Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum Races 5 & 6 - 22/01/2017

Up at Hangleton, close to the downs, the frost was quite heavy on Sunday morning. The car windows had to be sprayed.

Under a clear blue sky – just vapour trails by the dozen. There was no breeze as we drove off to Piddinghoe and when we arrived there was still none. The pond however had a sheet of ice, about half an inch thick, over nearly half the surface so it seemed.

 

The light band, above, below the far dark far bank gives an idea of the extent of the ice sheet, it is also helped by the fact that several gull were seen to be in clear water just on the near side of the Island. One or two to other prospective sailors  arrived, including an old member Tom Taylor with his elderly Laser, but it seemed a bit unlikely that we would be able to sail and apparently there was no RO listed for duty.

After a bit of discussion and with a tiny breeze appearing it was decided to launch the safety boat, crewed by Penelope Duncan and Connie Sturt, to see if the ice could be broken and a course set on the ice free area of the pond. Rupert Smith soon arrived and was persuaded, since he was boat less, to act as RO, with Sarah Gribble as ARO. As the breeze continued to fill in it seemed that the ice pack was shrinking and a mark previously in its grip, down the south side of the pond, was now floating freely. The Safety boat was engined up and Penelope managed to drive it alongside the  southern jetty (Mets) and bankside out to the open water thus allowing the nine boats signed on to launch and sail to the ice free area.

 

 

 

Rupert used his van as a starting hut and set a course round the existing ice free marks as shown below, the pin end mark having been moved a bit further east:-

 

 

At the gun, which was a bit delayed (10.45), it was Laurence Venus (Streaker) who was first across the line at the landward end, in the now force 2-3 breeze, with Bill Wates (Laser full rig) nearer to the pin end and then Tom.T (Laser full rig) crossing on Starboard so that Alan Simmons (Streaker) had to duck his stern.

 

By the time anyone reached the Fisherman’s Bay mark Laurence was in the lead followed by Julian Dobson (Laser full rig) with Alan just behind. Bill.W (Laser full rig) finished the lap in 4^th place with Tom.T 5^th and Dave Murley (Laser Radial) 6^th. Richard Beal .(Laser Radial) was 7^th across the finish line , Charlie Rigg (Topper) was 8^th and Roan Briggs 9^th. At the end of the lap Laurence was already 24 seconds ahead of Julian.

Laps 2,3 4,5 and 6 saw no place changes at all, it was much of a procession with Laurence steadily pulling away from Julian and Charlie likewise increasing the gap from Roan and was not until the seventh and last lap that Alan managed to catch and overtake Julian on the leg behind the Island and cross the line 12 seconds ahead but 2 minutes five seconds astern of Laurence. With the handicaps applied Laurence was well out ahead with Alan second, Julian third and Bill.W fourth.

Race 5

Class	H Cap	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Elapsed	BCE	Points
Streaker	1137	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		35.19	0.00.00	1.0
Streaker	1137	1700	Lancing S C	Alan Simmons		37.24	0.02.05	2.0
Laser	1095	7/176670	NSSC	Julian Dobson		37.36	0.03.35	3.0
Laser Radial	1136	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		OOD		3.0
Slipper S/H	1385	58	NSSC	Connie Sturt		OOD		3.0
Streaker	1137	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		OOD		3.0
Laser	1095	26/133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		37.44	0.03.43	4.0
Topper 'c'	1341	27531	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		39.58	0.04.16	5.0
Laser	1095	176813		Tom Taylor		38.45	0.04.44	6.0
Topper 'c'	1341	58082	NSSC	Roan Briggs		40.49	0.05.07	7.0
Laser Radial	1136	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		35.36	0.05.21	8.0
Laser Radial	1136	142208	NSSC	David Murley		36.17	0.06.02	9.0

 

Race 6 started a little late too at 11.55am over the same course and a similar force 2-3 breeze from the north west still.

 

Alan was first away at the pin end but had to tack qickly to avoid Charlie who also tacked soon after the Gun. Laurence was again at the landward end off the line with Julian heading down on him on Starboard. Julian also had to tack as he could not drive Laurence into the ice even though he had right of way.

 

 

 

 

Laurence with greater height and speed still managed to get to the Fisherman’s Bay mark in the lead with Alan second this time and Julian third. At the end of the lap Laurence was leading Alan by 10 seconds with Jliuan another 14 seconds behind and Bill.W a further 25 second astern. Tom.T brought up the end of the leading group some 18 seconds astern of Bill.W. Dave was next to cross in 6^th place with Richard behind him in 7^th, then Charlie 8^th leading Roan by 20 seconds.

Once again there were no place changes in all the following seven laps, due to the ice pack and wind direction there were no real windward legs, just the odd tack to round the windward mark by the Fisherman’s Bay. Laurence as usual pulled steadily away from his pursuers to cross the finish about two and a half minutes ahead of Alan in the 40 odd minute race with Alan about 50 second in front of Julian  and Charlie 50 second ahead of Roan.

With the handicaps applied Laurence was declared first, Alan second, Julian third and Charlie fourth.

Race 6

Class	H Cap	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Elapsed	BCE	Points
Streaker	1137	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		39.24	0.00.00	1.0
Streaker	1137	1700	Lancing S C	Alan Simmons		41.52	0.02.28	2.0
Laser	1095	7/176670	NSSC	Julian Dobson		42.40	0.04.43	3.0
Laser Radial	1136	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		OOD		3.0
Slipper S/H	1385	58	NSSC	Connie Sturt		OOD		3.0
Streaker	1137	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		OOD		3.0
Topper 'c'	1341	27531	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		46.04	0.05.24	4.0
Laser	1095	26/133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		43.04	0.05.07	5.0
Topper 'c'	1341	58082	NSSC	Roan Briggs		47.48	0.07.08	6.0
Laser Radial	1136	142208	NSSC	David Murley		40.53	0.06.26	7.0
Laser Radial	1136	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		41.47	0.07.20	8.0
Laser	1095	176813		Tom Taylor		46.20	0.08.23	9.0

Considering the extent of the ice cover all were lucky to have a race at all, it was mostly down to the breeze filling in and of course to Penelope breaking a passage out in the safety boat – not to mention Rupert volunteering to do RO. Nobody capsized or got stuck in the ice although a few got a bit close to its edges and did a bit of noisy crunching.

One wonders what next Sunday will bring, hopefully less or no ice and a bit warmer weather.

Alan.S 1700

For the overall series results got to the NSSC web site :- http://www.nssc.org.uk/cms/images/nsscdocs/results/2017/elfnum06.htm