Streaker Ramblings, Freeman Iceberg Races 15 & 16 - 22.12.2019

Grey Overcast skies with the sun trying to break through, a stiff breeze upon leaving Hove for Piddinghoe on Sunday 22^nd December for Races 15 & 16 of the Freeman Iceberg series. The writer had been thinking of having to use his Streaker Wave sail – the forecast was for force 5 and 6 – but on arrival at the pond it was blowing at the top end of force 4 thus a full rig was set. Surprisingly the was a goodly amount of activity along the south bank and just before the start sequence there were thirteen boats afloat.

The (coerced) RO, Lucy McCaig, assisted by Michelle Smith with Andy Beck and Toby Rollestone in the safety boat kept the same course as that set by Laurence Venus the previous week – an ‘M’ shape with three gybes and along beat from a mark south of the Island up the South shore to a mark off the clubhouse as below :-

The wind was again from the west but very gusty but the sun broke through with some blue skies but rainless.

Just prior to the gun the fleet came in from the east with Matt Springall, in his new full rigged Laser, picking the pin end to cross the line at the gun. Rupert Smith (Streaker) got an ‘inside edge’ just feet to windward to cross in second place whilst Ed Thorburn (Finn) was just below Matt. The three cadets, Thomas Harland-Smith (Laser Radial), Ed Rollestone (Laser 4.7) and Lewis Johns (Laser Radial) were below the three leaders off the line.

After the first short windward leg Rupert was first to round the mark off the clubhouse followed by Thomas and then Matt with Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial) not far astern and Ed.T behind her. As Rupert rounded the mark off the Fisherman’s bay he was caught by an almighty great gust (of which there were many to follow) as he gybed and had a spectacular capsize from which he took quite a while to recover.

At the end of the first lap Matt was leading with Ed.T behind him and Lewis behind him. Zoe was lying fourth and Thomas had dropped back to lie fifth.       

For individual lap positions see the table below:-

Race 15

Posn	Class	Sail No	Lap 1	e time	Lap 2	e time	Lap 3	e time	Lap 4	e time	Lap 5	e time	Lap 6	e time	Posn
1	Laser	207006	M Springall	6.36	M Springall	12.4	M Springall	18.59	M Springall	25.2	M Springall	32.03	M Springall	38.33	1
2	Finn	595	Ed Thorburn	7.02	Ed Thorburn	13.33	Ed Thorburn	19.50	Ed Thorburn	25.58	Ed Thorburn	32.17	Ed Thorburn	38.54	2
3	Laser Radial	179808	L  Johns	7.45	T Harland-Smith	14.09	T Harland-Smith	20.28	T Harland-Smith	26.27	T Harland-Smith	33.46	T Harland-Smith	40.03	3
4	Laser Radial	64200	Z McCaig	7.53	L  Johns	14.25	Z McCaig	21.33	R Smith	29.14	R Smith	35.55	R Smith	41.43	4
5	Laser Radial	72341	T Harland-Smith	7.57	Z McCaig	14.36	L  Johns	21.38	L. Venus	29.23	L. Venus	36.07	L. Venus	42.32	5
6	Hadron H2	138	L. Venus	8.09	L. Venus	14.53	L. Venus	21.52	Z McCaig	29.34	Z McCaig	36.29	Z McCaig	43.08	6
7	Streaker	1681	R Smith	8.11	R Smith	14.56	R Smith	21.57	L  Johns	29.49	E Rollestone	36.36	E Rollestone	43.12	7
8	Laser 4.7	207402	E Rollestone	8.21	E Rollestone	15.00	E Rollestone	22.04	E Rollestone	30.00	L  Johns	36.41	L  Johns	43.14	8
9	Laser Radial	142208	D Murley	8.27	D Murley	15.23	A Simmons	22.25	A Simmons	30.09	A Simmons	37.13	D Murley	44.10	9
10	Streaker	1700	A Simmons	8.36	A Simmons	15.37	D Murley	22.28	D Murley	30.20	D Murley	37.33	A Simmons	44.38	10
11	Laser	26	B Wates	8.46	B Wates	15.44	B Wates	23.27	B Wates	31.20	M Veale	38.3	M Veale	Finished	11
12	RS200	582	M Veale	10.58	M Veale	17.43	M Veale	24.36	M Veale	31.35	B Wates	38.45	S Beevor	Finished	12
13	Laser	46237	S Beevor	11.49	S Beevor	18.20	S Beevor	25.04	S Beevor	32.19	S Beevor	39.15	B Wates	Finished	13

Lap 2 had Matt maintaining his lead 53 seconds ahead of Ed.T but with Thomas pulling up to lie third ahead of Lewis and Zoe.

