Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum Races 13 & 14 - 15th Feb 2015

The sky was cloudy with a mixture of white and dark clouds and the occasional glimpse of sun as we left for Piddinghoe. There was barely a breath of wind on arrival at the pond but a light breeze from the north began to rise – to about force 2 at the time of the first start. The RO, Mike Godwin assisited by Chas Humphries set a slightly bizarre course with a short first beat and then a close reach/fetch to the south east corner as shown below.

Unlike last week the safety boat crew consisting of Bill Wates, Emily Simmons and Penelope Duncan were really only busy re-positioning the marks prior to the start of the first race. Thereafter they only had to assist in the recovery of one of the fourteen boats when Colin Cryer (Otter) decided to jump out of his boat in mid pond.

At the 11.00 gun it was Stuart Ford (Mirror) first away well down the line towards the shore end. Next off were Darren Field and Louise Currel (RS 200) with Bill Giles (Solution) right on the pin and then Laurence Venus (Streaker) sandwiched between. Behind this group next away was Alan Simmons (Aero 7) and then Rupert Smith and Chris Turner (Vago) closer inshore. Laurence was first to round the windward mark. Rupert, on port tack, crossed behind most of the fleet but found the breeze and rounded the windward mark in second place (with Alan just behind him) and set off on the fetch to the mark in the south east corner. After the next short leg back on the near side of the Island the next beat saw Laurence tack early and end up still in the lead at the mark in the middle of the east side. Rupert followed his lead as did Darren, John Nash (Laser full rig) and Roger McCall (Laser full rig) leaving Alan  who had held on westwards on the beat, to drop behind them all. At the following mark, off the Fisherman’s Bay the Gennaker boats sailed wide and then gybe to start the next leg, the run back to the mark in the south west corner. Alan, on the windward side of the leg, managed to pull through the bunch of six boats. With John.N losing the gooseneck fitting from his boat and had to retire leaving Alan in third place behind Laurence and Rupert as they crossed the line. Darren was next home with Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS 200) 5^th, Roger 6^th, Adam Lansley (Laser Radial) 7^th, Bill Giles 8^th, Dave Murley (Laser Radial) 9^th,Max Bell and Liah Hunter (RS Vision) 10^th, Colin 11^th, Charlie Rigg (Pico) 12^th and Stuart Ford (Mirror) 13^th. Laurence was by then already some 16 seconds ahead of Rupert.

Lap 2 and the breeze was a good force 2, except in the many holes where it disappeared altogether, and seemed to come from all points of the compass. Alan made up some more lost ground on the second beat to pass Rupert and even gained a bit on Laurence’s lead but had Darren hot on his heels having also passed Rupert. .Roger and Adam both passed Michael and Stuart passed Colin and Charlie to lie 11^th astern of Max.

Lap 3 and there was no catching Laurence but Darren made up ground and passed Alan to lie 2^nd. Further back in the fleet the tussel between Adam and Dave ended when Dave took the 7^th place and Adam 8^th with Michael still 9^th.and Charlie went ahead of Colin – no doubt when the latter ‘disembarked’.

Lap 4 saw Laurence now some 50 seconds ahead of second placed Darren and Alan catching up to be just a second behind in third place. Roger overtook Rupert to lie fifth and Michael pulled back to seventh behind Bill.G but ahead of Dave and Adam with Max home in 10^th place, Stuart, Charlie and Colin having finished at the end of the previous Lap.

Lap 5 had Laurence crossing the line just 20 seconds ahead of Darren with Alan a further 5 seconds adrift in third place . Roger crossed the line in 4^th place ahead of Rupert. With the handicaps applied Laurence was the outright winner with Roger second, Alan third, Darren fourth and Rupert fifth.

Race 2 commenced at 12.00 over the same course in a tad more breeze, and with John.N now back on the water again with a spare/mended bottom mast section. At the gun Roger was first away just down the line from the ‘pin’ Below him and nearer to the shore was John.N whilst Darren was further to windward and third off. Bill.G was next across the line with Laurence to windward and Alan to windward of Laurence. First to the windward mark it was Darren followed by Roger, then John.N Rupert, Bill.G, Laurence and then Alan. At the end of the beat, to the middle east shore mark and reach to the Fisherman’s bay mark, Darren was still in front with Roger behind him and Laurence behind him. Rupert was lying 4^th and Bill.G 5^th with Alan 6^th.on the downwind leg. At the mark off the clubhouse Bill. Ran wide letting both Alan and Michael through the ensuing gap. At the end of the lap the order was Darren Roger, Laurence Alan, Michael, Bill.G, John.N, Adam, Dave, Max, Colin, Stuart and lastly Charlie.

