Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum Races 9 & 10 -02.02.2014

Blue skies but with heavy dark grey clouds and then rain as we drove towards Kingston. By the time we got through the village the rain had ceased and the cloud lifted by the time we arrived at Piddinghoe to find a pleasant breeze (about force 3) blowing.

Chas Humphries, RO for the day, set a course with the start midway along the south side, near the second slipway away from the clubhouse, giving a beat to the mark in the south west corner near the clubhouse. The next leg was a broad reach along the west side to the Fisherman’s bay with a gybe and a close reach back to the start mark. Another gybe followed with a run to the mark midway along the east side with yet another gybe and reach behind the Island to the mark in the South east corner. The final leg was a beat up the south side to the mark off the clubhouse.

Sixteen boats took to the water with Charlie Gribble (Laser full rig - NSSC) making a return visit, Jamie Smith trying his hand in a full rig Laser and Yves Horent (Laser Full rig - NSSC) making his first appearance in this series.

 

At the start, of Race 9 of the series, the fleet was spread along the line on starboard tack with Roger McCall (Laser full rig) and Laurence Venus (Streaker) at the shore end whilst Alan Simmons (Streaker) was at the pin end. Alan was first away (having gone just a short way down the line and tacking away to avoid those nearest the bank) and then Roger and Laurence.

At the windward mark Laurence was first to round followed by Roger, then Alan and then John Smith (Laser full rig). Although the breeze initially was about top end force 3 it was supplemented by some vicious gusts (top end 4 or so) and by the end of the first lap Laurence was just in the lead from Roger with Rupert Smith (Byte CII) third, Alan fourth and Matt Springall (Laser full rig) fifth. . Jazz Sayed (Laser 4.7) was lying 6th with Yves behind her and Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) followed by Darren Field and Louise Cullen (RS200) in ninth position. Jamie came next ahead of John Smith (Laser full rig) then Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial) with Josh smith (Laser Radial) ahead of Bill Wates (Laser full rig), Charlie and lastly David and Aiden Murley (Pico)

Lap 2 had Laurence in the lead ahead of Roger and pulling away, with Matt third having overtaken fourth placed Alan. Yves had climbed up to fifth, with Darren sixth whilst Rupert had dropped back from 3rd to 7th, crossing the line to coincide with Michael. Jazz fell back to lie 9th whilst Jamie dropped back to 14th. Charlie had begun a fight back claiming four places to lie 11th.

In lap 3 Laurence continued to extend his lead to some 40 seconds over Roger whilst Yves overtook Alan to cross the line 4 seconds ahead. Darren also gained three places to lie sixth with Rupert losing two more places slipping to 9th as Michael passed him and Jazz climbed back to 7th. Charlie pulled up one more place to lie 10th behind Rupert.

For lap 4 the top order, Laurence, Roger and Matt remained the same but Alan got his revenge on Yves to lie 4th once more and increasing the gap. Darren retained his lead over Michael with a reduced margin of 22 seconds as Michael overtook Jazz to lie 7th. Charlie gained another place to 9th and Zoe and Bill crossed simultaneously with David tail ending, Jamie having retired.

Lap 5 saw no place changes in the front seven boats but Charlie overtook Jazz to lie 8th behind Michael. In the rear four, Rupert and John remained 10th and 11th but Bill passed Zoe, leaving David having finished at the end of lap 4.

Lap 6, the final lap, saw Laurence cross the line ahead of Roger but having made no further increase in the gap between the two boats. Matt came home in third place with Alan still holding on to 4th albeit with Darren alongside, having just passed Yves. Charlie pulled up another place passing Michael in the last stages of the lap. With the handicaps applied the winner was Laurence with Alan second, David third and Jazz 4th.

 

Race 10, starting at noon, was held over the same course. There was little change in the wind direction or strength but the gusts were not quite so violent.

Once again the fleet started down the line on starboard tack with Matt, towards the pin end, first away and Alan just a bit behind but to windward. Laurence was down at the shore end once more but got tied up with the mid line pack and had to tack a couple of times to get clear. When the pack neared the shore those to windward had to tack away or get caught up in the ensuing melee. First to turn the windward mark was Roger, who although starting close to the shore had managed to stay well up to windward as had Jazz. Behind them were Matt, Charlie with Laurence alongside him down the reach.