Lap 3 and Zoe passed Lewis to lie fourth with Laurence (Hadron H2) behind him.

Lap 4 and the leading three places remained unchanged as Rupert went ahead of Zoe and Lewis who in turn changed places.

Lap 5 and Matt led with Ed.T in  second place with Thomas still third, Rupert next and Laurence astern of him. Ed.R was next lying seventh having overtaken Lewis.

Lap 6 the final lap saw no places changed in the front eight boats as Dave Murley (Laser Radial) caught and passed Alan who was not having a good race. Twice he had tried to gybe, in previous laps, only to have his boat take charge and had to wear round and on this last beat in the final lap lost his tiller in a tack. Michael Veale and Mike Rosier were also not having a good race and battled with Bill Wates and Sean Beevor (both in full rig Lasers) throughout the race until finally getting ahead of both.

With times corrected and handicaps applied the winner of race 15 was Thomas, with Matt second, Ed.R third, Rupert fourth and Ed.T fifth. For other positions see below:-

R15 - 22/12/2019

Rank	Fleet	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Cadet	Laser Radial	72341	NSSC	Thomas Harland-Smith		1145	40.03	0.00.00	1.0
2		Laser	207006	NSSC	Matthew Springall		1099	38.33	0.00.07	2.0
3	Cadet	Laser 4.7	207462	NSSC	Ed Rollestone		1207	43.12	0.00.59	3.0
3	Cadet	Laser Radial	6420	NSSC	Lucy McCaig		1145	OOD		3.0
3		Laser Radial	201962	NSSC	Toby Rollestone		1145	OOD		3.0
6		Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1128	41.43	0.02.16	4.0
7		Finn	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1051	38.54	0.02.08	5.0
8		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1145	43.08	0.03.05	6.0
9		Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1142	44.10	0.04.13	7.0
10		Streaker	1700	Lancing SC	Alan Simmons		1128	44.38	0.05.11	8.0
11		Hadron H2	138	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1037	42.32	0.06.16	9.0
12		Laser	26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1099	38.45	0.06.43	10.0
13		Laser	46237	NSSC	Sean Beevor		1099	39.15	0.07.13	11.0
14		RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046	38.27	0.07.58	12.0
15	Cadet	Laser Radial	179808	NSSC	Lewis Johns		1145	43.14	0.09.51	13.0

Did I mention it? The Safety boat had an additional, somewhat muddy, extra crew!

Both Alan and Laurence decided not to sail in the second race of the day – Alan was far from keen on the gusts he had experienced in the first race and did not fancy a swim. Laurence was not happy in his boat with the smaller of the two rigs that he was using – and the buoyancy hump in the middle of the hull which made tacking/gybing awkward to say the least.

So race 16 commenced with eleven boats coming to the line and at the gun Ed.R was first to cross near the pin end with Lewis below him and Ed.T below him and third away closer to the bank. 

Up the first beat those who had started nearer to the pin and tacked off had the most success with Ed.R leading Rupert, along the west shore and rounding the mark off the Fisherman’s Bay ahead of him and Matt with Ed.T not far behind.