Lap 2 and Laurence passed both Darren and Roger to lead the fleet, Rupert held 4^th place and Alan was still fifth but closing to an 8 second gap. John.N went up a place to lie 7^th passing Bill.G on the way. Dave, overtook Adam to lie 9^th and Max remained 11^th. Stuart also passed Colin to lie 12^th whilst Charlie was still 14^th.

Lap 3 and Laurence continued to pile on the pace, drawing just over a minute ahead of Darren with Roger just a further six seconds behind. Alan passed Rupert to lie fourth and gain 30 seconds on him. The middle of the fleet group stayed in the order of the previous lap whilst at the back Colin regained his place ahead of Stuart and last placed Charlie.

Lap 4.Laurence continued to storm ahead but Alan caught and passed both Roger and Darren to take second place. Michael held on to 6^th place as Bill.G passed John.N to lie 7^th. Dave, Adam and Max were 9^th,10^th and 11^th to cross the line.

Lap 5 Laurence was some 40 seconds ahead of second placed Alan who was by then just 15 seconds in front of Roger and then Darren just one second further back. Firstly Michael and then Bill.G overtook Rupert consigning him to 7^th place. John.N was 8^th and Dave 9^th.

Lap 6 was sailed solely by Laurence, having been so far ahead of the rest of the fleet, as he was not finished at the end of the previous lap.

With Handicaps applied Laurence was yet again top dog, Roger second, Alan third, Darren fourth and Rupert sixth.

Results :-

R13

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	BCE	Points
STREAKER	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146		39.58	0.00.00	1.0
LASER	191067	Pevensey Bay	Roger McAll		1088		41.02	0.03.05	2.0
AERO 7	1150	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1065		40.23	0.03.14	3.0
LASER	133416	NSSC	Bill Wates		1088		OOD		3.0
LASER	175741	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1088		OOD		3.0
RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Currell	1051		40.18	0.03.39	4.0
VAGO	808	NSSC	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner	1064		40.59	0.03.53	5.0
Solution	398	NSSC	Bill Giles		1080		41.46	0.04.06	6.0
LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1122		37.55	0.06.37	7.0
LASER RADIAL	172305	NSSC	Adam Lansley		1122		38.18	0.07.00	8.0
RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1051		37.12	0.07.53	9.0
MIRROR	5	NSSC	Stuart Ford		1385		37.13	0.08.14	10.0
RS VISION	434	Plumpton	Liah Hunter	Daisy Davis	1080		40.59	0.10.51	11.0
OTTER	981	NSSC	Colin Cryer		1385		41.41	0.12.42	12.0
PICO	No No	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		1335		40.52	0.12.56	13.0

 

R14

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	BCE	Points
STREAKER	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1146		45.12	0.00.00	1.0
LASER	191067	Pevensey Bay	Roger McAll		1088		39.18	0.03.32	2.0
AERO 7	1150	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1065		39.03	0.04.03	3.0
LASER	133416(26)	NSSC	Bill Wates		1088		OOD		3.0
LASER	175741	NSSC	Chas Humphries		1088		OOD		3.0
RS 200	285	NSSC	Darren Field	Louise Currell	1051		39.19	0.04.46	4.0
Solution	398	NSSC	Bill Giles		1080		42.07	0.06.37	5.0
VAGO	808	NSSC	Rupert Smith	Chris Turner/	1064		42.14	0.07.16	6.0
RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1051		41.46	0.07.13	7.0
LASER	136424	NSSC	John Nash		1088		43.31	0.07.45	8.0
LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1122		45.26	0.08.33	9.0
LASER RADIAL	172305	NSSC	Adam Lansley		1122		38.04	0.08.34	10.0
RS VISION	434	Plumpton	Max Bell	Liah Hunter	1080		38.58	0.10.34	11.0
OTTER	981	NSSC	Colin Cryer		1385		38.11	0.10.52	12.0
MIRROR	5	NSSC	Stuart Ford		1385		38.40	0.11.21	13.0
PICO	No No	NSSC	Charlie Rigg		1335		39.17	0.12.57	14.0

 Much less breeze than last week, for which some competitors were duly gratefull (especially the author) but there were some very difficult shifts to read. On one of the fetches from the Fisherman’S Bay mark to that in the south east corner there was a 45 degree shift turning the second half of the leg into a full beat. That was perhaps the most extreme but the strength was all the time very variable. The sun did come out to play and the drive home was in glorious sunshine with just the odd white fluffy cloud in evidence.

Alan.S 1700

PS. Next Sunday – 22^nd Feb – is the last day of the Numbum Series and only one race is planned. Consequently after that there will be just one more ‘Ramblings’ blog – at least until the  start of the ‘sea’ season at the end of March (29^th at LSC). I am still contemplating an Areo blog, if I decide to participate in the RS circuit so watch this space. Also sorry for the delay in posting last week’s report – when I was in Wales!