Elford Numbum Races 7 & 8 - 29/01/2023

Elford Numbum Races 7 & 8 – 29/01/2023

A grey overcast sky with a very light breeze greeted us as we left Hove Sunday morning. As we drove towards Piddinghoe  there were breaks in the clouds to the east but they came to nothing.

On arrival at the pond there was barely a whisper and Laurence Venus (RO once again), assisted by Connie Sturt and with David Hitchens? and Jo Bruggenwirth in the safety boat. Laurence waited as long as possible for the fickle breeze to settled before setting an ‘X’ shaped course as below with the start just west of the first slipway on the south bank. The mark at the south west corner, and the finish mark, was in the wind shadow of the clubhouse.

Photographs by Bett Simmons

At the gun it was Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial) who was first away from mid line with Ed Thorburn (Finn) next to go closer to the south bank and with Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS 200) third to cross almost simultaneously but up to weather. Alan Simmons (Streaker) close to the pin end buoy was fourth across the line. 

As the fleet approached the corner mark things got a bit busy as they fell into the ‘dead’ patch but it was Ed who triumphed and set off on the broad reach towards the mark off the east shore followed by Sean Beevers (Laser full rig) with Alan third to round. 

The leading pair raced away on the off-wind leg into an unassailable lead. Julian Dobson (Laser full rig) passed Alan and Geoff Sheridan (Byte CII) closed up behind Alan. On the leg across the pond and behind the Island the gaps became even smaller and it was not until the long beat up the south bank that there were some place changes and the Southwest corner provided more problems as the order at the line was Ed first, Sean second, Julian third, Michael fourth and Alan Fifth. Behind them came Zoe sixth, Geoff seventh, Dave Murley (Laser Radial), Thomas Beck (Topper) ninth and Darrel Topp (Laser full rig) tenth.

Lap two had Ed 1^st and Sean 2^nd, Michael 3^rd, Alan 4^th having overtaken Julian 5^th, Geoff 6^th now ahead of Zoe by 11 seconds, Dave 8^th, Thomas 9^th and Darrel 10^th.

Lap 3 had now place changes in the leading five boats as Zoe found her way back in front of Geoff by 10 seconds. The order behind was unchanged.

Lap 4 Ed  crossed the finish line in first place nearly three minutes ahead of Sean with Michael 26 seconds further back and Alan another minute astern having held off Julian who crossed in 5^th place.

With calcs and handicaps sorted the race was won by Ed Thorburn with Sean  Beevers second, Zoe McCaig third, Alan Simmons fourth and Geoff Sheridan fifth.

Results:-

Race 7 - 29/01/2023

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Fleet	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
1	Menagerie	FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1049		41.27	4	0.39.31	0.00.00	1.0
2	Laser Hull	LASER	46237	NSSC	Sean Beevers		1100		44.15	4	0.40.14	0.00.47	2.0
3	Laser Hull	LASER RADIAL	146162	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1147		47.12	4	0.41.09	0.01.53	3.0
4	Menagerie	STREAKER	1832	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1128		46.58	4	0.41.38	0.02.24	4.0
5	Menagerie	BYTE CII	2623	NSSC	Geoff Sheridan		1135		48.08	4	0.42.24	0.03.17	5.0
6	Menagerie	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046		44.41	4	0.42.43	0.03.21	6.0
7	Laser Hull	LASER	7	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1100		47.02	4	0.42.45	0.03.34	7.0
8	Laser Hull	LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	David Murley		1147		50.21	4	0.43.54	0.05.02	8.0
9	Laser Hull	LASER RADIAL	164421	NSSC	Jo Brugenworth		1147		OOD				8.5
10	Menagerie	TOPPER	47124	NSSC	Thomas Beck		1365		45.43	3	0.44.39	0.05.16	9.0
11	Laser Hull	LASER	217834	NSSC	Darrell Topp		1100		47.28	3	0.57.32	0.14.52	10.0
12	Menagerie	TOPPER		NSSC	Connie Sturt		1365		OOD				17.0

 

Race 8 was held over the same course with the breeze a little stronger, touching force four and permitting boats to plane on the leg between the Fisherman’s Bay up to the Island.

