Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum Races 5 & 6 - 17.01.2016

It snowed overnight and by early morning there was a light covering over the Downs as viewed from our back windows. The car had a covering but the drive and Roads had little more than a thin layer of slush as we left home. More snow on the way to Piddinghoe but, on arrival there was nothing to be seen. It was sunny, and surprisingly warm given the snow so close by.

A light breeze, force 1 to 2, was blowing from the east which meant that the RO, Michael Veale, and ARO Mike Rosier, were able to set up a windward leg down the south side of the pond, with a slight detour back to the middle of the pond after an off-wind leg behind the Island. There were going to be a couple of gybes but these offered little in the way of problems in the low breeze.

At the gun, on a fairly short line, Alan Simmons (Streaker) was first across the line close to the south bank with Rupert Smith (Streaker) just to windward but a touch behind. Closer to the pin, Jonty Freeman (Laser Radial) was third away with Jo West (Laser Radial) next and Chris Turner (Laser Radial) just a little behind her. Rupert made a quick tack to port and then back onto starboard just before the bank. The balance of the 23 boat fleet started in a large bunch with Laurence Venus stuck in the middle (Streaker)

By the end of the beat it was Rupert who rounded the mark in the south east corner in first place with Alan next and Jonty third to round. Rupert led around the mark midway up the east side and around the spotted mark in the middle of the pond with Alan and Jonty close behind and Laurence not far behind them  having extricated himself from the following pack. On the broad reach back to the mark off the clubhouse Alan went slightly high, gained an inside overlap and rounded and finished the lap ahead of Rupert. Jonty was 3rd and Laurence 4th. Behind him in 5th was Roger McCall (Laser full rig), Julian Dobson (Laser full rig) 6th. Jo was 7th, Chris 8th, Graham Hardy (Laser Radial) 9th and Penelope Duncan (Lase Radial) 10th. Louise Currell (Byte CII) was 11th to cross the line followed by Bill Wates (Laser full rig), Chas Humphries (Laser full rig), Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial), James Cuxson (Laser Radial), Richard Beal (Laser full rig). Mike Godwin (Sprint 15) on his first race in his catamaran on the pond was 17th ahead of Dave Murley (Laser radial), with Johnathon Vernon (Streaker) – also on his first racing venture on the pond in his new boat. Penny Springall (Laser 4.7) was 20th with Charlie Rigg (Topper), Natasha Stonestreet (Topper) and Lucy McCaig (Topper) at 23rd.

Lap 2 and Alan held on to his lead ahead of Rupert but Laurence passed Jonty to lie 3rd. The next three places remained unchanged but Zoe had a blistering lap climbing up to 8th ahead of Chris. Louise also went up the fleet as Graham dropped back to 11th. Richard also went up to lie 13th as Penelope dropped back to lie just behind him. James stayed unchanged in 15th with Chas dropping back behind him and Dave gaining one place to lie 17th. Johnathon went up to 18th as Mike.G dropped a place. The relative positions of the last four boats remained unchanged.

Lap 3 and whilst Alan still led the fleet Laurence passed Rupert to lie second some 50 seconds behind Alan. Jonty, Roger, Julian and Jo stayed in unchanged positions as Zoe had a disastrous lap and dropped to 15th leaving Chris at 8th and Louise 9th. Bill.W passed Graham and Penelope went ahead of Richard who remained 13th. James gained a place to lie 14th, head of Zoe, Chas still 16th. Johnathon went ahead of Dave and Mike.G dropped back behind Penny. The last three, Charlie, Natasha and Alice stayed in unchanged positions and had sailed their last lap.

Lap 4 and  Alan was now being reeled in by Laurence, at the end of the lap just 12 seconds behind, but with Rupert falling back to nearly 50 seconds adrift. Jonty was also falling back behind the three leaders but still ahead of Roger, Julian and Jo. Louise, at 8^th had passed Chris who in turn led Bill.W, Graham and Penelope. James passed Richard to lie 13^th with Zoe still 15^th. Johnathon went ahead of Dave to lie 16^th with Chas dropping back to 18^th and just Penny astern of him.

Lap 5, the ultimate lap had just three boats, Alan, Laurence and Rupert, still sailing. Laurence was gaining ground and fighting all the way up the final reach from the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay but could not quite get past Alan who took the winning spot by just 4 seconds.

With handicaps applied Alan was the winner with Laurence 2^nd, Rupert 3^rd, Jonty 4^th and Jo 5^th.

