Monday 3 December 2018

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  3rd and Tim, having passed Thomas.H , now 4th. Alan was up to 6th ahead of Sean with Ed.R behind him. Thomas.B was up to 9th 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 2nd place having passed Matt and Thomas.H back up to 4th ahead of Tim who capsized somewhere along the way, but crossed the line in 5th position. There were no other place changes in this lap.


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


Thomas was lying 4th with Alan up to 5th and Sean 6th as Tim had a capsize. Ed.R was 7th, 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 3rd in front of Michael having suffered another spill. Tim was now lying 5th 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 3rd and Thomas 4th 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 3rd, Thomas.H 4th,Tim 5th, Sean 6th,Ed.R 7th and Thomas.B 8th.
Lap 2 saw Jonty leading Ed still but now the gap was down to 19 seconds and Tim was up to 3rd ahead of Michael with Sean some way behind but 5th. Thomas.H having had yet another capsize was 6th 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 3rd with Thomas having gone ahead of Sean. Ed.R 7th 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 3rd and Thomas.H 4th 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.

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