At the gun Sean was first to cross the line, close to the shore with Thomas next to start close to the pin end. Ed was next to go a little to Leeward and behind Thomas with Geoff fifth away. 

Once again the ‘doldrums’ by the clubhouse made it difficult to get round the top mark as Sean led Ed around. Next up was Julian followed by Zoe, Geoff and then Thomas. Alan was way back in 7^th place at this time. Alan made up a bit of space on the first run, the next beat and then on the leg behind the Island and by the top of the beat up the south shore was lying third, 16 seconds ahead of Zoe with Geoff and Michael astern of her at the line – the ‘doldrums’ having again taken their toll as Michael pipped Geoff over the line. 

Thomas was 7^th, Dave 8^th, and Darrell 9^th. Sean never made it round the first lap having had ‘rivets’ trouble on his mast or boom and having to retire.

 

Lap 2 saw Ed leading Julian and the next four boats in the same order as in the first lap. Both Dave and Darrell went ahead of Thomas.

 

Lap 3 no changes again in places for the leading seven boats but Thomas went ahead of Darrell.

 

Lap 4 as before in lap 3 no top seven as Darrrell went back ahead of Thomas and they were both finished .

 

Lap 5 saw ED now 2 minutes 18 seconds ahead of Julian who was 48 seconds ahead of Alan with Zoe 25 seconds behind him. Behind them Michael was lying 5^th , Geoff sixth and Dave 7^th.

 

Lap 6 no places changes throughout the fleet saw Ed cross the line in pole position with Julian 3 minutes and six seconds behind and Alan having closed up to cross 26 seconds later.

 

Zoe finished next but had  messed up a bit on that last but one mark in front of the clubhouse,  finishing 48 seconds astern of Alan. Michael was fifth to finish ahead of Geoff and Dave.

 

With the calcs done the winner of the race was Ed Thorburn,  Alan Simmons 2^nd, Zoe McCaig 3^rd, Julian Dobson 4^th and Geoff Sheridan 5^th.

 Results

    Race 8 - 29/01/2023

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Fleet	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
1	Menagerie	FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1049		42.15	6	0.40.17	0.00.00	1.0
2	Menagerie	STREAKER	1832	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1128		45.47	6	0.40.35	0.00.21	2.0
3	Laser Hull	LASER RADIAL	146162	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1147		46.35	6	0.40.37	0.00.23	3.0
4	Laser Hull	LASER	7	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1100		45.21	6	0.41.14	0.01.03	4.0
5	Menagerie	BYTE CII	2623	NSSC	Geoff Sheridan		1135		48.28	6	0.42.42	0.02.45	5.0
6	Menagerie	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046		46.58	6	0.44.54	0.04.50	6.0
7	Menagerie	TOPPER	47124	NSSC	Thomas Beck		1365		41.05	4	0.45.09	0.04.26	7.0
8	Laser Hull	LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	David Murley		1147		45.04	5	0.47.09	0.06.34	8.0
9	Laser Hull	LASER RADIAL	164421	NSSC	Jo Brugenworth		1147		OOD				8.5
10	Laser Hull	LASER	217834	NSSC	Darrell Topp		1100		41.03	4	0.55.59	0.11.31	9.0
11	Laser Hull	LASER	46237	NSSC	Sean Beevers		1100		DNF				17.0
11	Menagerie	TOPPER		NSSC	Connie Sturt		1365		OOD				17.0

 

    `

There might not have been a lot of breeze for race 7 but it did improve for race 8, the sun stayed away and the rain held off – it began to drizzle as we approached Falmer on the way home. 

The writer suggests that when the new clubhouse is designed and built (if it is) that it be built on high stilts – so that the breeze can come through to the marks in the south west corner if, as today, it is from the west. The situation certainly did not help Zoe in race 8 as she lost out to Alan by just 2 seconds on corrected time.

Alan.S 1832