take the lead. Matt was second to finish the lap just ahead of Charlie.G who was in turn ahead of John Nash (Laser full rig) and 5th placed Darren. Tiger Cox (Topper) was 6^th ahead of Alan., Tim Cox (Laser Radial), the two Mikes and Laurence (using his Wave – reduced area - sail on the Streaker). John Smith (Laser Radial) was 11^th across the line followed by Rupert, Chas Humphries (Laser full rig), Jamie Smith (Laser 4.7), Josh and 16^th placed Charlie Rigg (Pico). Terry Jones (full rig Laser) failed to finish the lap and came ashore after his Toe strap failed, dumping him in the pond.
Lap 2 and Alex extended his lead to 30 seconds in front of Matt who remained just ahead of Charlie.G. with John.N about a minute behind him. Darren and Louise had a disaster on the reach along the West side of the pond when an extra strong gust of wind caught them with their Gennaker up and capsized them. This allowed the next six boats to each gain a place with Darren , after recovery, languishing in 12^th place. Jamie passed Chas Humphries (Laser full rig)  to lie 13^th whilst Charlie.R gave up the good fight and headed for shore.

Lap 3 and there was no place changing in the top four, Alex, Matt, Charlie and John.N however Laurence moved up to 5^th getting ahead of Tiger, Michael and Tim whilst Alan capsized and experienced some problems getting the Aero upright. Even with the safety boat alongside he had difficulty in getting back aboard and subsequently headed the shore. Rupert passed Tim, who had also had a swim, climbing up to 8^th behind Tiger. Darren also made some headway passing John.S to lie 10^th.

Chas and Jamie came across the line tied in 12^th place, whilst Josh clung on in 14^th.

Lap 4 and Alex was still ahead whilst Matt and Charlie.G had a battle, crossing the line together, on tied time. Laurence was also closely engaged with John.N but took the lead briefly to cross in 4^th place. Michael was next over at 6^th whilst Tim, back in charge (almost) of his Laser passed Rupert and Tiger. At the back, in 10^th, John.S lead Chas and Darren who had dropped down to 12^th. It later transpired that there had been a coming together with Matt, who was at fault but then failed to take his penalty turns and continued to race (but subsequently retired) whilst Josh overtook Jamie to lie 13^th.

The penultimate lap, lap 5 saw no change of position for Alex, whilst Charlie overtook Matt and John.N got in front of Laurence once more to lie 4^th. Michael was behind Laurence but 30 seconds ahead of Tim who had passed Tiger and Rupert.  Tiger also climbed ahead of Rupert. to lie 8th as Chas passed John.S.

In the Final Lap 6 only Alex, Matt and Charlie.G remained to battle on with Matt crossing the line in second position – only to retire.

Once the handicaps were applied and worked out it was a win for Alex, 2^nd place for Tiger, 3^rd for Charlie G,  4^th for Laurence and 5^th for Tim.

 

Race 12 started, over the same course at 11.55am.  but with 15 starters this time. First across the line was Charlie.G with Alex nearer the shore and Matt still closer to the bank. It was Alex who ended up ahead and closer to the bank as Matt tacked under his stern and Charlie tacked off earlier than these two. John.N and Tiger were in the next batch to go from mid line whilst Alan – who had thought that the wind had eased a bit (which was an illusion) and decided to give it another go, started not far from the pin and to weather of the two Mikes in the RS. First casualty along the top reach was Matt who suffered a dry capsize. At the mark in the middle of the pond Alex was ahead of Charlie.G then Darren and John.N. Behind them were Tim, John.S, Matt and Laurence (still using the Wave sail).  By the end of the lap Alex was ahead of Charlie by 20 seconds and Darren just a further 10 seconds behind John.N who was 4^th, with Tim 5^th.  Matt had recovered and was now lying 6^th ahead of 7th^th.placed Laurence who was in turn in front of John.S, Michael and 10^th placed Alan. Next up were Josh, Tiger, Rupert Jamie and Charlie in the Pico. It was not Terry’s day either as he had another capsize in the first lap and retired ashore.

Lap 2 and Alex, Charlie.G and Darren remained the three front runners whilst Matt pulled past both John,N and Tim top lie 4^th. Laurence held on to 7^th position and Michael moved ahead of John.S. Alan, whilst on the reach behind the Island succumbed to his second capsize of the day, and in spite of assistance from Bill Wates and Julian Dobson (in the safety boat) to get upright and aboard once more, decided to head for shore. Rupert pulled up a couple of places to 10^th passing Tiger and Josh whilst Jamie and Charlie remained 13^th and 14^th respectively.

