Streaker Ramblings - New Year's Day race -Piddinghoe - 01.01.201

Cold, Grey and Windy as we left home at Noon on New Year’s day for the one off race at Piddinghoe. The forecast was not brilliant with a Southerly wind up to 24 Knots according to Windfinder. On arrival yours truly was in two minds as to rig or not, but as more bodies arrived I queried whether or not to use the wave sail but in the end decided to use the standard rig. There were eighteen entries on the sign on sheet, one did not go on the water, another went ashore before the start, one retired during the race and there was one disqualification – missing a mark.

Laurence Venus was RO and set a course around the outside of the pond but with a slightly strange start – nearly to windward – and missing out the mark nearest to the clubhouse.

At the gun it was Chris Turner (Laser Radial) first across the line, on port tack, with James Cuxson (Laser Radial)  to his leeward. A trifle behind but on starboard tack was Rupert Smith (Streaker) with Andy Hamilton and Tom Dutson  (RS Vision) just astern of him.

The following leg was partly a very close fetch and partly a beat and it was merely boat speed that made any difference for that first leg of the first lap. Rupert having gone behind Chris’s stern at the start led down the south side and bore off round the bottom mark in the lead. Next at that mark were James (on the inside) and Jo Wattts (Laser Radial)  on the outside but both capsized almost simultaneously as a large gust hit them.

Alan Simmons (Streaker), next up, having to round outside both of them – to shouts from Jo that she had lost her rudder once back upright. The next leg was almost dead downwind followed by a gybe to head for the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay and then another close fetch, with the occasional plane, to the finish line. At the end of the lap Rupert held the lead from Chris by a mere 5 seconds with Alan 30 seconds behind. Tiger Cox (Topper) was in fourth place ahead of Michael Veale and Mike Rosier  (RS 200) with Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial) sixth and Tim Cox (Laser Radial) seventh. Next in line was the Vision sailed by Andy.H and Tom.D with Jamie Smith (Laser 4.7) behind them  and Bill Wates (Laser full rig) tenth. James, by then recovered was in eleventh place , ahead of Jo who had managed to re-fit her rudder. Lucy McCaig (Topper) led fourteenth placed Natasha Stonestreet (Topper) over the line.

In Lap 2 Rupert gained a few more seconds over Chris and Alan was losing out more ground to the pair.  Andy.H, in the Vision, had pulled up to lie fourth with Zoe passing Michael who now led 7^th placed Tiger. Tim dropped a place to lie 8^th with Jamie, Bill.W and James in the same places and order as in the first lap. Jo.W retired leaving Lucy to lead Natasha at the back of the fleet.

Lap 3 had Rupert increasing his lead over Chris to 22 seconds with Alan nearly a minute behind and Tim jumping up the order to hold 4^th place just astern of him. Michael went ahead of Zoe once more with Tiger holding on to 7^th place, Andy.H having fallen right back to lie behind 8^th placed Jamie. James went to 10^th place passing Bill.W on the way with Lucy and Natasha 12^th and 13^th.

Lap 4 Rupert was now 26 seconds ahead of Chris with Alan over a minute behind Chris and Tim just 5 seconds behind him at the line. Michael in 5^th place made no ground on Tim in this lap nor on Zoe behind him. Andy.H gained a couple of places to lie in 7^th behind Zoe and ahead of Tiger. .James and Jamie crossed the line simultaneously in 9^th place with bill, Lucy and Natasha in unchanged places.

Lap 5 saw no change in the two leaders, Rupert and Chris but Tim passed Alan on the first leg down the south side and then pull away on the run and succeeding legs with Michael also closing the gap on Alan. Zoe in 6^th place still led Andy with Jamie passing Tiger and James unable to catch the latter. Bill was still 11^th ahead of Lucy whilst Natasha had finished at the end of the previous lap.

Lap 6 and Rupert remained ahead of Chris with virtually no change in time or distance. Tim held Michael at bay with Michael passing Alan on the same southern leg. Zoe, Andy and Jamie stayed in the same relative positions as James went ahead of Tiger and Bill brought up the rear as Lucy had finished.



Lap 7 And the order across the finish line for the leading seven boats remained unaltered. Jamie however missed out a mark and was disqualified leaving James  8^th and Tiger 9^th, Bill.W having already been finished.

The final lap, lap 8, was sailed only by Rupert and Chris with Rupert crossing the line with a lead of 47 seconds.

With the Handicaps applied the winner was Tiger, 18 seconds ahead on corrected time of Rupert with Chris third, Tim fourth, Alan fifth and Zoe sixth.

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1		Topper	26340	NSSC	Tiger Cox		1340	32.37	0.00.00	1.0
2		Streaker	161	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1138	32.00	0.00.21	2.0
3	Misty Blue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146	OOD		3.0
3		Laser Radilal	83663	NSSC	Chris Turner		1135	32.47	0.01.13	3.0
3				NSSC	Penny Springall			OOD		3.0
6		Laser Radilal	158377	NSSC	Tim Cox		1135	29.31	0.01.53	4.0
7	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1138	30.21	0.02.39	5.0
8		Laser Radilal	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1135	30.57	0.03.19	6.0
9		RS Vision	454	NSSC	Andy Hamilton	Tom Dutson	1134	31.03	0.03.27	7.0
10		Laser Radilal	179808	NSSC	James Cuxson (c)		1135	32.23	0.04.45	8.0
11	Hot Toddy	RS200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047	29.58	0.04.29	9.0
12		Topper	44964	NSSC	Lucy McCaig		1340	29.18	0.06.00	10.0
13		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1091	29.59	0.07.13	11.0
14		Topper	37585	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340	30.52	0.12.14	12.0
15		Laser 4.7	2063	NSSC	Jamie Smith (c)		1195	DSQ		19.0
15		Byte CII	2941	Shorham	Louise Currell		1150	DNF		19.0
15		Laser Radial	122345	NSSC	Jo West		1135	DNF		19.0
15		Laser Radilal	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1135	DNF		19.0

The trophy, the Venus trophy, was awarded to Tiger Cox who had sailed a brilliant race, even showing his dad the way home on handicap. It had been a hard race although perhaps not quite as gusty as the Boxing Day race and certainly not up to the forecast winds. There were several capsizes but not as many as might have been expected in the breeze persisting and had the course been a little more complex. A good way to start the New Year.

Alan.S1700