Streaker Ramblings - Freeman Iceberg Races 9 & 10 - 02.12.2018

 

A brisk breeze from the south West with a fully overcast grey sky as I left Hove. It was noticeable that after passing through Kingston village that the cloud was so low that it obscured the tops of the downs on the west side of the river valley. It was largely dry for the morning races.

 

Rupert Smith (Streaker, NSSC) was RO, assisted by Sarah, with Bill Wates (Radial, NSSC) and Andy Beck (Radial, NSSC) in the Safety boat. Rupert set an ‘M’ shaped course with the start from the ‘Kids’ jetty, on the west side of the pond and the finish from the clubhouse to the mark in the south west corner, as shown below.

At the start of race 9, with 11 boats on the water, in spite of the forecast 25 knots, the wind was a good top end force 3 to 4 but as it transpired with some viciously strong gusts, Sean Beevors (Laser,full rig, NSSC) was well over the line and forced to return. As a consequence Jonty Freeman (Radial, NSSC)  was first away at the pin end with Thomas Beck (Oppy, NSSC) behind him and Ed Rollestone (Topper, NSSC) behind him.

However Alan Simmons (Streaker, Lancing) starting close to the west shore was first to round the mark in the corner and set off down the broad reach to the mark in the south east corner. He was soon blanketed by the following boats and Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) using their Gennaker reached the mark first and a ‘mass’ of Lasers were soon off on the planeing reach behind the Island with Jonty soon sailing into the lead. The fleet then spread out on the next leg for the beat back to the starting mark. The next leg was downwind, to the mark off the ‘Fishermans Bay’ – the site of a few capsizes (what one would expect in Lasers, Toppers and even the Oppy filling up) and then another beat back to the corner mark, passing through the start mark once more to the finish mark in the south west corner.
At the end of the first lap the order was Jonty in the lead with Ed Thorburn (Finn, NSSC) second, Michael third, Matt Sprigall (Laser full rig, NSSC) fourth, Thomas Harland-Smith fifth and Tim Cox (Radial, NSSC) sixth. Alan was seventh across the line with Penelope Duncan (Radial, NSSC) eighth, Sean ninth, Ed.R tenth and Thomas.B eleventh.

Lap 2 saw Jonty retire with a broken outhaul leaving Ed.T in the lead from Matt with Michael still  3^rd and Tim, having passed Thomas.H , now 4^th. Alan was up to 6^th ahead of Sean with Ed.R behind him. Thomas.B was up to 9^th with Penelope also retiring as Sean capsized ahead of her just before the first rounding of the starting mark for the downwind leg.
Lap 3 with Ed.T still in the lead saw Michael in 2^nd place having passed Matt and Thomas.H back up to 4^th ahead of Tim who capsized somewhere along the way, but crossed the line in 5^th position. There were no other place changes in this lap.

Lap 4 had Ed.T still leading with Matt 2^nd ahead of Michael who had suffered a capsize who had suffered a capsize (the first of several).

Thomas was lying 4^th with Alan up to 5^th and Sean 6^th as Tim had a capsize. Ed.R was 7^th, Thomas.B having been finished at the end of the previous lap.

Lap 5 had Ed.T in the lead from Matt with Thomas.H 3^rd in front of Michael having suffered another spill. Tim was now lying 5^th ahead of Alan with Sean bringing up the read, Ed.R having been finished at the end of the previous lap and Tim retiring.

Lap 6 the final lap was contested by just four boats, Alan and Sean having finished at the end of lap 5, saw Ed.T cross the line nearly four minutes ahead of Michael. Both Matt 3^rd and Thomas 4^th had swimming sessions.

With the handicaps applied Ed.T was declared the winner with Thomas.H second, Matt third and Michael fourth.

