Streaker Ramblings - Freeman Iceberg Races 5 & 6 - 14.11.2021

 Sunny with large white clouds, cold (compared to recent days) with a fresh breeze from the north east as we arrived at Piddinghoe this Sunday morning – 21^st Nov 2021.

RO for the day was Ben Philipson assisted by S Blackburn – with Lewis Johns in the safety boat together with Geoff Sheridan as crew. A course was set around the perimeter of the pond with a Committee boat start near the Windsurf ‘beach’ just north of the clubhouse – as shown below.

                                           

At the gun, with the wind now a top end force 4, the first boat across the line was Thomas Harland-Smith (Laser Radial - NSSC) with Ed Thorburn (Finn – NSSC) next to go along with Ed Rollestone (Laser 4.7 – NSSC) to leeward alongside him. Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial – NSSC was next to start with Alan Simmons (D Zero – Lancing behind her and Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS 200 – NSSC) alongside him but again to leeward.Next came a bunch of three boats with Bill Waites (Laser Radial – NSSC) above Thomas Beck (Topper – NSSC) and Rupert Smith (OK – NSSC) behind and to windward. It was Rupert’s first outing in the OK.

                                                Photos by Bett Simmons

Thomas H-S was first to round the windward mark, off the ‘Fisherman’s Bay’ with Ed.T behind him and Ed.R behind him. The next leg was a fast reach to a mark behind the Island which was also a gybe which was to prove a sever hazard zone for most of the fleet. At the end of the lap the order was Thomas H-S,  Ed.T, Ed.R, Zoe, Rupert, Michael, Sean Beevers (Laser full rig – NSSC), Bill, and Thomas.B. Alan got to the finish area and decided that it was too breezy for his liking with the D Zero’s sail area of 8.1 M sq too much to handle for the senior, senior and thus he retired ashore.

Lap 2 saw Thomas.H_S continue to hold first place with Ed.T dropping back to cross the line 15 seconds behind him. Ed.R was third to cross with Rupert still behind Zoe. Michael was 6^th, Bill 7^thand Thomas.B 8^th,Sean, having taken a dip, back in last place behind him.

Lap 3 and both Ed.t and Thomas. H-S were timed crossing the line simultaneously with Ed.R just12 seconds astern. Rupert went ahead of Zoe to lie 4^th with the order behind unchanged. The breeze had begun to increase, as forecast, with the gybe mark taking its toll and the reached fast and furious.

Lap 4 and the only change was at the back of the fleet where Sean recovered from last place as he overtook Thomas.B.

Lap 5 and although leading Ed.T could not shake off Thomas.H-S crossing the line just 7 seconds ahead and Ed.R just another 14 seconds behind Thomas.

Lap 6 with Ed.T leading by 8 seconds from Thomas.H-S and Ed.R still 3^rd, 9 seconds behind but with no place changes further down the fleet.

Lap 7 and Ed.T’s lead was now 6 seconds seconds from Thomas.H-S with Ed.R 14 second astern. The order in the rest of the fleet remained unchanged – from lap 4 – Thomas.B having finished at the end of lap 6.

Lap 8 Ed.T pulled ahead of Thomas.H-S to make it 9 seconds in front! Ed.R dropped back to cross the line 27 seconds behind with Rupert sill ahead of Zoe, Michael, Bill – Sean having finished a lap earlier.

Lap 9, the final lap and Thomas.H-S crossed the line in second place by just1 second behind Ed.Twith Ed.R just 17 seconds further back. Rupert  remained a respectable distance ahead of Zoe  with Michael bringing up the rear Bill having finished at the end of lap7.

With handicaps applied and times corrected the winner of this somewhat blustery race was Ed Rolestone with Thomas Harland-Smithsecond and Rupert Smith 3^rd, Ed Thorburn 4thand Zoe McCaig 5^th.

Results - Provisional:-            Race 5 - 21/11/2021

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
1	Laser Hull		LASER 4.7	207462	NSSC	Ed Rollestone		1208		34.59	9	0.28.58	0.00.00	1.0
2	Laser Hull	Calimity	LASER RADIAL	72341	NSSC	Thomas Harland-Smith		1147		34.42	9	0.30.15	0.01.29	2.0
3	Menagerie	Saxon	OK	2239	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1104		36.20	9	0.32.55	0.04.22	3.0
4	Menagerie		FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1049		34.43	9	0.33.06	0.04.20	4.0
5	Laser Hull	Bruce	LASER RADIAL	146162	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1147		38.47	9	0.33.49	0.05.34	5.0
6	Laser Hull		LASER	179808	NSSC	Lewis Johns		1100		OOD				6.0
6	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	26	NSSC	Bill Waites		1147		37.40	8	0.36.57	0.08.08	6.0
8	Menagerie	Hot Toddy	RS 200		NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046		39.00	9	0.37.17	0.08.42	7.0
9	Menagerie		TOPPER	47124	NSSC	Thomas Beck		1365		37.05	6	0.40.45	0.10.44	8.0
10	Laser Hull	Icteros	LASER	46737	NSSC	Sean Beevers		1100		35.53	7	0.41.56	0.11.06	9.0
11	Menagerie		DEVOTI D-ZERO	224	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1029		RET				27.0

