Freeman Iceberg 2024 - Races 9 & 10 - 01/12/2024

 

Freeman Iceberg Races 9 & 10 - 01/123/2024

Readers will have noticed that due to storm Burt and the strong winds forecast Races 7 & 8 due to be held on Sunday 24^th October were cancelled by Laurence Venus on 23^rd October, hence no blog/report was published.

Sunday 1^st December dawned grey and overcast, with a slight drizzle and a fresh breeze as we left home for Piddinghoe. On arrival the drizzle had stopped but the breeze was even stronger with the gust rattling the rigging on shore side boats – up to force 6. None the less 17 boats took to the water.

RO Laurence Venus (assisted by Connie Sturt and with Ed Home and Paul Bannister in the safety boat) set an ‘M’ shaped course with an initial short beat from a mark off the Jetty to the north of the clubhouse to one in the south west corner of the pond, followed by a close reach down the south shore of the pond.

At the gun Andy Hamilton (Laser full rig) was first away on starboard tack with Alan Simmons (Streaker), Ed Thorburn (Finn) and Rupert Smith (OK) nearest the west bank but all in line who were next to go. The latter pair had to quickly tack onto starboard as Rupert held the right of way. 

At the first windward mark Rupert led the crush from Ed with Chris Turner (Laser Radial) on the outside and Zoe McCaig inside him as Alan sneaked behind her stern. Those who caught the gusts on the following reach made ground and by the end of the lap the order had settled down a bit to have Ed just five seconds ahead of Rupert with Dave Murley (Laser Radial) third and Zoe also 5 seconds behind him in fourth place. Andy.H was fifth, Chris sixth, Alan seventh, Bill Wates (Laser Radial) eighth, Pete Henderson (Laser Radial) ninth, Jazz Turner (Hansa s/h) tenth, Andy Beck (Lightning), eleventh, Red Sheridan (Oppy) twelfth, Jon Pickup (Laser Radial) thirteenth, Harvey Pickup (Topper) fourteenth,  Adam Billany (Hansa s/h) fifteenth, Jane Thompson and Ewan Hamilton (Hansa) sixteenth with Calvin & Simon (Hansa) seventeenth.

Lap 2 Saw Ed increasing his lead from Rupert to 19 seconds with Pete up to third place ahead of Zoe.  Chris moved up to lie fifth as Andy.H dropped a place to sixth. Dave fell back down the fleet to hold seventh ahead of Alan who was finding it rather heavy going in the gusts. Bill was down a place to ninth with Andy.B astern as Jazz fell back one place to lie eleventh. Jon gained one place to lie twelfth as Harvey dropped down to sixteenth as Adam went up two places to thirteenth. Jane and Calvin both gained two places to lie fourteenth and fifteenth with Red also falling back down the order.

Lap 3 With Ed now 35 seconds ahead of Rupert and Zoe in third place having overtaken Pete, as did Chris. The following place order remained unchanged down to eleventh place Jazz. Behind her Adam went in front of Jon to lie twelfth. Jane retained fourteenth place with Harvey behind her having passed Calvin and Red remained in seventeenth place.

Lap 4 No changes in the front four with Andy.H now fifth and Dave sixth ahead of Alan. Pete dropped back to lie nineth behind Bill. Andy, Jazz and Adam retained position as in lap 3 with Harvey now up to 13^th ahead of Jon. Behind him the order was Jane, Calvin and Red.

Lap 5 The first five places remained unchanged with Bill now ahead of Alan and Dave behind him. Pete and Andy.B held onto nineth and tenth place, the rest of the fleet having finished at the end of the previous lap.

Lap 6 Was sailed only by Ed and Rupert with Ed crossing the line a minute and 24 seconds ahead.

With Handicaps applied the winner of the race was Jazz with Rupert second, Adam third, Ed fourth and Zoe fifth.

See Results below:-

Race 9 - 1/12/2024

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	Points
1	Menagerie	Violet	Hansa 303 s/h	848	NSSC	Jazz Turner		1580		42.51	4	0.40.41	1.0
2	Laser Hull	Saxon	OK	2239	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1100		46.54	6	0.42.38	2.0
3	Menagerie	Pheobe	Hansa 303 s/h	28	NSSC	Adam Billany		1580		45.14	4	0.42.57	3.0
4	Menagerie		Finn	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1047		45.30	6	0.43.27	4.0
5	Laser Hull	Bruce	LASER RADIAL	146162	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1154		41.51	5	0.43.31	5.0
6	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	158365	NSSC	Chris Turner		1154		42.16	5	0.43.57	6.0
7	Menagerie		Hansa 303	12	NSSC	Jane Thompson	Bea Brammah	1630		49.16	4	0.45.20	7.0
8	Menagerie		LASER RADIAL	26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1154		44.38	5	0.46.25	8.0
9	Laser Hull		LASER	142221	NSSC	Andy Hamilton		1102		42.49	5	0.46.37	9.0
10	Menagerie		Hansa 303	32	NSSC	Calvin	Simon	1630		50.59	4	0.46.55	10.0
11	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1154		45.44	5	0.47.33	11.0
12	Menagerie	TFB	Streaker	1832	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1124		44.56	5	0.47.58	12.0
13	Menagerie	Blitz	Lightning 368	225	NSSC	Andrew Beck		1160		47.51	5	0.49.30	13.0
14	Menagerie	Sea Horse	Optimist	614	NSSC	Red Sheridan		1628		41.48	3	0.51.21	14.0
15	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	43382	NSSC	Pete Henderson		1154		46.37	4	1.00.36	15.0
16	Laser Hull		LASER	no no	NSSC	Jon Pickup		1102		48.22	4	1.05.50	16.0
17	Menagerie		Topper	179	NSSC	Harvey Pickup		1369		48.19	3	1.10.35	17.0

Race 10 was held over the same course as race 9 with little or no change in wind direction or strength. After and very hard first race Alan decided not to compete, packed up his boat and then took the photos, Michelle Smith having kindly taken those at the start of Race 9.

