Streaker Ramblings - Tamworth - 23rd MArch 2014

The first Streaker Open Meeting of 2014 and rather early in the year, not only that it is 172 miles away from Hove. That meant an early start, up at 5.30 and away at 6.30am. With just the one comfort stop on the way we arrived (dead on ETA) at 9.30. No room , to speak of, in the car Park – the club juniors were out in force for a training session and had come with Mums and Dads – but we found a tiny space and started to prepare the boat. We have to take issue with Matt Whitfield (as will be obvious later) as we reckoned that it was blowing at the top end of force 4 with gusts well above that at times.

So Alan Simmons (Lancing) took to the water for Race 1, did not have a very good start and found the gusty/shifty winds far from his liking as slowly but surely all the competitors behind him at the start passed by, leaving only Gary Hogan (Emberton) behind at the finish. Gary had suffered a failure to his mainsheet (central) horse and was towed back in. Alan in attempting to get ashore, capsized, right by the clubhouse and slipway. After Lunch he went afloat for Race 2 and whilst sailing back and forth in the starting area. A huge gust took him, along with some five other boats, for a swim once more.

His mast became embedded in the pond bottom and he was finally, with the help of one of the safety boats, able to free his mast and get back aboard after about ten minutes trying. One of the Lasers (this was a joint meeting) ended up in the trees on the east side of the lake with its helm taken ashore.

As a result, Alan next packed up his boat and did not stay for the final race. The report below is authored by Matt Whitfield (reproduced with his blessing) and was first posted on Y & Y on 28th March.
 

 

Sixteen Streaker sailors arrived on a sunny morning at Tamworth SC, greeted by a South-westerly force 3 and the prospect of a good day of competition ahead. With the event counting for both the Sail Register Northern Paddle and P&B Southern Paddle there was plenty to play for.

The first race got underway at 11 am in the typically shifty TSC breeze, with the Streakers following behind a 20 plus strong Laser fleet. Class stalwart Alan Gillard, lead from the front, reaching the windward first.



Despite the best attempts of a number of other helms, most noticeably Alan Bennett in his first open meeting, this is how it stayed. Second place was much more hotly contested between Bennett, Scott Bonner, also at his first open, Mike Hobin, Debbie Degge and local helm John Burgoine. Bennett eventually followed Gillard home in 2nd, with Hobin 3rd, Burgoine 4th, Degge 5th and Bonner 6th.

Just before race two got underway, the fleet found themselves dealing with a challenging squall bringing with it stronger winds and rain. A number of helms fell foul before the start, one of whom was 2nd placed Bennett. When the dust settled, Gillard once again took advantage from the off, winning the race to the first mark, this time followed round by Bonner and James Dawes. Local knowledge paid off for Ian Whitfield who, having chosen to take the gap between the islands, rounded in 4th. Gillard, again held out to win the race with Paul Burgoine and Bonner eventually settling in to 2nd and 3rd respectively with Hobin in 4th. Behind them, Matt Whitfield, trying to make amends for a poor first race, Dawes and Degge fought it out for 5th, with Whitfield eventually bringing it home, followed by Dawes in 6th and Degge in 7th.
Race 3 got underway in much the same conditions, albeit with a slightly reduced field, those having fallen foul of the squall in the previous race and Gillard choosing to sit it out having done enough to take the meeting. At the start, local helms M Whitfield and I Whitfield stuck to the committee boat end of the line in order to take the gap between the islands on the way down the beat. They were closely followed by the visiting John Aldhouse who had cottoned on to the advantage to be gained. Dawes, having gone around the outside narrowly made it to the first mark in the lead, closely followed by M Whitfield, Bonner, Aldhouse, I Whitfield and P Burgoine. For the remainder of the race, the lead was closely contested between Dawes, Alhouse and M Whitfield, with P Burgoine alos getting involved. In the end, despite managing to be in the lead at the end of every lap, a Mistake by M Whitfield going into the final lap gave the win to Dawes, with a resurgent Hobin just taking second from Aldhouse on the line. This left M Whitfield in 4th, P Burgoine in 5th and Bonner in 6th.

Once all was said and done, Alan Gillard won the meeting with two bullets, home by Mike Hobin in 2nd and James Dawes in 3rd. A good day was had by all and TSC would like to extend a thank you to all visitors and members who made the event possible. The next meeting for Streaker sailors is Bough Beech on the 29th of March.

Results:-

Rank	Fleet	SailNo	HelmName	Club	R1	R2	R3	Total	Nett
1	STREAKER	1832	GILLARD	SHEFFIELD VIKING	1	1	(17 DNC)	19	2
2	STREAKER	1814	HOBIN	WEST OXFORD	3	-4	2	9	5
3	STREAKER	1851	DAWES	REDDITCH	-8	6	1	15	7
4	STREAKER	1648	P. BURGOINE	T.S.C	-7	2	5	14	7
5	STREAKER	1803	BONNER	DURLEIGH	-6	3	6	15	9
6	STREAKER	1446	M. WHITFIELD	TSC	-10	5	4	19	9
7	STREAKER	1703	ALDHOUSE	BEAVER	-9	8	3	20	11
8	STREAKER	1713	J. BURGOINE	TSC	4	(15 RTD)	7	26	11
9	STREAKER	1870	DEGGE	BARTLEY	5	7	-9	21	12
10	STREAKER	1783	BENNETT	STAUNTON HAROLD	2	(15 RTD)	11	28	13
11	STREAKER	1817	BRADLEY	OUSE AMATEUR	12	(17 DNC)	8	37	20
12	STREAKER	1801	TYERMAN	PENNINE	11	(15 RTD)	10	36	21
13	STREAKER	1548	I. WHITFIELD	TSC	13	9	-14	36	22
14	STREAKER	1683	COGHILL	ROTHERHAM	-14	10	12	36	22
15	STREAKER	1757	HOGAN	EMBERTON PARK	(17 RTD)	11	13	41	24
16	STREAKER	1700	SIMMONS	LANCING	15	(17 DNC)	17 DNC	49	32

Alan.S 1700