R9

 

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1051	40.43	0.00.00	1.0
2	LASER RADIAL	72341	NSSC	Thomas Harland Smith (C)		1142	46.58	0.02.43	2.0
3	STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1128	OOD		3.0
3	LASER RADIAL	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1142	OOD		3.0
3	LASER RADIAL	176742	NSSC	Andy Beck		1142	OOD		3.0
3	LASER	158670	NSSC	Matt Springall		1098	45.22	0.02.50	3.0
7	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046	44.22	0.03.51	4.0.
8	STREAKER	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1128	42.13	0.05.48	5.0
9	LASER	462237	NSSC	Sean Beevers		1098	45.33	0.10.06	6.0
10	TOPPER	44813	NSSC	Ed Rollestone (C)		1358	46.30	0.11.26	7.0
11	OPTIMIST	5642	NSSC	Thomas Beck (C)		1655	46.51	0.14.48	8.0
12	LASER RADIAL	192842	NSSC	Jonty Freeman		1142	DNF		41.0
12	LASER RADIAL	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1142	DNF		41.0
12	LASER RADIAL	8	NSSC	Tim Cox		1142	DNF		41.0

Race 10 was sailed over the same course, starting at 11.35, with now 8 starters.

 

At the gun it was Jonty, now repaired, who led off the middle of the line Tim next, near the pin end and Thomas.H just behind but further to weather. Jonty rounded the corner mark first, closely followed by Thomas.H and then Tim. Just a few yard down the leg, to the mark at the south east corner, Thomas.H fell out of his Radial.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just after the gybe that followed in that bottom corner Sean, in the only other full rig Laser, also took to the water - soon to be followed by Ed.R in his Topper.

 

 

At the end of the lap Jonty was leading the fleet and Ed by nearly a minute with Michael 3^rd, Thomas.H 4^th,Tim 5^th, Sean 6^th,Ed.R 7^th and Thomas.B 8^th.

Lap 2 saw Jonty leading Ed still but now the gap was down to 19 seconds and Tim was up to 3^rd ahead of Michael with Sean some way behind but 5^th. Thomas.H having had yet another capsize was 6^th with Ed.R and Thomas.B behind.

 

Lap 3 Jonty still led Ed, there were problems getting round the finish mark the wind having shifted somewhat. Michael had pulled back ahead of Tim to lie 3^rd with Thomas having gone ahead of Sean. Ed.R 7^th still led Thomas.B who was then finished.

 

Lap 4 and Jonty was still in the lead, by 9 seconds from Ed. With no other place changes this lap.

Lap 5 and Ed. went ahead of Jonty by 3 seconds – a lead he was soon to lose again. The remaining places were unchanged from lap 3 and all of these boats were finished this lap.
Lap 6 the final lap was sailed only by Jonty and Ed with Jonty crossing the line with a 24 second lead.

With the results calculated Jonty was the winner with Ed second, Tim 3^rd and Thomas.H 4^th as below.

R10

 

Rank	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	LASER RADIAL	192842	NSSC	Jonty Freeman		1142	39.54	0.00.00	1.0
2	FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1051	40.17	0.03.34	2.0
3	STREAKER	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1128	OOD		3.0
3	LASER RADIAL	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1142	OOD		3.0
3	LASER RADIAL	176742	NSSC	Andy Beck		1142	OOD		3.0
3	LASER RADIAL	8	NSSC	Tim Cox		1142	40.25	0.07.10	3.0
7	LASER RADIAL	72341	NSSC	Thomas Harland Smith (C)		1142	42.59	0.09.44	4.0
8	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046	40.02	0.09.35	5.0
9	LASER	462237	NSSC	Sean Beevers		1098	45.11	0.13.13	6.0
10	TOPPER	44813	NSSC	Ed Rollestone (C)		1358	46.32	0.14.54	7.0
11	OPTIMIST	5642	NSSC	Thomas Beck (C)		1655	47.29	0.18.34	8.0

With the gusts so strong and shifty in a solid force 4 wind it made for some very hard sailing. The writer was one of the few, in the two races, who managed to stay upright with even Thomas.B, in his Oppy, having to do a lot of bailing out.

 

After the first race of the day Alan decided that enough was enough, as did Penelope. Matt came ashore after the first race to discover a hole in his Laser just under the gunwhale and thought that going afloat for the second race might end up with more damage so also stayed ashore.

Alan.S 1700

PS. Thanks again to Mary Harland who took camera shots of the starts of the races whilst I filled in the rest once back ashore and boat packed away.