Streaker Ramblings-Streaker Open at Broxbourne - 16th September 2017

We left Hove at about 7.00 am for the nearly 2 hour drive around the M25 to reach Broxbourne. The sky was blue and almost cloudless and there was barely a hint of breeze.
Upon arrival the breeze was somewhat less than force 2 from the west side of the pond. The RO set a complex course within the main water - leaving the small lagoon out of the running. A small (six strong) class of Lightnings were racing in the joint meeting with the twelve Streakers.
Starting first the Streakers were away from the transit/limit marked line initially towards mark 2 as shown on the diagram below:-

 

Due to the fact that we left the camera at home, and could not copy the lap charts,the following report is written by Veronica Falat (Streaker Class Secretary) and reproduced here with her kind permission.

The final event in the 2017 Pinnell & Bax Streaker Southern Paddle series took place at Broxbourne SC on Saturday 16th September in light and very variable wind. 12 boats took part from as far afield as Somerset and Suffolk.

In the first race Ben Harris, Peter Selway and Veronica Falat were the early leaders but Howard Frear got an overlap at the 2nd mark and took the lead along the next reaching leg. Once on the beat again Veronica managed to pick some good shifts and gradually pulled ahead leaving a tight bunch of boats to fight for second place. The breeze was very fitful and it was easy to get stuck in calm spots but eventually it was Mark Langston who finished behind Veronica with Howard in third place.

After lunch the breeze was just the same but slightly shifted and the RO adjusted the course to round mark 8 in place of mark 5. 

Race 2 saw Alex Reindorp, Mark and Howard get away well. Veronica was near the back of the fleet at the first mark but gradually overtook people and on the second lap she and Alan Simmons caught a big port lift to take them to the front. From there, Veronica pulled away and Alan held off the bunch behind to finish 2nd and Alex Reindorp was 3rd.

Veronica could now afford to sit out the third and final race and so could watch from the clubhouse as a big black cloud delivered a very heavy rainstorm on the rest of the fleet. Howard Frear took the lead early on and took the win while Alex Reindorp beat Mark Langston to second place.

Overall Veronica was 1st, Howard 2nd and Alex and Mark tied on points, the 3rd place going to Alex on tie-break.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	1972	Veronica Falat	Waveney & Oulton Broad YC	1	1	(DNC 13)	2
2	1777	Howard Frear	Sutton Bingham SC	3	‑7	1	4
3	1953	Alex Reindorp	Chipstead SC	(DNF 13)	3	2	5
4	1920	Mark Langston	Beccles Amateur SC	2	‑6	3	5
5	1700	Alan Simmons	Lancing SC	‑8	2	6	8
6	1929	Peter Withrington	Burghfield SC	4	‑9	4	8
7	1767	Ben Harris	Up River SC	6	4	‑7	10
8	1707	Peter Selway	Broxbourne SC	5	‑10	5	10
9	1844	Chris Smith	Island Barn Reservoir SC	‑10	5	8	13
10	1850	Gerry Ledger	Up River SC	7	8	(DNF 13)	15
11	1681	Rupert Smith	Newhaven & Seaford SC	9	(DNF 13)	DNC 13	22
12	1940	Doug Horner	Swanage SC	(DNF 13)	DNF 13	DNC 13	26

Overall Southern Paddle Series

Veronica, Mark, Alex and Howard were the top 4 in the overall Southern Paddle series with Veronica the overall winner. During the prize-giving, the draw was held to find the winner of the Pinnell and Bax sail; every Streaker association member competing in the series gets tickets for the draw according to the number of races they sail in and this year the lucky winner was Chris Smith who finished 8th overall in the series.

Alan.S 1700

PS Appologies for the complete lack of Photos in this blog. Hopefully if we make it to Redoubt Saturday week (30th Sept) we can 'repair' the situation.