R5

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1138	42.33	0.00.00	1.0
2	Misty Blue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence venus		1138	42.37	0.00.04	2.0
3	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047	OOD		3.0
3	Scoundrel	Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1138	44.48	0.02.15	3.0
5		Laser Radial	192842	NSSC	Jonty Freeman		1135	37.56	0.03.59	4.0
6		Laser Radial	122345	NSSC	Jo West		1135	39.42	0.05.45	5.0
7		Byte CII	2941	Shoreham	Louise Currell		1150	40.19	0.05.55	6.0
8		Laser	191067	Pevensey Bay	Roger McCall		1091	38.27	0.05.49	7.0
9		Laser	7/176670	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1091	38.40	0.06.02	8.0
10		Laser Radial	83663	NSSC	Chris Turner		1135	40.42	0.06.45	9.0
11		Laser Radial	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1135	41.50	0.07.53	10.0
12		Laser Radial	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135	42.04	0.08.07	11.0
13		Laser 4.7	153670	NSSC	Penny Springall		1195	44.38	0.08.53	12.0
14	Donna Lee	Laser Radial	179808	NSSC	James Cuxson (c)		1135	42.29	0.08.32	13.0
15		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1135	42.59	0.09.02	14.0
16		Streaker	1832	NSSC	Johnathon Vernon		1138	43.23	0.09.21	15.0
17		Laser	133416/26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1091	41.36	0.08.58	16.0
18		Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135	43.43	0.09.46	17.0
19		Laser	138193	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1091	43.52	0.11.14	18.5
19		Laser	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1091	43.52	0.11.14	18.5
21		Topper	25731	NSSC	Charlie Rigg (c)		1340	40.54	0.10.50	20.0
22		Topper	37585	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340	44.42	0.14.38	21.0
23		Topper	4	NSSC	Lucy McCaig (c)		1340	49.04	0.19.00	22.0
24		Sprint 15	1531	NSSC	Mike Godwin		930	37.30	0.16.38	23.0
25		Laser	153670	NSSC	Matt Springall		1091	DNC		24.0
25	Forty Two	Solution	398	NSSC	Bill Giles		1090	DNC		24.0
25		Laser	123345	NSSC	Noel West		1091	DNC		24.0
25	Turbo	Oppie	2287	NSSC	Bea West		1665	DNC		24.0
25		Laser 4.7	2063	NSSC	Jamie Smith (c)		1195	DNC		24.0

For race 6 Michael (RO) adjusted the start line – to give greater length and with the wind now risen to a force 3 to 4 and a slightly diminished fleet – now 21 boats after Johnathon and Lucy elected not to sail - took to the water. 

This time the longer line was more conducive to starting nearer to the pin end and it was Chris who was first away with Dave down to leeward and Jo to windward but a little behind. Jonty was 4^th to cross to weather of Jo. Laurence, Rupert and Alan were all nearer to the bank and lost out at the beginning of the leg to the mark in the south east corner. Jonty was first around this mark and off onto the short run followed by Chris but with Rupert and Laurence not far astern alongside one another. Behind them were Jo, Roger and James, in line abreast. Behind them were Zoe, Graham, Dave and then Alan. Leaving the mid-east shore mark Jonty was in the lead from Chris with Laurence behind and Rupert behind him. As they crossed the line Jonty was leading with Laurence now in 2^nd place having overtaken Chris on the final close reach, tacked off onto starboard, Roger in 7^th who was just head but to leeward of 8^th placed Alan. Behind them were Zoe in 9^th place, Graham 10^th and Dave 11^th, with Louise 12^th and Julian 13th. Positions for the back end of the fleet are indeterminate as the first lap times were not recorded and there are no photographs at this point in the race.

Lap 2 saw Jonty cross the line in the lead by 15 seconds from Laurence, with Chris next and just 8 seconds ahead of Rupert. Roger was next to cross in 5^th position having passed Jo as had Alan. James had dropped back to lie 12^th. Julian had passed a couple of other boats to lie 8^th ahead of Zoe, now 9^th, ahead of Dave and followed by Mike.G. Bill.W held 13^th place in front of Chas, Louise ,and Graham who had fallen back to 16^th. Then came Penelope leading Charlie, Penny, Natasha and lastly Richard, who had had a lengthy fight with the top of his mast and the mud at the bottom of the pond.

Lap 3  Jonty maintained his lead, gaining a mere extra 2 seconds over second placed Laurence and Chris was being closed in on by Rupert now just 3 seconds behind. Roger in 5^th was still ahead of Alan and had added some 3 seconds extra to the gap between them. Jo and Julian were in the same relative positions with little change in the distance between them as Zoe dropped back to 11^th as both Dave and Mike.G passed her. James at 12^th led the next group, Bill.W, Chas and Louise in the same order as in the previous lap. Penelope passed Graham to lie 16^th with Penny also passing Charlie. Richard was still at the back, Natasha having retired.

Lap 4 Jonty found some extra puff and increased his lead to 34 seconds from Laurence as Rupert overtook Chris who had a bit of a wobble on the downwind leg behind the Island and nearly took a swim. Alan managed to overtake Roger and lead him across the line with a 4 second gap. Jo was 7^th  30 second behind this pair with Julian Next and then Mike.G  who had overtaken Dave. James, having passed Zoe, was now 11^th with Bill.W behind him in 12^th. Zoe now 13^th led Chas as Penelope went ahead of Louise. Graham at 17^th was still ahead of Penny, Charlie and Richard.

