Streaker Ramblings – Freeman Iceberg Races 11 & 12 - 6th Dec 2015

With Storm Desmond still hitting the North of England with gale force winds and floods, and the forecast for Seaford at 26 -29 knots, it did not bode well for racing at Piddinghoe. None- the-less Alan set off to see if anyone would venture out on the water, only to discover on arrival at the pond that it was not that bad and several people had turned up to brave the conditions. It was grey and wet, still raining, but the wind was not too strong and even Alan decided to give it a go and thus rigged his Streaker.

 

The RO for the day, Dave Robertson (a Catarmaran sailor) set up a simple triangle course but with a reaching start along the south side of the pond. As usual there was a separate start for the Novices although only two boats actually crossed the line, a Topper sailed by Natasha Stonestreet and a Laser Radial sailed by James Cuxson. – their results were incorporated into the main fleet results. There were other cadets participating but they went off five minutes later with the main fleet.

First to cross the line was Rupert Smith (Streaker) followed by Michael Veale and Mike Rosier in their RS 200, Tim Cox (Laser radial) and fourthly Alan Simmons (Streaker). Andy Richlinski (Laser full rig) was just behind having been forced onto the Metcalf Pontoon close by the flag pole in the last few seconds before the gun by Michael.

As the fleet approached the mark, to the south of the Island, Michael  rounded first with four boats in a bunch close behind. Tim was the first of those with Rupert outside him, the RS Vision sailed by Phoebe Godin and Katy Wilport next up and overlapped with Alan just behind. Alan sneaked an overlap on the vision but almost got forced out until they finally headed up and thus rounded behind Rupert. The next leg across the eastern shore was also a reach with some fast planeing occurring up to the leeward mark off the Fisherman’s bay. The next leg was a true beat back to the (start) mark just off the clubhouse. By the end of the lap Tim had just sneaked into the lead ahead of Michael with Rupert next 30 seconds behind this pair and Alan and Andy crossing the line simultaneously. Dave Murley (Laser Radial) was 6^th to cross followed by Jamie Smith sailing a Hurley 12 with F Griffith.  Phoebe was in 8^th place ahead of Keith Wright (Topper) with Bill Hudson (Hurley 19) bringing up the rear. Although the average wind was not much more than a top force 4 there were lots of very strong, and shifty, gusts which resulted in quite a few capsizes – experienced sailors included.

Lap 2 saw Tim still in front of Michael and Rupert just 5 seconds behind the RS200. Alan and Andy were next up crossing simultaneously once more. Dave had a capsize which dropped him back to 10^th and last place with Jamie staying ahead of Phoebe. Kieth and Bill.H were 8^th and 9th but with identical times across the line.
 

Lap 3 and both Michael and Rupert were closing in on Tim with just 5 seconds between first and second and the same time difference between second and third. Similarly Alan was still 4^th with Andy five seconds behind him. Jamie was lying 6^th having pulled further ahead of Phoebe and Dave recovered to 8^th place as Bill.H suffered a capsize. Keith brought up the rear also having taken to the water.

Lap 4 saw Rupert pass Tim and Michael to go into the lead on the windward leg as the other pair crossed the line at the same time. Andy also finally got ahead of Alan on the beat to the line and Alan deciding to go no further. The incessant heavy gusts and frequent change of direction in the wind were not to his liking and he headed for shore to pack up.Jamie held on to 6^th place ahead of Phoebe with Dave behind her and Bill.H last man home at ninth, Keith having also given in to the conditions.

Lap 5 and Rupert continued to pull away from  Tim and Tim extending his lead over Michael. Andy,  now fourth but unable to catch Michael was well ahead of Jamie who in turn led Phoebe  over the line.

Lap 6, the final lap, saw Rupert maintain the front spot crossing the line with Tim having cut down his lead to just 12 seconds. Michael was third and Andy fourth. With the handicaps applied Rupert was first with Tim second, Jamie third and Andy fourth.

