Light
grey high clouds on the journey to Pidinghoe on Sunday morning with jst a light
breeze as we left home.
On
arrival at the pond the breeze as a good bit stronger, force 4 and upwards, as
per the forecast –which earlier last week had been for lighter winds. With a
direction from the north east it was bitterly cold and due to increase in
strength. Yours truly made an early decision not to sail – the Wave sail was
still in the garage at home anyway. As it was the final race of the season and
with the help of Roger McCall (who had left his sailing gear at home by
mistake) the boat was hauled to the car park, the mast removed and then packed
up for the journey home.
Laurence
Venus, RO for the last race of the series (which he had already won but had to
work out he overall results) assisted by Jo Whitehead set a course with a
windward beat towards the ‘Lady Bird’ spotted mark in the middle of the pond
from a start mark off the clubhouse.
Just seconds before the gun Matt Springall
(Laser full rig) in attempting to avoid Charlie Rigg (Topper), who was heading
towards the ODM, managed to fall out of the boat. It seemed as though Charlie
had lost the wind and was unable to tack to avoid Rupert Smith (Streaker) who,
at the gun, was heading for the line on starboard tack.
The
inevitable collision occurred and Rupert stopped dead allowing Michael Veale
and Mike Rosier (RS 200) to cross the line into the lead. Bill Wates (Laser
full rig) passed Rupert to be the third to start. Rupert eventually got free
from Charlie and set off on the beat and rounded the windward mark in second
place.
All rounded the windward mark safely, survived the offwind leg on the
near side of the Island and that behind it. The next critical point was the
mark off the Fisherman’s Bay and whether or not to gybe there or at the end of
the leg to the mark off the clubhouse – the end of the lap. Either way it was a
hairy downwind leg and provided some further swimming for some.
The end of
the lap the order was Michael leading Rupert, by 3 seconds, and Matt a minute
behind. Andy Hamilton and Tim Dutson (Plumpton college Vision) were fourth with
Liah fifth, Bill.W sixth, Dave seventh,
Charlie eighth and Kathy ninth with Zoe
having already gone ashore.
Lap
2 saw Rupert take the lead from Michael, just, crossing the line 3 seconds in
front this time. Matt was still minute
behind and Andy.H dropped back a little. The order behind Andy remained
unchanged but Charlie suffered more capsizes, to add to his original poor start
and mix up with Rupert and was finished at the end of this lap. Meanwhile Katy
missed out a mark and was disqualified after several more capsizes.
Lap
3 Rupert continued to lead the diminished fleet but now 6 seconds in front of Michael.
Matt pulled back a little on the lead pair and crossed the line 50 seconds
behind Michael. Liah overtook Andy as Bill.W capsized and allowed Dave to
overtake.
Lap
4 and Rupert had a spurt, leaving Michael some 53 seconds astern. Either that
or Michael had a swim allowing Matt to catch up somewhat to 13 seconds astern. Liah
was fourth across the line with Bill now back ahead of Dave as Andy capsized again
just off the clubhouse and drifted back into the pontoon before being able to
right the Vision, and with a push off from Penelope Duncan, continue with the race. The back four were finished at
the end of this lap.
Lap
5 and Rupert continued to leave Michael in his wake crossing the line a minute
and five seconds ahead. Matt closed up even more om Michael crossing in third
place just 7 seconds later. Both Michael and Matt were then finished leaving
just Rupert to set off on a sixth and final lap.
With
the handicapping applied Rupert was the outright winner, Matt second and
Michael third. Kathy was fourth, Bill fifth.
R13 - 28.02.16
Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place
Rank
|
Boat
|
Class
|
SailNo
|
Club
|
HelmName
|
CrewName
|
Elapsed
|
BCE
|
Points
|
1
|
Scoundrel
|
Streaker
|
1681
|
NSSC
|
Rupert
Smith
|
29.33
|
0.00.00
|
1.0
|
|
2
|
Laser
|
153570
|
NSSC
|
Matt
Springall
|
26.00
|
0.02.24
|
2.0
|
||
3
|
Mistyblue
|
Streaker
|
1706
|
NSSC
|
Laurence
Venus
|
OOD
|
3.0
|
||
3
|
Hot
Toddy
|
RS 200
|
582
|
NSSC
|
Micheal
Veale
|
Mike
Rosier
|
25.53
|
0.03.14
|
3.0
|
3
|
Topper
'c'
|
83
|
NSSC
|
Natasha
Stonestreet
|
OOD
|
3.0
|
|||
3
|
Laser
Radial
|
1979
|
NSSC
|
Jo
Whitehead
|
OOD
|
3.0
|
|||
7
|
RS
Vision
|
258
|
NSSC
|
Kathy
Wilfort
|
Liah
Hunter
|
27.19
|
0.07.41
|
4.0
|
|
8
|
Laser
|
26/133416
|
NSSC
|
Bill
Wates
|
29.26
|
0.10.33
|
5.0
|
||
9
|
RS
Vision
|
545
|
NSSC
|
Andy
Hamilton
|
Tom
Dutson
|
31.14
|
0.11.36
|
6.0
|
|
10
|
Laser
Radial
|
142208
|
NSSC
|
David
Murley
|
30.17
|
0.15.33
|
7.0
|
||
11
|
Topper
'c'
|
27531
|
NSSC
|
Charlie
Riggs
|
27.05
|
0.15.29
|
8.0
|
||
12
|
Laser
Radial
|
64200
|
NSSC
|
Zoe
McCaig
|
DNF
|
11.0
|
|||
This
being the last race of the series Laurence was left to sort out the overall
positions.For the full table see the NSSC web site :-
Stuart
Hall (Vice Commodore) and Kay Young presented the prizes with Laurence taking
the Elford Numbum Trophy, Michael second place and Dave Murley third. There was
a slight error in that third place prize was, at the time, presented to Bill
(much to his surprise) with fourth place going to Dave – who was actually
awarded a prize for the most capsizes. Bill was just about equally worthy of this
latter prize anyway so no harm came of the mx-up.
The
series had had more than its fair share of strong winds this year with four of
the seventeen planned races not being sailed. That meant more excitement for
the braver/hardier competitors but more disappointment and time on the bank for
the less experienced (or fit).
Alan.S
1700
