Streaker Ramblings – Freeman Iceberg – Races 15 & 16 – 20/12/2015

Grey overcast skies, with just the hint of the sun breaking through and almost no breeze as we left Hove for Piddinghoe. The forecast was for a south westerly, up to 22 knots – not ideal for my lack of movement but we went down none the less.

The Race Officer, Chas Humphries, set up a course around the outside of the pond but with a reaching start between two marks set off Met’s Landing, on the south bank of the pond. Some seventeen boats were entered for the races, this time with a single start – no separate start for the Cadets/novices, although this time there were no Oppies or similar entered anyway. The breeze filled in to a low force 3 and slowly increased during the race but never quite reaching that forcast.

At the gun Noel West (Solo) was first away, towards the outer mark, Dave Murley (Laser Radial) was next.  Rupert Smith (Streaker) was third to cross with Andy Richinski (Laser full rig) nearer the inner mark fourth away. With the breeze not yet enough to plane there was a huge bunch at the mark at the end of the reach (to the south of the Island) but Noel was first to round hotly pursued by Laurence Venus (Streaker) followed by Andy.R. By the next mark, middle of the east side, Laurence had gained an inside overlap and then went into the lead. By the end of the lap The lead was held by Laurence from Noel with Andy.R third. Rupert and Tim Cox (Laser Radial) were tied in fourth. Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial) was sixth, Graham Hardy (Laser Radial) also tied with Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) in seventh withDave Murley (Laser Radial) ninth. Alan Simmons (Streaker), having been caught up in the big bunch by the Island and having to take the outside berth on the following run, was languishing in tenth with Louise Currell (Byte CII). Behind her Bill Hudson (Topper) was twelfth, Jamie Smith (Laser 4.7) thirteenth, Richard Beal (Laser full rig) fourteenth, Penelope Duncan (Laser Radial) fifteenth, Natasha Stonestreet (Topper) 16^th and Charlie Rigg (Topper) seventeenth.

Lap two saw no changes in the leading three boats but Rupert moved up to fourth as Tim dropped down to ninth and Michael took fifth place. Dave climbed up to 6^th place to lie ahead of Graham who maintained his seventh place. Zoe fell back to lie 8^th ahead of Tim with Alan still 10^th. Louise and Bill.H stayed in 11^th and 12^th respectively as Richard lost a place to lie behind 13^th placed Penelope and 14^th placed Jamie who also went back a place. Natasha and Charlie stayed  as in the previous lap.

Lap 3 and the leading six boats stayed in their respective places but Alan pulled back two positions to lie 8^th ahead of Tim and Zoe. Penelope gained two places toile 11^th having passed Louise and Bill.H. Richard also gained a couple of places to lie 13^th.both Bill.H and Jamie dropped back to 14^th and 15^th ahead of Natasha and Charlie.

Lap 4. As Laurence still continued to pull away , Andy.R overtook Noel to lead him by 5 seconds at the line with Rupert also closing the gap to Noel to 15 seconds. Michael in 5^th place fell back a few seconds more behind Rupert with Dave and Graham in the same respective 6^th and 7^th places. Tim went back ahead of Alan to lie 8^th as Zoe dropped to 10^th. Penelope in 11^th place continued to hold off Louise and Richard, the latter crossing the line at the same time as Jamie. Bill.H dropped back a place to lie 15^th with Natasha and Charlie.

Lap 5.  Laurence still held the lead, still pulling away from Andy.R, as Rupert went ahead of Noel. Behind them the order remained unchanged down to 10^th placed Zoe.

Louise pulled back a place to lie 11^th leading Richard and Bill.H as Penelope fell back to 14^th. Jamie also fell down the fleet, following a capsize, to lie 16^th behind Natasha but in front of Charlie.

Lap 6. The penultimate lap, and Rupert now challenging Andy.R for second place dropped back a little. Noel held his fourth place leading Michael, Dave, Graham, Tim, Alan and Zoe.