R11

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1138		28.40	6	0.29.23	0.00.00	1.0
LASER RADIAL	158377	NSSC	Tim Cox		1135		28.52	6	0.29.40	0.00.17	2.0
LASER RADIAL	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135		OOD				3.0
HARTLEY 12	No No	NSSC	Jamies Smith	F Griffith	1350		29.54	5	0.31.00	0.01.34	3.0
LASER	1		Andy Richlinski		1091		30.30	6	0.32.37	0.03.01	4.0
RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047		29.22	6	0.32.43	0.03.00	5.0
LASER RADIAL	174808	NSSC	James Cuxson (c)		1135		37.25	7	0.32.58	0.04.04	6.0
HARTLEY 10	No No	NSSC	Bill Hudson		1450		32.45	4	0.39.32	0.08.24	7.0
VISION	258	NSSC	Phoebe Godin	Katy Wilfort	1134		35.25	5	0.43.43	0.11.37	8.0
TOPPER	18302	NSSC	Keith Wright		1340		26.00	3	0.45.16	0.09.07	9.0
LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135		29.35	4	0.45.37	0.10.31	10.0
TOPPER	No No/17566	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340		39.40	4	0.51.48	0.17.10	11.0
STREAKER	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1138		DNF				13.0

 

The second race was held over the same course but as no cadets/novices came to the line for a separate race there was just the one fleet now reduced to nine boats.

 

First across the line, again close to the Pontoon, was Andy with Michael making a flying start – with gennaker hoisted – James third and Rupert, further out from the shore fourth with Tim astern of him. By the end of the first beat Rupert had Taken the lead from Andy with Tim astern. Michael was fourth and James was fifth ahead of Dave. Bill.H was seventh ahead of Jamie (sporting a new Mainsail and a jib in the Hurley 12 and Phoebe brought up the rear.

Lap 2 saw Rupert pulling out a tad to lie 8 seconds ahead of Andy with Michael in front of Tim. Dave also managed to pass James to lie 5^th with Jamie now ahead of Bill.H and Phoebe still back marker.

Lap 3 as Rupert extended his lead over Andy to nearly a minute and Tim back in front of Michael. The order behind was still Dave, James, Jamie, Bill.H and lastly Phoebe.

Lap 4 and with Rupert now some 50 seconds clear Michael also passed Andy to lie second. Tim who had taken a dip just before crossing the line was now fourth. There were no place changes behind these four but Phoebe had just completed her third lap and was finished.

Lap 5 had Rupert 48 seconds ahead of Andy with Michael another 14 seconds adrift. Tim was now back at spitting distance – 3 seconds - from Michael once more and James was back in front of Dave  with Jamie last man home .

Lap 6, the final lap and Rupert romped home 58 seconds ahead of Andy with Michael 18 seconds stern. Tim was fourth, James fifth and Dave last, Jamie having finished previously.

Handicaps were applied with Rupert taking top spot again, Tim second, Andy third and James fourth.

R12

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1138		26.22	6	0.23.10	0.00.00	1.0
LASER RADIAL	158377	NSSC	Tim Cox		1135		28.00	6	0.24.40	0.01.42	2.0
LASER RADIAL	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135		OOD				3.0
LASER	1		Andy Richlinski		1091		27.20	6	0.25.03	0.02.03	3.0
LASER RADIAL	174808	NSSC	James Cuxson (c)		1135		29.46	6	0.26.14	0.03.28	4.0
RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047		27.38	6	0.26.24	0.03.23	5.0
HARTLEY 12	No No	NSSC	Jamies Smith	F Griffith	1350		31.58	5	0.28.25	0.05.54	6.0
HARTLEY 10	No No	NSSC	Bill Hudson		1450		28.24	4	0.29.23	0.06.00	7.0
LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135		38.17	6	0.33.44	0.11.59	8.0
VISION	258	NSSC	Phoebe Godin	Katy Wilfort	1134		30.55	3	0.54.32	0.17.47	9.0

 These were two hard races with lots of thrills and a good few spills, conditions not to every ones liking (yours  truly especially) but for once with a true windward leg each lap. This week none of the Oppies ventured out – doubtless their parents took heed of the weather forecast, wrong though I may have been for Piddinghoe.

Alan.S 1700

PS. The Results tables above are mine – not the official version which is on the NSSC web site – see:- http://www.nssc.org.uk/cms/images/nsscdocs/results/2015/fi8.htm - and there may be differences. I use Sailwave and input the timings off of  photo copies of the lap sheets to get the results out as soon as possible to enable me to create these blogs.
PPS. A bug will not let me re-size the pictures used but you can enlarge them by double clicking on each one.