Streaker Ramblings - Freeman Iceberg races 5 & 6 - 18.11.2018

 

Bright, Sunny and with a stiff eastery breeze as I left home for Piddinghoe. On arrival it was still quite breezy – more than suited yours truly if I am honest but I still rigged for racing. The forecast – XCWeather – was for 20 or more knots and it felt like it and probably some people were put off sailing.

The Race Officer Chas Humphries, assisted by Emma Briggs (and with Bill Wates and Barry Lowden in the safety boat) set an ‘M’ shaped course with the start from the jetty on the south bank to the corner mark off the clubhouse. The weather mark was in the middle of the pond, towards the Island.

 

The start was delayed as there were reported problems in Newhaven at the bridge. Even so Duncan McDonald (Streaker, NSSC) was still on the bank when the gun went at 10.50.

First away, close to the bank, was Jonty Freeman (Radial, NSSC) hotly pursued by Rupert Smith (Streaker, NSSC) and then Chris Foster (Laser full rig, Lancing) in his first race of the series.

By the end of the first lap Jonty was 3 seconds ahead of Ed Thorburn (Finn, NSSC) with Chris in 3^rd place a further 15 seconds astern. Rupert held 4^th place with Michael Veale and Mike Rosier(RS 200,NSSC) in 5^th place and Tim Cox (Radial, NSSC) 6^th, Alan Simmons (Streaker, Lancing) 7^th Andy Beck (Radial, NSSC) 8^th and Duncan 9^th. Ed Rollestone and Lucy McCaig (Feva, NSSC) in their ist race together were in 10^th place with Thomas Beck (Oppy, NSSC) in 11^th and last place.

In Lap 2 Jonty was still out in front of Ed.T by 3 seconds still with Rupert now up to 3^rd place having passed Chris who was also passed by Michael. Tim held on to 6^th position whist Duncan  had started last but caught up and passed Alan who was finding the going rather hard and dropped back to 10^th, behind Andy and Ed.R with Thomas last to cross the line.

Lap 3 and Ed.T overtook Jonty to lead him by 3 seconds, Rupert remained 3^rd  ahead of Michael with Duncan now up another place to 6^th behind Chris having gone ahead of Tim. Andy was still 8th as Alan went ahead of Ed.R with Thomas bringing up the tail.

Lap 4 had Ed.T in the lead from Rupert  who had passed Jonty. 4^th round was Michael with Chris astern and Alan ahead of Tim who had taken a short dip. That did not last long as Alan, who had been considering retiring, had a capsize just over the line. With his mast  and boom well and truly stuck in the mud the decision was taken for him. Bill and Barry in the Safety boat spent quite a while getting the boat upright as Alan ‘walked’ across the mud to the bank before finaly getting his boat back at the jetty in front of the clubhouse. So Tim crossed in 8^th place ahead of Andy with Ed.R 10^th and Thomas behind him and being finished.

Lap 5 and Ed.T was still leading Rupert with Jonty 3^rd and ahead of Michael, Chris and Duncan. Then followed Tim, Andy and Ed.R.

Lap 6 and there was no change at the front with Duncan 5^th having overtaken Chris and Tim who seems to have lost a good bit of time – capsize? then Andy, and Ed.R behind.

Lap 7, the final lap and Ed.T crossed the line 23 seconds ahead of Rupert who was just 2 seconds in front of Jonty. Duncan was up to 4^th having gone ahead of Michael and Chris who also passed Michael. Tim, Andy and Ed.R did not change places. With the handicaps applied the Winner was Jonty with Rupert second and Duncan 3^rd.

R5

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	LASER RADIAL	192842	NSSC	Jonty Freeman		1142	35.07	0.00.00	1.0
2	STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1128	35.05	0.00.24	2.0
3	STREAKER	2102	NSSC	Duncan McDonald		1128	36.24	0.01.43	3.0
3	LASER RADIAL	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1142	OOD		3.0
3	LASER RADIAL		NSSC	Chas Humphries		1142	OOD		3.0
6	FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1051	34.52	0.02.33	4.0
7	LASER	171864	Lancing	Chris Foster		1098	37.42	0.03.56	5.0
8	RS FEVA XL	3	NSSC	Ed Rollestone	Lucy McCaig	1240	37.59	0.05.18	6.0
9	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046	37.54	0.05.44	7.5
9	OPTIMIST	5642	NSSC	Thomas Beck		1655	34.16	0.05.11	7.5
11	LASER RADIAL	8	NSSC	Tim Cox		1142	36.50	0.06.44	9.0
12	LASER RADIAL	176742	NSSC	Andy Beck		1142	37.56	0.07.50	10.0
13	STREAKER	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1128	DNF		34.0

 

Race 6 of the series was soon underway with the gun at 11.40 - Alan and Chris did not start in this race.

Duncan was first off the line followed by Rupert and then Jonty. These three held those positions at the end of the lap with Ed.T 4^th, Tim 5^th, Michael 6^th, Andy 7^th, Ed.R 8^th and Thomas 9^th and last.

Lap 2 saw Jonty get ahead of Rupert with the rest of the fleet in unchanged positions and Thomas retired.

Lap 3 was led across the line by Duncan with Jonty 3 second behind and Ed.T in 3^rd place having passed Rupert. Next came Tim in 5^th place ahead of Andy as Michael dropped back to 7^th ahead of Ed.R.

Lap 4 was led by Duncan, Jonty and then Ed.T ahead of Rupert. The order behind remained unchanged.

Lap 5 with Duncan still in front as Ed.T went ahead of Jonty to lie 2^nd but with no change in the rest of the fleet order. Ed .R finished at the end of this lap.

Lap 6 was led by Ed.T from Duncan with Jonty still 3^rd ahead of Rupert. Then came Tim, followed  by Andy and then Michael.

Lap 7, the final lap was contended by just four boats with Ed.T crossing the line first and then Jonty who had battled to get ahead of Duncan and lastly Rupert.

With Handicaps applied Jonty was again the winner, Duncan second and Rupert third.

 

R6

 

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	LASER RADIAL	192842	NSSC	Jonty Freeman		1142	35.43	0.00.00	1.0
2	STREAKER	2102	NSSC	Duncan McDonald		1128	35.52	0.00.35	2.0
3	STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1128	36.32	0.01.15	3.0
4	LASER RADIAL	8	NSSC	Tim Cox		1142	32.37	0.02.00	4.0
5	FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1051	35.34	0.02.42	5.0
6	LASER RADIAL	176742	NSSC	Andy Beck		1142	34.21	0.03.44	6.0
7	RS FEVA XL	3	NSSC	Ed Rollestone	Lucy McCaig	1240	32.59	0.05.17	7.0
8	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046	34.45	0.06.43	8.0
9	OPTIMIST	5642	NSSC	Thomas Beck		1655	DNF		34.0

 

It was a hard fought pair of races with a relatively stable wind, in direction and strength but with a multitude of strong gusts and resultant capsizes. These are not reported as they were not observed by the writer but are evident from the lap times.

Alan.S 1700

PS. Pictures are promised but have yet to appear – I will up date the blog when they arrive so take another look.

If you wish to see the earlier blogs – Races 1,2,3 & 4 - click the appropriate listing at top right of the front page of this blog.