Tuesday 27 February 2024

Elford NumBum RAces 6 (Re-run) & 15

 Elford NumBum Races 6 (Re-run) & 15 – 24/2/2024

Overcast and grey with a light breeze as we left Hove this Sunday morning, at least it was not rainy but it was not exactly warm. Once, on the drive to Piddinghoe, the Ice Icon came up on the car dashboard. Whilst changing the comment was heard that a Laser Radial mainsheet was frozen, but the writer only found a small sheet of ice on his boat cover. There was a slight change to the program as Race 6 was to be re-run as well as race 15 - the final race of the series. Nine boats came to the line on the ‘M’ shaped course that the RO for the day, Geoff Sheridan set, together with his helper Bredon Parsons The safety boat was crewed by a young man with an older assistant but neither are named on the lap sheets.


Photos by Bett Simmons

                                            

At the gun Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial)  was first away towards the pin end with Bill Wates (Laser Radial) just behind and to windward. Andy Beck (Lightning) was third to go with Sean Beevers (Laser Radial) next with Alan Simmons (Streaker) jus behind but closer to the south bank. 










After a very close winded leg Zoe was first to round the mark in the south east corner followed by Bill and then Ed Thorburn (Finn) with Alan just astern. After the leg behind the island and then that to the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay Zoe was still in the lead with Ed next having overtaken Bill. 


Sean was next ahead of Andy with Thomas Beck (Laser 4.7) next came  Dave Murley (Laser Radial). 


Next to last was Alan who had had a clog up with his mainsheet and been unable to let his sail out on the leg behind the Island allowing several boats to get ahead of him. Bringing up the rear at that point was Mark Ramsay (Supernova) who had been over the line at the gun, then traveled on for a short while before having to return to start properly. At the mark in the middle of the pond Zoe was in the lead with Ed just having passed Bill next to round.

At the line at the end of the first lap the order was Zoe 1st , 13 seconds ahead of Ed 2nd, 2 seconds in front of Bill 3rd, Sean was 4th, Andy 5th Dave 6th, Mark 7th, Thomas 8th and Alan 9th. Alan had found the breeze a good bit stronger than he liked but he continued to race.



Lap 2 had Ed finally overtake Zoe to cross the line 6 seconds ahead and Sean also overtook Bill to lie fourth. Mark also climbed up the flee to hold fifth place ahead of Andy with Alan 4 seconds behind in seventh. Dave was next with Thomas astern.


Lap 3 saw no place changes at the front with Ed in the lead from Zoe (by 31 seconds) and Sean 18 seconds further aft. At the back Thomas went ahead of Dave by 5 seconds.


Lap 4 Ed made a tiny gain now 34 seconds in front of Zoe with Sean 22 seconds astern. Bill, Mark , Andy and Alan stayed in the same order as in lap 3 as Dave went back ahead of Thomas by 25 seconds.


Lap 5 The fleet order remained mostly unchanged but Dave went ahead of Andy and Alan had a nasty capsize. The safety boat came to give a lengthy assistance but even once the boat was upright he struggled to get back aboard and once he had finally done so he headed for the shore and started to dismantle the Streaker and pack it up for towing home, having decided not to complete in the second race of the day.

Lap 6 Ed still leads the fleet crossing the line 1 minutes  16 seconds ahead of Zoe with Sean third 13 seconds later, Bill fourth, Dave fifth, Mark sixth, Andy seventh and Thomas eighth.


Lap 7 At the finish it was Ed first 1 minute 35 seconds ahead of Zoe with Sean third 15 seconds astern and Bill fourth, the rest of the fleet having already finished the lap before.

With handicaps applied and times corrected the winner of the race was Zoe with Sean second, ed third and Bill fourth.

Results:-

Race 6 - 25/02/024

 

Fleet

Boat

Class

SailNo

Club

HelmName

CrewName

PY

Elapsed

BCE

Points

 

 

 

 

NSSC

Brendon Parsons

 

 

OOD

 

 

Laser Hull

Bruce

LASER RADIAL

46

NSSC

Zoe McCaig

 

1150

39.19

0.00.00

1.0

Laser Hull

 

LASER RADIAL

46237

NSSC

Sean Beevers

 

1150

39.34

0.00.15

2.0

Menagerie

 

FINN

595

NSSC

Ed Thorburn

 

1049

37.44

0.01.52

3.0

Laser Hull

 

LASER RADIAL

26

NSSC

Bill Wates

 

1150

42.00

0.02.41

4.0

Laser Hull

 

LASER RADIAL

142208

NSSC

Dave Murley

 

1150

37.38

0.03.56

5.0

Laser Hull

 

LASER 4.7

No No

NSSC

Thomas Beck

 

1207

39.46

0.04.24

6.0

Menagerie

 

LIGHTNING 368

225

NSSC

Andy Beck

 

1160

38.15

0.04.15

7.0

Menagerie

 

SUPERNOVA

526

NSSC

Mark Ramsay

 

1077

37.56

0.06.22

8.0

Menagerie

TFB

STREAKER

1832

Lancing

Alan Simmons

 

1128

RET

 

9.0

Menagerie

 

BYTE CII

3394

NSSC

Geoff Sheridan

 

1144

OOD

 

38.0

 

Race 15 was to be sailed over the same course, with a tiny bit less breeze which had shifted a little to the south.


At the gun it was Sean who led the way down towards the pin end. Next to go was  Andy in mid line with Ed to leeward and then Zoe closest to the south shore. Bill was just behind the first three boats and Dave and Mark well back from the line.


Just before the mark in the south east corner Sean was in the lead, tacked and capsized, letting Ed through onto the leg behind the Island. Andy was next to round followed by Zoe and then Bill. Sean was over for quite a while allowing Dave and Mark to pass him before he fully recovered.


At the end of the lap the order was Ed fist with Zoe 18 seconds later, then Andy 30 seconds later. Dave was fourth ahead of Bill fifth with Mark sixth next. Sean brought up the rear.


Lap 2 saw Zoe cross the line 20 seconds behind Ed. The order behind remained unchanged with Sean closing the gap behind Mark.


Lap 3 Ed had extended his lead to 54 seconds ahead of Zoe with Sean have recovered time to lie behind her and ahead of Andy, Dave, Bill and Mark.



Lap 4 no change in the leading three boats as Bill went past Andy and Dave to lie fourth with Mark still at the back of the fleet.


Lap 5 with Ed still out front of Zoe, and Sean astern of her, Bill in fourth place as Dave went ahead of Andy who remained in font of Mark.


Lap 6 Ed was now 2 minutes 39 seconds ahead of Zoe and Sean a further one minute 39 seconds astern. The order behind remained Bill 4th, Dave 5th, Andy 6th and Mark 7th.   Apart from Ed who was sent round on another lap the rest of the fleet were finished here.

Lap 7 as above noted only Ed sailed this lap.



With calculations done the result was a win for Zoe with Ed second, Sean third, Bill fourth and Dave 5th.

Results:-

Race 15 - 25/2/2024

 

Fleet

Boat

Class

SailNo

Club

HelmName

CrewName

PY

Elapsed

BCE

Points

 

 

 

 

NSSC

Brendon Parsons

 

 

OOD

 

 

Laser Hull

Bruce

LASER RADIAL

46

NSSC

Zoe McCaig

 

1150

33.24

0.00.00

1.0

Menagerie

 

FINN

595

NSSC

Ed Thorburn

 

1049

36.24

0.00.51

2.0

Laser Hull

 

LASER RADIAL

46237

NSSC

Sean Beevers

 

1150

35.03

0.01.39

3.0

Laser Hull

 

LASER RADIAL

26

NSSC

Bill Wates

 

1150

36.28

0.03.04

4.0

Laser Hull

 

LASER RADIAL

142208

NSSC

Dave Murley

 

1150

37.01

0.03.37

5.0

Menagerie

 

LIGHTNING 368

225

NSSC

Andy Beck

 

1160

37.41

0.04.00

6.0

Menagerie

 

SUPERNOVA

526

NSSC

Mark Ramsay

 

1077

37.58

0.06.41

7.0

Menagerie

 

BYTE CII

3394

NSSC

Geoff Sheridan

 

1144

OOD

 

38.0

Two good strong wind races, not to everybody’s taste however, as seen by the writer’s retirement, and that of Thomas. Not too many capsizes although Sean’s in the second race was quite prolonged.

This was the end of the NumBum series with the series overall won by Zoe with Ed second Bill third, Alan fourth and Dave fifth, and there should have been a prizegiving but in part due to attendance at the Dinghy Show there was no one available for the presentation of the trophy and place prizes. It is understood that this will take place next Sunday 3rd March after the racing in the Duncan Dash – for which there will be no blog/report by the writer. 

Alan.S 1832