Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum Races 3 & 4 - 12/01/2014

Grey and overcast with just a hint of blue breaks and a cool breeze from the south east as we set off for Piddinghoe. On arrival it did not look a lot more inviting, the breeze held at a good force four but was gusting into the mid fives and the boat cover needed the one inch thick Ice removing. There was ice in the boat too, the hawk Wind Indicator had its Vane and Reference Arms were embedded in ice as were the control line ends. The pond water however was free of any signs of Ice. Laurence Venus, last week’s double winner decide that, given the forecast, he would not take part today.

Steve and Penelope Duncan – RO and ARO – set a course around the outside of the pond but well clear of the eastern bank where a ‘Fishing Contest’ was in progress.
The start was just to the north of the clubhouse with a short windward leg to the mark in the south west corner. This was followed with a close reach down the south side to a mark south of the Island and then a run to a mark mid-way along the east side. There was a choice of a gybe at or before reaching this mark and then a reach to the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay and a windward leg back to the south west corner, ignoring the start mark on this leg.

At the start Rupert Smith (Laser Radial) came down the line from the shore end on starboard, forcing Roger McCall (Laser full rig), Alan Simmons (Streaker) and Jazz Sayed (Laser 4.7) to dip under him.  At the pin end Rupert tacked and made the short beat to the turning mark ahead of Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) and Chris Turner (Byte CII) who had started nearer the pin end. By the time the leaders had arrived at the final windward leg Rupert was in front, chased by Michael and Chris behind him. Alan was lying fourth but could not sail as high as the Byte and was also overtaken by the full rig Lasers of Eddie Lansley and Roger  McCall with Jazz was close on Alan’s stern. It was along this leg that Terry Jones (Laser full rig) was the first casualty of the day when a gust caught him, not quite prepared, and he had a dry capsize in the process losing his tiller and having to go ashore for a replacement. So the lap finished with Rupert in number one spot, followed by Michael, Chris, Eddie, Roger, Alan, Jazz. Next home in 8^th place was Zoe McCaig Laser Radial), David Murley (Pico), John Smith (Laser Radial), Jamie Smith (Pico), Terry and lastly Bea Cameron (Topper).

In lap 2 Rupert and Michael remained the leaders but Eddie and Roger passed Chris

whilst John moved up to 9^th passing David on the way and Bea came in 12^th ahead of the now recovered Terry. Mid field there were no positional changes.
In lap 3 Alan capsized at the gybe at the end of the run, near the mark in the middle of the eastern side, and dropped from 6^th to 8^th but there were no other changes.
In lap 4 Roger overtook Eddie to lie 4^th and Bea and Terry passed Jamie to lie 11^th and 12^th respectively whilst Rupert remained in first place some 22 seconds ahead of Michael.
In lap 5 Rupert remained out ahead, this time pulling out 50 seconds in front of Michael and Jazz overtook Eddie to lie 4^th whilst Chris took a dip at the gybe mark allowing Zoe to go up to 6^th and Terry pulled past Bea.
Lap 6 saw Rupert still out in the lead whilst Michael clawed 25 seconds back on him and Alan remained just nine seconds behind Chris and closing. There were no further changes down the order.
In lap 7 the front five positions remained unchanged with Rupert 35 seconds ahead of Michael, Roger 26 seconds behind him and Jazz the same distance behind him. Eddie obviously struggled a bit in this lap and Zoe pulled ahead of him to lie 5^th whilst Alan overtook Chris to go 7 seconds ahead.
Lap 8 saw Michael gain 15 second to lie 20 seconds adrift of the leader Rupert with Roger 32 seconds behind and Jazz 22seconds further back. Next up were Zoe and Eddie with Alan behind and followed by Chris and then John, Terry, Jamie and Bea having already finished.
Lap 9, the final lap saw Rupert home and dry in first place 8 seconds ahead of Michael with Roger a further 16 second behind and Jazz 49 seconds further back. Zoe came in 5^th with Eddie next then Alan, Chris and John. With the handicaps applied the clear winner was Jazz with Rupert 2^nd, Roger 3^rd, Michael 4^th and Alan 5^th.

Race 4 started at noon, over the same course, with Roger in the middle of the line but first to the windward mark. Next to round was Rupert followed by Jazz and then Alan.  Michael was next up but the leg was too close to the wind for him to fly his gennaker. The next group was led by Zoe, ahead of Eddie, David and Terry with John, Bea and Jamie.

 

By the end of the first lap Roger was in front ahead of Rupert with Alan next then Jazz, Michael and John.

Lap two saw Roger pulling away from Rupert and Jazz leading Alan with Michael still in 5^th place. Terry who had been struggling somewhat in lap 1 pulled up from 12^th to 10^th.
In lap 3 Rupert pulled back a couple of seconds on Roger who continued to lead the fleet as he did for the remainder of the race. Jazz stayed ahead of Alan and Michael who were having their own private duel. Eddie pulled up past Zoe to lie 7^th behind John whilst Terry climbed ahead of David with Bea leading Jamie.

Lap 4 saw no further place changes with Roger 21 seconds ahead of Rupert.
Lap 5 there were still no place changes throughout the fleet but with Roger gaining another couple of seconds on Rupert.
Lap 6 was the same story place-wise but with Roger extending his lead over Rupert and no changes down the fleet.
Lap 7, the penultimate lap saw Rupert unable to make any ground on Roger and Alan and Michael crossing the line simultaneously but still behind Jazz. Bea and Jamie finished at the end of the previous lap.
In the final lap Michael moved ahead of Alan after a very close battle to finish 5^th behind Jazz. Roger came home some 42 seconds before Rupert.
With the handicaps applied Jazz was once again the winner with Rupert second and Roger third. Alan managed to take fourth with 5^th place going to David.
It was a blustery pair of races with a few heavy gusts but yet once again it did not reach the forecast wind strength – all were happy to say.  A strenuous but enjoyable mornings racing.
Alan.S 1700


Results:-

R3

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Place	Points
1		Laser 4.7	206320	NSSC	Jazz Sayed	c	1	1.0
2		Laser Radial	7577	NSSC	Rupert Smith		2	2.0
3		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		3	3.0
3		RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Cu	OOD	3.0
3		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		OOD	3.0
3	Woodstock	Fireball		NSSC	Steve Duncan	Penelope Duncan	OOD	3.0
7	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	4	4.0
8	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		5	5.0
9		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		6	6.0
10	Bandit	Byte 11	2941	NSSC	Chris Turner		7	7.0
11		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		8	8.0
12		Laser	61724	NSSC	Eddie Lansley		9	9.0
13		Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		10	10.0
14	4	Pico	Pink Sail	NSSC	Jamie Smith	c	11	11.0
15		Topper	6	NSSC	Bea Cameron		12	12.0
16		Laser	30678	NSSC	Terry Jones		13	13.0

R4

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	Place	Points
1		Laser 4.7	206320	NSSC	Jazz Sayed	c	1	1.0
2		Laser Radial	7577	NSSC	Rupert Smith		2	2.0
3		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		3	3.0
3		RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Cu	OOD	3.0
3		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		OOD	3.0
3	Woodstock	Fireball		NSSC	Steve Duncan	Penelope Duncan	OOD	3.0
7	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		4	4.0
8		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		5	5.0
9		Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		6	6.0
10		Laser	61724	NSSC	Eddie Lansley		7	7.0
11	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	8	8.0
12		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		9	9.0