Lap 3 and there were no positional changes in the front six places. John.S moved ahead of Laurence and Michael to lie 7^th as Jamie and Josh crossed the line on tied times in 12^th place.

Lap 4 with Alex still in the lead and Charlie.G behind him (by over a minute) saw Matt overtake Darren, dropping the latter to 4^th position. The next two, John.N and Tim stayed 5^th and 6^th as Laurence regained the place he had lost in lap 3 to lie 7^th passing John.S on the way. Michael, Rupert, Tiger and Jamie also retained their positions from Lap 3.
Only six were left to sail the final lap 5 with Alex now almost 2 minutes ahead of Charlie.G and with Matt still just ahead of Darren. Last to come home were John.N and Tim at 5^th and 6^th.
The handicaps were applied and, unexpectedly, Alex was the hands down winner, Charlie.G second and Matt third. Tim was 4^th and John.N 5^th.

The breeze did eventually live up to its forecast (between 17 and 21 knots), although it was deceptively short of it at first, giving all an exciting, if very hard, sail. Alan reckons he needs the wind to be a bit milder and to increase only slowly until he gets a feel for his new boat. He is none too happy, as yet, about capsize recovery and is concerned about how he will cope with Waves on the sea.

Results :-

R11

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY No	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Laser	207509/203984	NSSC	Alex Mills-Barton		1088	31.02	0.00.00	1.0
2	Topper	26340	NSSC	Tiger Cox		1322	34.20	0.02.55	2.0
3	Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1088	OOD		3.0
3	Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1088	OOD		3.0
3	Laser	7/176670	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1088	OOD		3.0
3	Laser	179844	NSSC	Charlie Gribble		1088	35.58	0.04.56	3.0
7	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146	32.07	0.04.53	4.0
8	Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tim Cox		1122	32.40	0.06.00	5.0
9	Laser	136424	NSSC	John Nash		1088	32.24	0.06.32	6.0
10	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1051	32.30	0.07.31	7.0
11	Vago	808	NSSC	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner/Penny Springall	1064	34.24	0.09.07	8.0
12	Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		1122	37.12	0.10.32	9.0
13	Laser	138193	NSSC	Charles Humphries		1088	36.50	0.10.58	10.0
14	Laser 4.7	182532	NSSC	Josh Smith		1185	32.48	0.10.16	11.0
15	Laser 4.7	2063	NSSC	Jamie Smith		1185	34.50	0.12.18	12.0
16	RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Lousie Currel	1051	31.24	0.11.25	13.0
17	Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		1088	DNF		17.0
17	Pico	No No	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		1335	DNF		17.0
17	Aero 7	1150	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1065	DNF		17.0
17	Laser	153670	NSSC	Matt Springall		1088	DNF		17.0

R12

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY No	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Laser	207509/203984	NSSC	Alex Mills-Barton		1088	27.41	0.00.00	1.0
2	Laser	179844	NSSC	Charlie Gribble		1088	29.38	0.01.57	2.0
3	Laser	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1088	OOD		3.0
3	Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1088	OOD		3.0
3	Laser	7/176670	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1088	OOD		3.0
3	Laser	153670	NSSC	Matt Springall		1088	31.02	0.03.21	3.0
7	Laser Radial	16	NSSC	Tim Cox		1122	32.30	0.03.57	4.0
8	Laser	136424	NSSC	John Nash		1088	31.45	0.04.04	5.0
9	Topper	26340	NSSC	Tiger Cox		1322	31.11	0.04.16	6.0
10	RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Lousie Currel	1051	31.05	0.04.20	7.0
11	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146	27.50	0.04.30	8.0
12	Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		1122	28.08	0.05.18	9.0
13	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1051	28.11	0.06.47	10.0
14	Vago	808	NSSC	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner/Penny Springall	1064	29.21	0.07.42	11.0
15	Laser 4.7	2063	NSSC	Jamie Smith		1185	33.39	0.09.32	12.0
16	Laser 4.7	182532	NSSC	Josh Smith		1185	30.49	0.12.44	13.0
17	Pico	No No	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		1335	28.23	0.14.48	14.0
18	Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		1088	DNF		16.0
18	Aero 7	1150	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1065	DNF		16.0

Alan.S 1700