Streaker Ramblings - Laurence Venus Trophy - 01.01.2017

Fully overcast as we set off for Piddinghoe, raining lightly and with a freshish breeze from the south west. On arrival at the pond it looked as though there would not be many takers, if any. As it approached launching time however there were 10 entries for the Laurence Venus Trophy to be sailed at 2.00 pm.

The RO for the race, Ed Thorburn , was there before we arrived and Laurence Venus arrived shortly to act as ARO. Ed.T set a course similar to that on Boxing day except that it was to be sailed the opposite way round as shown below.

 

 

At the start Alan Simmons (Streaker) and Richard Beal (Laser Radial) were a bit over anxious and were both over the line at the gun and had to return to the correct side. Of the remainder it was Darren Field with Louise Currrell (RS200) who were first away in their first race this winter. Tim Cox (Laser Radial) was next away in mid line with Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) third off the line.

 

By the time the rest of the fleet got to the mark in the south west corner of the pond the two RS 200s were in the lead with Rupert Smith (Streaker) and Alan last and second to last away. Alan rounded under the shadow of the rest of the fleet headed left to find some clean air and by the time he arrived at the south east mark had found his way up to second place just behind Michael and ahead of Darren.

 

Tim was in fourth place and it was not long before Rupert was on his and Alan’s heels. The breeze was a good top end force three but with gusts well into force four, touching force five. By the end of the lap the positions were Michael 1^st, Darren 2^nd , Rupert  3^rd, Tim 4^th, Alan 5^th Nia Hall (Laser 4.7) 6^th, Bill Wates (Laser Radial) 7^th, Richard Beal (Laser Radial) 8^th, Roger McCall (Laser full rig – Pevensey Bay SC) 9^th and Geoff Sheridan (Byte original rig) 10^th.

 

 

 

 

 

 Michael led throughout the race as Rupert and Darren had their battle for second place which was settled in Rupert’s favour when Darren found the underwater outskirts of the Island, lifting his rudder and causing a capsize. Roger found the same spot (with the same result – a dip - and had to work hard thereafter to finally claw up to 7^th place from a deficit of just over a minute at the end of lap one and ninth place .Bill W stayed in 7^th place for the first three laps then got overtaken by Roger.

Alan maintained 5^th place throughout the race although his initial romp through the fleet was short lived after he twice hit a mark with his boom and had to do turns. He struggled to keep ahead of Nia in the early laps but she got caught up in a small gaggle at the ‘start’ mark and had to go round the outside which caused her to drop back in lap 5. She waited until she had finished before she too succumbed to a capsize.

 

Michael too had a bit of a do when, just after starting lap 4 down the broad reach/run along the south shore, a gust caught him unawares and his boom hit the water. His Gennaker was nearly the undoing of him on that occasion but he recovered without a full spill.

 

The positions at the end of the sixth lap were Michael 1st, with Rupert 2^nd  , Darren 3^rd, Tim 4^th , Alan 5^th, Nia 6^th, Roger 7^th, Bill 8^th, Richard 9^th and Geoff had been finished at the end of his fifth lap.

The final Lap7 was sailed by only the leading five boats and there were no place changes. Michael was first across the finish line just 30 seconds ahead of Rupert. Darren was third to finish with Tim next and Alan 5th.  The handicaps having been applied Rupert was declared the winner, Nia 2^nd, Michael 3^rd  and Tim 4^th.

 

 

 

 

 

New Year's Day Race 1st Jan 2016 - NSSC -Piddinghoe

R1

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Scoundrel	Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1137	50.32	0.00.00	1.0
2		Laser 4.7	172368	NSSC	Nia Hall		1195	48.24	0.02.53	2.0
3	Hot Toddy	RS200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047	50.02	0.03.30	3.0
3	Misty Blue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146	OOD		3.0
3		Finn	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn			OOD		3.0
6		Laser Radial	8	NSSC	Tim Cox		1136	54.32	0.04.03	4.0
7		Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1137	55.04	0.04.32	5.0
8		RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Currell	1047	52.54	0.06.22	6.0
9		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		1095	48.28	0.06.45	7.0
10		Laser Radial	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1136	50.59	0.07.42	8.0
11		Laser Radial	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1136	54.06	0.10.49	9.0
12		Byte (Orig Rig)	672	NSSC	Geoff Sheridan		1148	50.54	0.14.27	10.0

 It rained throughout the race all bar a short spell, less than five minutes, and stayed gusty making the conditions only marginally enjoyable for all concerned. No other capsizes were recorded  but that is not to say that none occurred.

Alan.S 1700