Lap 5 Jonty still held the lad from Laurence with little or no change in distance between them. Behind this pair Rupert still led Chris with an unchanged margin but Alan lost out to Roger – by 4 seconds as they crossed the line – these two as with Rupert and Chris having a sterling battle all the way round the course. Jo was still 7^th behind Alan with Julian as Mike G moved up one place in the order to lie 8^th. Julian, who dropped back behind Mike.G to lie 9^th, with James climbing up to 10^th and Zoe going ahead of Dave and Bill.G. Penelope passed Chas to lie 14^th but there were no more place changes below this point. Richard had been finished at the end of the previous lap and Charlie finished at the end of this lap.

Lap 6, the penultimate lap and Laurence pulled back 10 seconds on Jonty’s lead to lie 26 seconds behind. Chris made no further inroads into Rupert’s lead over him but Alan went ahead of Roger once more, now opening the gap to a ‘lofty’ 8 seconds – don’t breathe! There were no place changes among the rest of the fleet but the gaps between9th placed Julian and 12^th placed Dave were less than one minute. Graham and Penny were finished at the end of this lap.

Lap 7 the final lap and now just 16 boats still racing. Jonty’s lead over Laurence was closed down to just to 9 seconds at the finish line. Rupert was 3^rd over the line about a minute and a half later but 37 seconds ahead of Chris with Alan yet another 23 seconds behind Chris although 27 seconds ahead of Roger.

With the handicaps applied Laurence was just 4 seconds too slow to have beaten Jonty, Rupert was 3rd, Chris 4^th and Alan 5^th – 23 second too far behind Chris to beat him.

R6

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1		Laser Radial	192842	NSSC	Jonty Freeman		1135	38.09	0.00.00	1.0
2	Misty Blue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence venus		1138	38.18	0.00.03	2.0
3	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047	OOD		3.0
3	Scoundrel	Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1138	39.47	0.01.32	3.0
5		Laser Radial	83663	NSSC	Chris Turner		1135	40.10	0.02.01	4.0
6	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1138	40.33	0.02.18	5.0
7		Laser Radial	122345	NSSC	Jo West		1135	41.00	0.02.51	6.0
8		Laser	191067	Pevensey Bay	Roger McCall		1091	41.00	0.04.20	7.0
9		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1135	43.07	0.04.58	8.0
10	Donna Lee	Laser Radial	179808	NSSC	James Cuxson (c)		1135	43.11	0.05.02	9.0
11		Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135	43.23	0.05.14	10.0
12		Laser Radial	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135	44.02	0.05.53	11.0
13		Byte CII	2941	Shoreham	Louise Currell		1150	44.42	0.06.03	12.0
14		Laser	7/176670	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1091	42.36	0.05.56	13.0
15		Laser	133416/26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1091	43.43	0.07.03	14.0
16		Laser	138193	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1091	44.16	0.07.36	15.0
17		Topper	25731	NSSC	Charlie Rigg (c)		1340	39.16	0.07.06	16.0
18		Laser Radial	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1135	40.12	0.07.30	17.0
19		Laser 4.7	153670	NSSC	Penny Springall		1195	42.26	0.08.00	18.0
20		Sprint 15	1531	NSSC	Mike Godwin		930	42.30	0.11.14	19.0
21		Laser	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1091	44.09	0.23.12	20.0
22		Topper	37585	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340	DNF		22.0
22		Streaker	1832	NSSC	Johnathon Vernon		1138	DNC		22.0
22		Topper	4	NSSC	Lucy McCaig (c)		1340	DNC		22.0
22		Laser	153670	NSSC	Matt Springall		1091	DNC		22.0
22	Forty Two	Solution	398	NSSC	Bill Giles		1090	DNC		22.0
22		Laser	123345	NSSC	Noel West		1091	DNC		22.0
22	Turbo	Oppie	2287	NSSC	Bea West		1665	DNC		22.0
22		Laser 4.7	2063	NSSC	Jamie Smith (c)		1195	DNC		22.0

A pleasant  day for sailing, the first race with quite light breezes and the second with The odd gust enough for the boats to plane occasionally on the largely off-wind course. Alan was delighted to have won the first race, helped by Laurence getting stuck in the log jam at the start, and having just about sufficient mobility left to get to the boat to unpack it and rig it, not to mention the help getting it into and out of the water. If his leg continues to get worse this could be his last race in the series.

The jury is out on Catamarans on the pond, not too much of a problem in the lighter breezes but what if it gets up?. They are not the most  manoeuvrable boats and with the confined water?

Alan.S 1700