Race 6 was sailed over the same course with the wind from much the same direction but getting stronger – top end force 5 is likely, at least by the end of the race.

At the start Ed.R was first across the line with Zoe below him and then Thomas.H-S behind but to weather. Ed.T crossed fourth and almost immediately tacked off on Port. Next away was Thomas.B with Rupert astern and Michael behind him. Zoe does not appear as timed and she must have retired at some point (after the gybe?) in the lap. Unfortunately there is no photo to show who rounded the windward lap first but it was probably Ed.R as he is seen leading Ed.T up the reach from behind the Island. On the line he was in first place with Thomas.H-S second and Ed.T third. Rupert was in fourth place with Michael astern, then Sean, Bill, Alisdair Fortune (Laser Radial-NSSC) - who had failed to start in Race 5, having had problems in the reeds on the south shore - and Thomas.B. retired.

Lap 2 Thomas.H-S took the lead from Ed.T while Ed.R dropped back to lie 3^rd.and Rupert 4^th. Bill went ahead of Sean – who had done some more under water investigation of the pond bottom.

Lap 3 and Thomas.H-S held off Ed.T’s challenge to cross the line 1 second ahead with Ed.R now 10 second off the lead. Rupert had problems in the gybe area, capsized and blew ashore on the South bank, was pulled off the reeds and up-righted with the assistance of the safety boat, subsequently retiring.

Lap 4 Thomas.H-S, leading on the reach up the south shore, over-stood the mark in the top corner off the clubhouse. He had to gybe and then capsized before blowing onto the shore. He went back afloat and eventually crossed the line in 5^th place,. allowing  Ed.T to take the lead with Ed.R just behind him. Sean took advantage of this melee and crossed in third place. Michael crossed 4^th with Bill 6th and Alisdair 7^th. Retired after more swims.

Lap 5 with Ed.T still in first place17 seconds ahead of Ed.R and Michael some 3 minutes behind Thomas.H-S  pulled back to lie 4^th  ahead of Bill. Sean had another capsize and then retired.

Lap 6 and just five boats remained  - in the same order as in Lap 5 with Ed.T leading by 19 seconds from Ed.R. Michael, Thomas and Bill remained and finished their race.

Lap 7 was therefore left to just Ed.T and Ed.R with the former crossing the line just 5 seconds ahead.

With Handicaps applied and times corrected the winner was Ed Rollestone with Ed Thorburn second, Thomas Harland-Smith third, Michael Veale 5^th and Bill Waites 6^th.

Results - Provisional:-                 Race 6 - 21/11/2021

           Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
1	Laser Hull		LASER 4.7	207462	NSSC	Ed Rollestone		1208		26.49	7	0.22.12	0.00.00	1.0
2	Menagerie		FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1049		26.44	7	0.25.29	0.03.27	2.0
3	Laser Hull	Calimity	LASER RADIAL	72341	NSSC	Thomas Harland-Smith		1147		28.41	6	0.29.11	0.06.51	3.0
4	Menagerie	Hot Toddy	RS 200		NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1046		26.59	6	0.30.06	0.07.05	4.0
5	Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	26	NSSC	Bill Waites		1147		32.49	6	0.33.23	0.10.59	5.0
6	Laser Hull		LASER	179808	NSSC	Lewis Johns		1100		OOD				6.0
7	Laser Hull	Icteros	LASER	46737	NSSC	Sean Beevers		1100		RET				27.0
7	Laser Hull	Bruce	LASER RADIAL	146162	NSSC	Zoe McCaig		1147		RET				27.0
7	Menagerie	Saxon	OK	2239	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1104		RET				27.0

The increasing breeze caused massive attrition in the fleet with just the two finishers staying up-right throughout. Enjoyment was therefore quite mixed among the competitors. The forecast on XC Weather is for 16 to 17 Knots next Sunday 28^th November but can quickly change so keep your eyes open!

Alan.S DZ 224.

PS. Anyone requiring photos of themselves - Bett took 150 shots of these two races - drop me an email (and I will try to pick them out) at alan.simmons1001@virginmedia.com.