IOn Monday 6th
August I set out for Newhaven and Seaford Sailing club to enter into Sailing
week 2018. On arrival there were ideal conditions, blue skies and a very light breeze for the first race of the AM series. There should have
been a Cadet Series running parallel but there were insufficient entries during
the week and so those cadets who did sail were included with the adult results.
Thus there was a total entry of 26 boats for the morning races.
Rupert Smith, sailing his
Streaker won the Monday morning race
with Alan Simmons (Streaker, Lancing SC) in second place, Matt Springall (Laser
, full rig) third, Stewart Robertson (Blaze, Upnor?) fourth and Penelope Duncan
(Laser, Radial) fifth.
In the afternoon first race
Duncan McDonald (Streaker) took first place with Rupert Smith and Chris Turner
(Fireball) second, Noel West (Streaker) third, Alan Simmons (Streaker) fourth and Jazz Turner and Lucy McCaig (420)
fifth.
In the second race Rupert
and Chris took top spot in the slightly stronger breeze with Stewart.R taking
second place, Tim Cox and Alice Smith (Fireball) in third, Duncan fourth and
Ruth Rhodes and Dorrinda Dodd (Fireball) fifth.
Tuesday dawned with similar
conditions and in the morning race Alan took the top spot with Rupert second,
Matt third, Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial) fourth and Stewart fifth.
After lunch the third race
of the main series was won by Rupert and Chris in the Fireball, Ed Thorburn
(Finn) took second spot , Richard Beal (Laser full rig) took third, Zoe fourth
and Alan fifth.
Race four saw Jazz and Lucy
in their 420 winning with Matt second, Andy Richlinski (Laser full rig) third,
Zoe fourth (again) and Noel fifth.
Wednesday dawned with a bit
more breeze and a shore break and as a consequence a smaller fleer – just 14
boats. The winner was Roan Briggs in his
Topper, with Matt taking second place, Alice Smith (sailing Dad’s Streaker) was
third, Tim Cox was fourth and Terry Jones (Sprint 15 Sport) was fifth.
After lunch all competitors
were reluctant to go afloat, until the safety boat was nearby in the bay. Ark
appeared first and off the Tide Mills area appeared to stop and the drift
towards the shore. The safety boat approached but did not seem able to assist
and Ark was swept onto the beach as was the safety boat due to the by then
heavy swell.
The safety boat was
manhandled to the top of the beach and placed on its trailer and returned to
the NSSC dinghy park. The Ark was re-floated later in the evening and towed
back to Newhaven harbour by the other safety boat. Apparently the prop shaft came
out of the drive coupling – thought to be due to ropes around the prop on
earlier occasions. There was no apparent damage to the hull, no leaks reported
but it was left to be inspected for insurance purposes.
As a consequence the second
rib (that had towed Ark back to Newhaven) was the only craft left in service
and was reported to be giving shocks to un-gloved – Alan had put himself down
for safety boat duty on Thursday morning and duly set off for the harbour with
Jo as crew. The marks laid on Wednesday morning were still in the bay so that
only an extra Pillar buoy needed to be laid. Conditions had improved from the
previous day with little or no shore break and just a light breeze.
The am Race was won, again
by Roan in his Topper with Tim and Alice, in the Fireball, home in second
place. Matt was third, Thomas Harland-Smith (Laser full rig) was fourth and
Penelope fifth.
As it happened the afternoon
races were to be the last of the week and the first of the day (race 5) was won by Jamie Lynch (Dart 16)
crewed by James Dandridge, Jazz was second in the 420 crewed by Lucy, James
Cuxon and Neil Arnott (Fireball) were third, Ed Hall (Laser Radial) was fourth
and Stewart was fifth.
As usual during the week
race 6 was sailed back to back with race 5 and was won again by Jamie, with
Jazz second again too. Stewart took third place Zoe was fourth and Rupert and
Chris in the Fireball took fifth.
Friday dawned with a lot of heavy
surf and strong winds and so sailing at the club was abandoned – for the day –
and some competitors headed for Piddinghoe and a thrash around in Toppers.
Yours truly did not attend and have been given no details of the event up
there, I did not attend the prize giving either but append herewith the overall
results.
AM series :-
1st
Alan Simmons – Streaker
2nd Rupert Smith -
Streaker
3rd
Matt Springall - Laser/Streaker
PM
series – Overall :-
1st Jamie Lynch and James Dandridge - Dart 16
2nd Rupert
Smith and Chris Turner -
Fireball
3rd
Jazz Turner and Lucy McCaig - 420
PM
series – Fast Fleet :-
1st
Rupert Smith and Chris Turner -
Fireball
2nd Jamie Lynch and James Dandridge - Dart 16
3rd Stewart Robertson - Blaze
PM
series – Slow fleet :-
1st Jazz Turner and Lucy McCaig - 420
2nd Noel West - Streaker
3rd
Zoe McCaig -
Laser Radial.
Overall
it had been a sucessfull week, 32 entrants in the PM series, with weather
conditions variable enough to suit all at one time or another. There was a well
supported social event each evening with plenty of campers/caravaners in the
carpark area. Yes the weather did cause cancelled races – and the beaching of
both Ark and one of the ribs - but fortunately no one was injured and both
boats do not seem to have suffered any major damage. One disappointment however
was the lack of sufficient interest from the cadets present thus preventing
enough entrants to constitute a separate series and award of the Trophy.
Alan.
S 1700
PS.
The full tables of results are on the NSSC web site - http://www.nssc.org.uk/cms/images/nsscdocs/results/2018/2018swpmov.htm
and similar pages.