At the start gun Andy.H was first away in mid line with Chris next to go but further down the line, the rest of the fleet being somewhat short of the line.

At the windward mark, off the clubhouse, there was quite a bunch of port and starboard boats but Andy.H was first to round and bear off down the reach. Ed was on the outside but next to round with Chris inside Rupert and Rupert inside Zoe, all on port tack as they reached the mark. 

Once down the reach and on the run behind the Island Ed had taken the lead, followed by Rupert with Zoe just behind and Chris behind her. 

The Hansas, starting a minute behind the main fleet saw Jazz first off the mark with Adam next, on port, then Jane and Ewan and lastly Calvin and Simon.

At the end of the first lap Ed crossed the line 12 seconds ahead of Chris  with Andy.H 3rd 5 seconds later, Rupert 4th, Zoe 5th, Bill 6th, Andy.B 7th, Dave 8th, Pete 9th, Jazz 10th, Harvey 11th, Adam 12th, Jane 13th, Jon 14th, Red 15^th, Calvin 16^th.

Lap 2 had Ed in the front with Rupert now 2^nd, Zoe 3^rd and Chris now 4^th. Andy had slipped back to 5^th with Bill, Andy.B and Dave astern. Jazz, now 9^th, had gone ahead of Pete who had fallen back to 12^th allowing Harvey and Adam to get past him. Jane lost a place to Jon to lie 14^th with Red behind her as Calvin failed to finish.

Lap 3 The front four retained their relative positions as Bill went ahead of Andy.H to lie 5^th. Andy.B also retained 7^th place with Pete climbing up behind him, Jazz 9^th, Harvey 10^th and Adam 11^th stayed as in lap 2. Jon, Jane and Red went up one place each and were finished here as Dave went ashore mid-way through the lap.

Lap 4  Positions among the top eight boats was unchanged in this lap .Behind Harvey went ahead of 10^th placed Jazz with Adam behind her finishing here in 11^th place. Pete, Jazz, Andy.B, Harvey and Adam were all finished at the conclusion of this lap.

Lap 5 Contested by six boats, all others having been finished, saw Ed cross the line in 1^st place with Rupert 2^nd, Zoe 3^rd, Chris 4^th, Andy.H 5^th and Bill 6^th.

 

With handicaps applied the winner of the race was Jazz with Zoe 2^nd, Ed 3^rd, Chris 4^th and Rupert 5^th.

See results below:-

Race 10 - 1/12/24

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	Points
1	Menagerie	Violet	Hansa 303 s/h	848	NSSC	Jazz Turner		1580		42.15	4	0.33.26	1.0
2	Laser Hull	Bruce	LASER RADIAL	146162	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1154		38.46	5	0.33.36	2.0
3	Menagerie		Finn	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1047		36.08	5	0.34.31	3.0
4	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	158365	NSSC	Chris Turner		1154		40.00	5	0.34.40	4.0
5	Laser Hull	Saxon	OK	2239	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1100		38.33	5	0.35.03	5.0
6	Menagerie	Pheobe	Hansa 303 s/h	28	NSSC	Adam Billany		1580		44.33	4	0.35.15	6.0
7	Menagerie		LASER RADIAL	26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1154		40.51	5	0.35.24	7.0
8	Laser Hull		LASER	142221	NSSC	Andy Hamilton		1102		40.40	5	0.36.54	8.0
9	Menagerie		Topper	179	NSSC	Harvey Pickup		1369		41.40	4	0.38.03	9.0
10	Menagerie		Hansa 303	12	NSSC	Jane Thompson	Bea Brammah	1630		37.23	3	0.38.13	10.0
11	Menagerie	Blitz	Lightning 368	225	NSSC	Andrew Beck		1160		36.42	4	0.39.33	11.0
12	Menagerie	Sea Horse	Optimist	614	NSSC	Red Sheridan		1628		40.15	3	0.41.12	12.0
13	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	43382	NSSC	Pete Henderson		1154		40.30	4	0.43.52	13.0
14	Laser Hull		LASER	no no	NSSC	Jon Pickup		1102		36.12	3	0.54.45	14.0
15	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1154		DNF			17.0
15	Menagerie		Hansa 303	32	NSSC	Calvin	Simon	1630		DNF			17.0

 

Some pretty hairy sailing, very gusty and a bit rainy in the second race of the day. The first leg of each race was hard fought leading to a bit of bunching at the first windward mark and the following close reach and the run caused a few upsets.

The current wind forecast for Sunday 8^th Dec is showing much the same conditions if not a little more – NW 17 knots (24knot gusts) but turn up anyway as it can quickly change and one can make a decision as whether or not to sail upon arrival.

Alan.S  1832