Freeman Iceberg Races 13 & 14 - 17/12/2023

 

Freeman Iceberg Races 13 & 14 – 17/12/2023

Overcast with the odd patch of blue sky as we left home for Piddinghoe. There was a light breeze and it was dry. As we approached Piddinghoe from Kingston village the sun peeped out and the sun visors came down. On arrival there was a fresh breeze –force 3 to 4 – from the south west. The sun never did break out.

Laurence Venus as RO, assisted by Ken Cowley with Ed and David Baker in the safety boat, set an ‘X’ shaped course – as below – with the start from the small jetty north of the clubhouse and finish from the clubhouse to a mark in the south west corner of the pond.

Pictures by Bett Simmons

Before the start sequence commenced Alan Simmons saw his Streaker sail away from the south shore pontoon - the Painter detached from the boat - and capsized 20 yards away. