Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum Races 5 & 6 - 19/01/2014

The day dawned with bright Blue almost cloudless skies, just a tickle of breeze and above freezing – no ice on the covers today.

The race Officer, Chas Humphries set a course around the outside of all the marks on the pond starting just to the North of the clubhouse with a short beat to the mark in the south west corner of the pond off the clubhouse. The next leg was a run across the southern side of the pond to a mark (and gybe) in the south east corner followed by a reach behind the Island to a mark midway along the east side. From there there was a beat to the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay and another beat back to the mark in the south west corner, passing through the Start (and Finish) line on the way.

Eighteen boats were present on the water at the start and first away was Julian Dobson (laser full rig) with Rupert Smith (Byte CII) next and Laurence Venus (Streaker) third with Charlie Gribble (Laser full rig) fourth and then Alan Simmons (Streaker) fifth to round the clubhouse mark. Alan gybed onto port tack whilst the rest of the leading group stayed on starboard tack. Just before the south east mark Alan gybed back to round in the lead just ahead of Laurence. By the time these two turned onto the beat at the middle east mark Laurence was in front and by the end of the first lap Charlie had also passed Alan with Matt Springall (Laser full rig) and Julian fifth, Darren Field and Nathan Bloss (RS200) were sixth, Rupert seventh, Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) eighth, Terry Jones (Laser full rig) ninth and Roger McCall tenth. Next up were Bill Giles (Solo), Bill Wates (Laser full rig), Zoe McCAig (Laser Radial) and Steve and Penelope Duncan (Fireball). In fifteenth position was John Smith (Laser Radial) with Josh Smith (Laser Radial) sixteenth, Colin Cryer (Otter) seventeenth and Charlie Rigg (Topper) eighteenth.

In lap two Laurence stayed out in front whilst Alan used the port tack down the run once more to overtake Charlie.G. Roger made great strides, presumably down the run, to pick up four places (passing Terry, Michael, Rupert and Darren) and catch up to Julian who was just behind fourth placed Matt. Rupert passed Darren but stayed in 7^th place. Bill W gained two places to lie tenth ahead of Steve and Penelope who in turn gained two places. Terry meanwhile lost five places but there were no changes in the last four.
Lap 3 had the leading four places remained unchanged but with Charlie.G hotly challenging Alan for second place but not quite able to make it in this lap. The next three places also remained unchanged but Steve and Penelope gained more scalps passing Rupert, Darren , Michael and Bill.W to lie 7^th. Rupert dropped back five places to lie astern of Zoe.
Lap 4 had Charlie.G finally overtake Alan once more with Matt close behind but unable to pass Alan and with Julian just behind him. Below these five the order remained unchanged down to Rupert now lying 12^th. John got past Terry and Bill.G with Josh leading Colin and Charlie.R on his last lap.

Lap 5 saw no changes in the top 11 boats but Terry overtook Rupert and both John and Josh passed Bill.G.
Lap 6 was much the same for the leading five with Steve and Penelope passing Roger to lie 6^th and Bill.G re-passing Josh with Colin at 17^th finishing his race.
Lap 7 saw Laurence still out in front with Charlie 14 seconds behind but unable to make any further impression. Alan was third some 1.1/2 minutes behind but with Julian now behind him having overtaken Matt. Rupert re-passed Terry to lie 12^th with John, Bill.G and Josh behind, his being the last lap for the Solo and Radial.
Lap 8 and the final lap saw Laurence take the gun, still 14 seconds ahead of Charlie.G. Next home was Julian having passed Alan on the final reach behind the Island with Matt still 5^th but determined to do better in the second race of the day. Roger edged back in front of Steve to take 6^th and Darren overtook Michael who had been in front of him since the third lap.
With the handicaps applied Laurence was the clear winner with Alan Second and Charlie third, Julian fourth and Matt fifth.

 Race 6 was to be held over the same course but with an over enthusiastic fleet there was a general recall at the first start. The second start was confused when the four minute signal was made early at three minutes and at the start gun (at for minutes) half the fleet was missing from the start area. However the race stood and at the gun Matt was first away with Roger in close attendance. Laurence next to round the south west mark and then Darren. Alan was nowhere near the line and crossed about eigth. For the run, the wind had shifted, and so there was no real advantage for a port tack gybe down to the south east corner mark although Laurence, Rupert and Charlie.G attempted it. By the end of the run Matt was in front with Roger behind with Josh next and then Laurence. By the end of the first lap the order was Matt, Roger, Daren and Charlie.G with Alan , Josh and Bill.W crossing the line together in fifth place. In eight place was Terry just ahead of Steve and Penelope. Tenth place was held by Ruper with Michael behind him and then Zoe, Bill.G and John in 14^th. Laurence was lying 15^th having been the subject of a port and starboard call, on the wind shifted first, return beat, gone in to irons and then caught up the mark (Fisherman’s Bay) with his dagger board and rudder. Behind Laurence came Julian, Charlie.R and lastly Colin.

By the end of the second lap Charlie.G had passed Darren to go third behind Matt and Roger. Bill.W was lying 5^th in front of Alan who, whilst trying to pass Josh, had hit the clubhouse mark and had to do his turn. Terry was Just behind Alan and Josh had dropped back a place to lie 8^th. Rupert and Steve crossed the line alongside one another with Laurence having pulled back four places to lie 12^th and Bill.G having lost three places to lie 16^th behind Zoe, John and Julian who in turn had gained a place. Colin was now ahead of Charlie.R.

Lap 3 saw no changes in the order of the leading six boats but Laurence had clawed back another four places to lie 7^th behind Alan. Next up was Terry in 8^th with Steve behind him and then Michael who had passed Rupert followed by Josh who had slipped back four places. Julian was up to 13^th having overtaken Zoe and John with Bill.G 16th and then Colin and Charlie.R.
Lap 4 had no place changes in the top seven but with Laurence closing on Alan. Terry dropped back 3 places to lie 11^th behind Steve, Michael and Julian – now up to 10^th. Behind Terry was Zoe who, together with John, had passed Rupert  and Josh. The three tail-enders remained unaltered with Colin and Charlie.R finishing their race.
Lap 5 saw Zoe overtake Terry to lie 11^th behind Julian and Josh passed Rupert but there were no changes in the positions of the top ten boats.
Lap 6, the final lap saw Matt come home in the lead position with Roger second, just two seconds behind, and Charlie.G third. Fourth place went to Darren with Bill.W fifth and Laurence passing Alan on the last reach and staying ahead to snatch 6^th place.
With the handicaps applied Matt was first, Roger second, Charlie third, Laurence fourth and Alan fifth.

A beautifull day on which to sail, the breeze starting at about force 2 and slowly building to top end force 3 with the occasional gust just into force 4. The breeze was very shifty and changed direction considerably between the races. It would seem that most of the overtaking took place on the offwind legs, certainly in the first race, and then the beats finally came into play but a great sail was had by one and all.
Alan.S 1700.


Results:-

R5

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY No	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Mistyblue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1148	39.25	0.00.00	1.0
2	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1148	41.22	0.01.57	2.0
3		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		1332	OOD		3.0
3		Laser	179844	NSSC	Charlie Gribble		1087	39.39	0.02.20	3.0
3	Gay Amigo Won	Laser	175741	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1087	OOD		3.0
6		Laser	7	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1087	41.06	0.03.47	4.0
7		Laser	81	NSSC	Matt Springall		1087	41.33	0.04.14	5.0
8		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		1087	41.37	0.04.18	6.0
9		Otter	981	NSSC	Colin Cryer		1385	45.37	0.04.51	7.0
10		Byte CII	2941	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1146	45.11	0.05.50	8.0
11		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1117	44.43	0.06.22	9.0
12		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1087	43.41	0.06.22	10.0
13		RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Cullen	1053	43.02	0.06.53	11.0
14	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	1053	43.16	0.07.07	12.5
14		Solo	3754	NSSC	Bill Giles		1148	40.26	0.06.39	12.5
16		Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		1117	46.01	0.07.40	14.0
17		Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		1087	45.42	0.08.23	15.0
18		Laser Radial	7757	NSSC	Josh Smith		1117	40.38	0.07.46	16.0
19		Fireball	15021	NSSC	Steve Duncan	Penelope Duncan	980	41.45	0.08.06	17.0
20		Topper	11	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		1313	41.00	0.15.14	18.0

R6

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY No	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1		Laser	81	NSSC	Matt Springall		1087	35.51	0.00.00	1.0
2		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		1087	35.53	0.00.02	2.0
3		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		1332	OOD		3.0
3		Laser	179844	NSSC	Charlie Gribble		1087	36.19	0.00.28	3.0
3	Gay Amigo Won	Laser	175741	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1087	OOD		3.0
6	Mistyblue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1148	38.42	0.00.50	4.0
7	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1148	38.56	0.01.04	5.0
8		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1087	38.27	0.02.36	6.0
9		RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Cullen	1053	37.22	0.02.38	7.0
10	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	1053	37.25	0.02.41	8.0
11		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1117	40.41	0.03.51	9.0
12		Solo	3754	NSSC	Bill Giles		1148	42.00	0.04.08	10.0
13		Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		1117	41.12	0.04.22	11.0
14		Laser	7	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1087	40.07	0.04.16	12.0
15		Byte CII	2941	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1146	42.20	0.04.32	13.0
16		Laser Radial	7757	NSSC	Josh Smith		1117	41.35	0.04.45	14.0
17		Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		1087	41.18	0.05.27	15.0
18		Fireball	15021	NSSC	Steve Duncan	Penelope Duncan	980	39.05	0.06.46	16.0
19		Otter	981	NSSC	Colin Cryer		1385	41.24	0.10.57	17.0
20		Topper	11	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		1313	43.10	0.14.18	18.0