Lap 7. With Laurence still increasing his lead, it was all to play for, for the only other two competing boats – Andy.R and Rupert. After a tense battle Rupert made it  R over the line  of Andy.R

With handicaps applied it was a one, two for the Streakers of Laurence and Rupert, noel was third and Andy.R fourth. Bill.H took sixth place and Alan had to discard a ninth placing.

R15

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
STREAKER	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1138		34.47	7	0.30.34	0.00.00	1.0
STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1138		35.37	7	0.31.18	0.00.50	2.0
LASER	138183	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1091		OOD				3.0
SOLO	5506	NSSC	Noel West		1140		31.32	6	0.32.16	0.01.40	3.0
LASER	1		Andy Richlinski		1091		35.52	7	0.32.53	0.02.31	4.0
LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135		32.30	6	0.33.24	0.02.46	5.0
TOPPER	14	NSSC	Bill Hudson (c)		1340		32.33	5	0.34.00	0.03.18	6.0
LASER RADIAL	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1135		33.07	6	0.34.02	0.03.23	7.0
LASER RADIAL	158377	NSSC	Tim Cox		1135		33.13	6	0.34.09	0.03.29	8.0
STREAKER	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1138		33.47	6	0.34.38	0.03.58	9.0
RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047		31.48	6	0.35.26	0.04.22	10.0
TOPPER	No No/17566/37585	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340		33.56	5	0.35.27	0.04.41	11.0
LASER RADIAL	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1135		34.57	6	0.35.56	0.05.13	12.0
BYTE CII	2941	SHOREHAM	Louise Currell		1150		31.23	5	0.38.12	0.06.17	13.0
TOPPER	27531	NSSC	Charlie Rigg (c)		1340		36.48	5	0.38.27	0.07.33	14.0
LASER 4.7	2063	NSSC	Jamie Smith (c)		1195		34.09	5	0.40.01	0.08.04	15.0
LASER	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1091		31.43	5	0.40.42	0.07.54	16.0
LASER RADIAL	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135		33.21	5	0.41.08	0.08.34	17.0

 

                                                                            
                                                                                

 

For the second race at 12.0, Chas (RO) made a small adjustment to the course by adding a mark to the north west of the Island but with the initial leg of the course still direct to the south east mark.

At the gun it was Rupert first away, half a length ahead of Laurence. Nearer to the outer mark, Dave Murley crossed third and then stopped allowing Richard to get away as Louise led the two of them from closer to the inner mark. By the end of the reach it was Laurence who turned the mark ahead of Rupert with Richard, Michael fourth – after his Gennaker blanked nearly all the rest of the fleet – and Alan, also having lost the wind at the start, lying fifth. After the run, and the following close reach, Alan gained an inside berth and moved into fourth place. Meanwhile behind the leading bunch, Andy.R capsized on the run and all the remaining boats passed him before he could recover. By the end of the first windward leg, and lap, Rupert was at the front, just 5 seconds ahead of Laurence with Michael third, 15 seconds behind  and  Alan 7 seconds behind him. By now the breeze was up to a good force 4 with stronger gusts. Close behind Alan, Dave was lading Tim with Jamie holding 7^th place. Penelope was 8^th, Graham 9^th, Zoe 10^th, and Louise 11^th. Richard had really fallen from grace, after an very good start, to lie12th in front of Bill.H 13^th , Natasha 14^th and Andy.R last. Noel  and Charlie did no sail in this race.

Lap 2 saw Rupert extend his lead over Laurence with Michael and Alan also still in close contention. Tim went ahead of Dave, followed by Jamie, Penelope, Graham and Zoe. .Richard had moved up to 13^th with Andy pulling up to 14^th ahead of Bill.H, then Natasha with Louise, having suffered gear failure, now 17^th.