See below for the lap positions:-

Race 16

Posn	Class	Sail No	Lap 1	e time	Lap 2	e time	Lap 3	e time	Lap 4	e time	Lap 5	e time	Lap 6	e time	Posn
1	Laser	207006	M Springall	7.44	M Springall	13.52	M Springall	20.5	M Springall	27.07	M Springall	33.23	M Springall	39.34	1
2	Laser 4.7	207402	E Rollestone	7.54	Ed Thorburn	14.39	Ed Thorburn	21.51	Ed Thorburn	28.18	Ed Thorburn	34.19	Ed Thorburn	40.04	2
3	Finn	595	Ed Thorburn	8.04	R Smith	15.07	R Smith	22.15	R Smith	28.38	R Smith	34.55	T Harland-Smith	40.38	3
4	Streaker	1681	R Smith	8.11	E Rollestone	15.19	T Harland-Smith	22.30	T Harland-Smith	29.15	T Harland-Smith	35.02	R Smith	40.40	4
5	Laser Radial	72341	T Harland-Smith	8.29	T Harland-Smith	15.25	E Rollestone	23.15	E Rollestone	30.04	E Rollestone	36.24	E Rollestone	42.36	5
6	RS200	582	M Veale	8.41	M Veale	15.42	M Veale	23.18	S Beevor	30.09	M Veale	36.45	M Veale	43.06	6
7	Laser	46237	S Beevor	8.45	S Beevor	16.13	S Beevor	23.43	M Veale	30.15	S Beevor	36.47	Z McCaig	43.39	7
8	Laser Radial	179808	L  Johns	8.46	Z McCaig	16.32	Z McCaig	23.56	Z McCaig	30.20	Z McCaig	37.31	B Wates	44.18	8
9	Laser Radial	64200	Z McCaig	8.58	B Wates	16.42	L  Johns	24.09	B Wates	31.01	B Wates	37.3	L  Johns	44.52	9
10	Laser	26	B Wates	9.14	L  Johns	17.00	B Wates	24.19	L  Johns	31.30	L  Johns	38.25	D Murley	45.01	10
11	Laser Radial	142208	D Murley	9.18	D Murley	17.06	D Murley	32.05	D Murley	38.3	D Murley	38.30	S Beevor	46.07	11
12	Hadron H2	138	L. Venus	DNC											12
13	Streaker	1700	A Simmons	DNC											13

By the end of the first lap, with all of its gybes and beats, Matt was first across the line having passed Rupert and Ed.R and Ed.T was ahead of Rupert, with Thomas lying fifth.

Lap 2 saw Matt holding the lead from Ed.T who had overtaken Ed.R  to  lie second with Rupert also ahead of Ed.R in third place. Lewis fell back to lie tenth as Zoe and Bill passed him.

Lap 3 held no surprises at the lead continued to be Matt, Ed.T and Rupert followed by Thomas. Lewis went ahead of Bill and Dave.

Lap 4 and the order of the leading five boats remained unchanged but Michael was passed by Sean and Bill went back ahead of Lewis.

Lap 5 and still no changes at the front but Michael regained his sixth place from Sean.

Lap 6 and Matt led from Ed.T, nearly capsizing on the turn of the mark off the clubhouse just yards from the line but managed to recover. 

There was excitement in the third place finish as Thomas overtook Rupert at the corner mark, crossing the line 2 seconds ahead.

With handicaps applied and times corrected Ed.R was declared the winner with Thomas second, Matt third, Rupert fourth and Ed.T tied with Zoe for fifth place, all as shown below:-

R16 - 22/12/2019

Rank	Fleet	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Cadet	Laser 4.7	207462	NSSC	Ed Rollestone		1207	42.36	0.00.00	1.0
2	Cadet	Laser Radial	72341	NSSC	Thomas Harland-Smith		1145	40.38	0.00.13	2.0
3	Cadet	Laser Radial	6420	NSSC	Lucy McCaig		1145	OOD		3.0
3		Laser Radial	201962	NSSC	Toby Rollestone		1145	OOD		3.0
3		Laser	207006	NSSC	Matthew Springall		1099	39.34	0.00.47	3.0
6		Streaker	1681	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1128	40.40	0.00.51	4.0
7		Finn	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1051	40.04	0.02.58	5.5
7		Laser Radial	64200	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1145	43.39	0.03.14	5.5
9	Cadet	Laser Radial	179808	NSSC	Lewis Johns		1145	44.52	0.04.27	7.0
10		Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1142	45.01	0.04.43	8.0
11		Laser	26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1099	44.18	0.05.31	9.0
12		RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046	43.06	0.06.11	10.0
13		Laser	46237	NSSC	Sean Beevor		1099	46.07	0.07.20	11.0

These were two hard, and hard fought, races in very trying conditions albeit the wind died a trifle for the second race and the gusts were not as vicious. The writer was sorry not to have sailed when conditions eased but had made the decision and had de-rigged.

Alan.S 1700

PS. The results shown here are ‘unofficial’ as calculated by the writer and not a club official and as such are susceptible to change. If you wish to see the official versions and overall series tables go to :-

http://www.nssc.org.uk/cms/images/nsscdocs/results/2019/2019icebergr16.htm