Streaker Ramblings - Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club - 14th July 2018

Hot, Windless and cloudless as we left home for Island Barn, close to Sandown Race Course on Saturday morning. Apart from getting lost in the last quarter of a mile – conflict between the written instructions and the GPS, the drive up was uneventful. The reservoir walls are 40 to 50 feet above the car parking area so the boats have to be hauled up to the top of the wall by a winch system and then lowered by hand down the other side to the water’s edge with just over a boats width on which to rig before launching. On arrival at the launching point there was not a breath of wind and even attempting to get out to the start line there was little more. In fact Alan never did reach the line before the sequence had started. 

The race Officer had set a Triangle/Sausage type course, as shown below, with the line parallel to the bank in front of the club and about 75 yards off the shoreline. 

The following report is penned by Chris Smith (the local club member) and reproduced here with his kind permission - together with Photographs by Elizabeth Simmons :-

The long hot summer of 2018 delivered yet another baking hot sunny day to Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club. The wind unfortunately was also very light as had been forecast which no doubt reduced the number of competitors attending. The open meeting was shared with the Solo class. Nevertheless, 5 Streakers entered the meeting and there were three very good close races.

The first race started in very light conditions with a reaching start. Duncan McDonald and Graham Butler opened up a bit of a lead on the rest of the fleet. In the last lap however the fleet bunched up with Alan Simmons making a great run from well back in last place to get right into contention and there was almost a blanket finish with the whole fleet crossing the line within a few boat lengths. At the finish Mc Donald was still in the lead with Smith 2nd and Butler 3rd with Phil Haldron just holding on in the end for 4th.

In race 2 shifting wind resulted in a running start but again Butler and McDonald got away with Phil Haldron in hot pursuit. Graham Butler held on to win this one with Duncan McDonald 2nd Alan Simmons pulled off another of his rapid advances in the last lap to this time finish 3rd. 

With the wind continuing to shift to the East the Race Officer decided (was persuaded) to run the third race  course in reverse, switching the wing mark to be the windward mark and switching all the roundings to be starboard hand. So the start was a more normal beating start. Mc Donald and Butler again took the lead with Smith chasing. The starboard roundings as always provided some entertainment with the conflict between Port boats demanding room and boats coming in on Starboard. In the end McDonald won a comfortable victory but Butler rounding the last mark in 2nd place was not able to fetch the finishing line from the last mark and let Smith through. Haldon managed to pip Simmons for 4th. 

Overall McDonald was the comfortable winner with Graham Butler taking 2nd on count back with Smith 3rd.
Chris Smith (Edits by Alan.S 1700)

Results:- 

Posn	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	2102	Duncan McDonald	NSSC	1	(2)	1	2
2	1760	Graham Butler	Frensham Pond	3	1	(3)	4
3	1844	Chris Smith	Island Barn	2	(4)	2	4
4	1700	Alan Simmons	Lancing	5	3	(5)	8
5	1905	Phil Hadron	Downs	4	(5)	4	9

Alan.S 1700
PS. It was remarkable that in all three races the tail enders caught up with the leaders in the final legs and the 'fleet' all crossed the line almost together.

Streaker Ramblings - Streaker Open at Newhaven & Seaford SC - 23rd June 2018

A streaker open meeting was held at Newhaven and Seaford SC on Saturday 23rd June jointly with a Topper Open. The Streaker fleet was disappointing with only one visitor, yours truly, with four home club boats. The conditions were perfect with a force 4 breeze from the south west, directly onshore, with a warm an cloudless blue sky complete with low water for the start of the first of the three races sailed.
The RO, Ed Thorburn set a rather strange course with a rectangular shape, the Streakers sailing a series of sausages on the second leg after the initial beat finishing with a reach along the shore from the downwind mark.and the Toppers having their sausage on the initial upwind leg. The Toppers had their sausage on the initial windward leg followed by a reach, run and final reach. To complicate matters the fleets sailed a number of sausages as directed by a lapboard on the committee boat, the start and finish lines being at 90 degrees to each other - as shown below.

The report below was authored by the event overall winner Duncan McDonald who kindly

agreed to allowed me to reproduce it here.

A select group of mostly local and skilled competitors arrived at Seaford Sailing Club to be greeted by beautiful sunshine, breeze and minimal swell.

An interesting course was set up to allow for the concomitant Topper open meeting.

Race one was sailed in 10-14 knots of breeze with a clean start and excellent upwind speed by Rupert Smith to arrive first at the windward mark. He was chased hard by Duncan McDonald who just managed to overhaul him by the leeward mark but managed to reach off in the wrong direction until Rupert informed Lawrence and Duncan of their error. The race continued with Rupert leading at the windward mark and Duncan at the leeward mark for a number of laps until the final reach when Duncan was not quite sure where the finish line was and Rupert smoked through for a well deserved win. Laurence was third, Noel fourth and Alan fifth.

After a well needed break in the sunshine the Streakers returned for more sea racing with a reducing breeze and a change in tide. Race two had a clear start and most boats headed right with Rupert leading around the top mark closely followed by Duncan and Laurence. As the breeze abated Duncan and Laurence overtook Rupert to finish in that order.

Race three was commenced in less breeze; 8-5 knots and Alan got off to a cracking start heading to the right of the course. Duncan protected the right from Laurence as he was an increasing threat in the dying breeze. Alan lead for most of the race but was finally overhauled by Duncan with Laurence finishing third and Rupert fourth.

Overall, therefore, the win went to Duncan followed by Rupert second and Laurence third with the rapidly improving Alan fourth.  All agreed that it was a fantastic day of sailing on the sea with great weather, courses, shore teams and club support and of course a nice beer in the sun to finish!

Duncan McDonald

RESULTS :-

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	R1	R2	R3	Total	Nett
1st	Chops	Streaker	1934	NSSC	Duncan McDonald	(2.0)	1.0	1.0	4.0	2.0
2nd	Scoundrel	Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith	1.0	3.0	(4.0)	8.0	4.0
3rd	Mistyblue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus	(3.0)	2.0	3.0	8.0	5.0
4th	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing S C	Alan Simmons	(5.0)	4.0	2.0	11.0	6.0
5th		Streaker	1620	NSSC	Neol West	4.0	(6.0 DNC)	6.0 DNC	16.0	10.0

It was a brilliant day for sailing, such a pity that there were no visitors - other than yours truly. I realise that the vast number of Streaker owners are pond sailors but there is little to fear by going on the 'Ocean', just the odd wave, with launching and recovery ably assisted with the club beach parties. Due to the poor showing it seems that there may not be an Open for Streakers at NSSC next year which is a venue the association can ill afford to lose in the south east.
.As Donald states above the breeze faded for the third race finally allowing 'Last Bash' to pick up her skirts and show the others that there is still a bit of life in her ancient helm and although he came last in the previous races he still enjoyed the event.
Alan.S 1700
PS. Sorry for the lack of photos, Bett declined to attend due to the forecast high temperatures and not a lot of shelter from it. As it happened the sea breeze kept it tolerable ashore.

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	R1	R2	R3	Total	Nett
1st	Chops	Streaker	1934	NSSC	Duncan McDonald	(2.0)	1.0	1.0	4.0	2.0
2nd	Scoundrel	Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith	1.0	3.0	(4.0)	8.0	4.0
3rd	Mistyblue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus	(3.0)	2.0	3.0	8.0	5.0
4th	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing S C	Alan Simmons	(5.0)	4.0	2.0	11.0	6.0
5th		Streaker	1620	NSSC	Neol West	4.0	(6.0 DNC)	6.0 DNC	16.0	10.0