Lap 3 Laurence failed to reel in Rupert who now had a lead of 20 seconds with Michael 9 seconds behind him and Alan now falling back with Tim closing in. Dave was still close up behind Tim with Jamie now behind him, having passed Graham. Zoe was up to 9^th  as Penelope slipped back behind her with Andy.R now astern of her in 13^th place. Then came Richard, Bill.H, Louise , up a place, and lastly Natasha.

Lap 4 Rupert continued to pull ahead of Laurence , now leading him by 34 seconds and with Michael 25 seconds back in third. Alan had closed the gap to fourth to be now 15 seconds behind Michael as Tim had been caught up in a bunch at one of the mark and was now 18 seconds astern. Next came Dave, followed by Jamie but with Andy.R another three places up the fleet in 8^th. Behind him Graham and Zoe crossed the line in identical recoded times at 9^th equal. Penelope was lying 13^th, down one as Andy passed her, with Richard behind but with Bill.H, Louise and Natasha behind him.

Lap 5, the penultimate lap, and Rupert still held the lead from Laurence who could not decrease the distance between them. Behind this pair Michael hung on to third place with Alan still 17 seconds astern. Tim was only able to close up another second to Alan but with Dave falling back, none the less retaining 6^th place. Andy.R pulled back another place overtaking Jamie on the way to lie 7^th. Graham also pulled ahead of Jamie who thus dropped to 8^th. Zoe at 9^th  remained ahead of Penelope who in turn was ahead of Richard.Bill.H, Louise and Natasha finished at the end of their 4^th lap.

The sixth and final Lap saw just Rupert, Laurence and Michael racing, all others having been finished by the end of lap 5. Laurence did pull back a bit ,  to cross the line in second place, some 17 seconds adrift of Rupert with Michael another 34 second behind.

With the handicaps applied t was another Streaker 1, 2 and also 3 for Rupert, Laurence and Alan. Fourth place was taken by Tim, fifth by Dave Murley and sixth by Jamie Smith.

R16

Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1138		30.47	6	0.27.03	0.00.00	1.0
STREAKER	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1138		31.04	6	0.27.18	0.00.17	2.0
STREAKER	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1138		26.27	5	0.27.53	0.00.48	3.0
LASER	138183	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1091		OOD				3.0
LASER RADIAL	158377	NSSC	Tim Cox		1135		26.44	5	0.28.16	0.01.09	4.0
LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135		27.39	5	0.29.14	0.02.04	5.0
LASER 4.7	2063	NSSC	Jamie Smith (c)		1195		29.25	5	0.29.32	0.02.29	6.0
TOPPER	14	NSSC	Bill Hudson (c)		1340		26.28	4	0.29.38	0.02.18	7.0
RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047		31.37	6	0.30.12	0.03.18	8.0
LASER RADIAL	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1135		29.19	5	0.31.00	0.03.44	9.0
LASER RADIAL	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1135		29.26	5	0.31.07	0.03.51	10.0
LASER RADIAL	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135		29.52	5	0.31.35	0.04.17	11.0
LASER	1		Andy Richlinski		1091		28.51	5	0.31.44	0.04.15	12.0
TOPPER	No No/17566/37585	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340		29.29	4	0.33.00	0.05.19	13.0
LASER	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1091		31.44	5	0.34.54	0.07.08	14.0
BYTE CII	2941	SHOREHAM	Louise Currell		1150		27.22	4	0.35.42	0.06.38	15.0

 As stated, at the top of this blog, the breeze did not rise to the strengths forecast, luckily, and although there were a few capsizes most competitors survived dry. It was hard work but extremely enjoyable and quite a few grinning face were to be seen. Yours truly, once back ashore at the end of two races, could barely walk and without help could not have got the boat out of the water, on its trolley and back in its berth – for which I offer grateful thanks.

Alan.S 1700
PS. The results I include here in this blog are my version - in this case they agree fully with the official results as provided on the NSSC web site.
PPS. Some of my readers may have noticed a column headed BCE in the results - this is the Back Calculated Elapsed time difference and shows the elapsed time needed to made good in order to have the same corrected time as the winner