Up the second reach Roger stayed ahead of Matt with Charlie pulling through to pass Jazz on the inside and Laurence behind her but just ahead of Rupert. By the end of the lap the order was Roger, Matt and Charlie, Laurence, Jazz and Alan with Darren 7^th, Michael, Zoe, Rupert. John was 10^th followed by Bill and then David. Both Jamie and Yves had retired.

In lap 2 the leading four remained unchanged but Alan got past Jazz and Rupert pulled a place back to go 9^th ahead of John whilst Zoe dropped from 9^th to 12^th behind Bill with David as back marker of the now 13 strong fleet.
In lap 3 there were no changes in position for the leading four boats but Michael made a spurt and climbed from 8^th to 5^th whilst Jazz also overtook Alan to lie 6^th. Darren had dropped back one position to behind Alan. Bill also climbed up ahead of John who in turn passed Zoe.
Lap 4 saw no change in the positions of the leading eight whilst Zoe gained back two places to lead Bill, John and David.
Lap 5 Saw Charlie pass Matt with a 2 second lead and with Laurence closing the gap on Matt. Alan regained his lead over Jazz and Rupert slipped back a place to allow Zoe to move up to 9^th behind Darren.
In the 6^th and final lap Roger retained his lead by just one second whilst Matt and Charlie tied for second place with Laurence coming home fourth and Alan fifth and Jazz just astern.
With the handicaps applied Laurence was the winner for the second time with Jazz second placed, third position went to Roger with Matt and Charlie tied on fourth and Alan home a lowly 6^th.

Whilst not as windy (or Swimmable) as last week 26^th Jan, conditions were testing. The warm(ish) sunshine made for a pleasant day’s sail with some very close racing - note four sets of tied line crossings. Young Jamie Smith was perhaps a little optimistic to try to sail a full rig Laser when a 4.7 rig would have been, perhaps, more suitable for the breeze that developed. None the less he is to be praised for his (first) attempt.

Results:-

            R9

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	42.18	0.00.00	1.0
2	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1148	44.14	0.01.56	2.0
3		Laser 4.7	206330	NSSC	Jasmin Sayed	c	1180	45.39	0.02.10	3.0
4		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		1087	42.54	0.02.51	4.0
5		Laser	81	NSSC	Matt Springall		1087	43.04	0.03.01	5.0
6		Byte CII	2941	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1146	46.34	0.04.20	6.0
7		Laser	174910	NSSC	Yves Horent		1087	44.16	0.04.13	7.0
8		Laser	179844	NSSC	Charlie Gribble		1087	44.58	0.04.55	8.0
9		Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		1117	46.43	0.05.34	9.0
10		RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Cullen	1053	44.14	0.05.26	10.0
11		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1117	47.46	0.06.37	11.0
12	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	1053	45.17	0.06.29	12.0
13		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1087	47.36	0.07.33	13.0
14		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		1332	42.55	0.10.12	14.0
15		Laser Radial	7757	NSSC	Josh Smith		1117	DNF		16.0
16		Laser	85296	NSSC	Jamie Smith	c	1087	DNE		37.0

R10

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	41.00	0.00.00	1.0
2		Laser 4.7	206330	NSSC	Jasmin Sayed	c	1180	43.01	0.00.52	2.0
3		Laser	191067	Pevensey SC	Roger McCall		1087	40.10	0.01.21	3.0
4		Laser	81	NSSC	Matt Springall		1087	40.11	0.01.22	4.5
4		Laser	179844	NSSC	Charlie Gribble		1087	40.11	0.01.22	4.5
6	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1148	42.53	0.01.53	6.0
7		Pico 2	2072	NSSC	David Murley		1332	44.06	0.04.27	7.0
8		Byte CII	2941	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1146	46.08	0.05.12	8.0
9		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1117	45.45	0.05.51	9.0
10		Laser Radial	177611	NSSC	John Smith		1117	45.47	0.05.53	10.0
11	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Micheal Veale	Mike Rosier	1053	43.23	0.05.47	11.0
12		RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Cullen	1053	44.00	0.06.24	12.0
13		Laser	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1087	45.44	0.06.55	13.0
14		Laser	174910	NSSC	Yves Horent		1087	DNF		15.0
14		Laser	85296	NSSC	Jamie Smith	c	1087	DNF		15.0

   Alan.S 1700
PS. The results for Race 9 are amended - got the Pico's number of laps wrong previuosly!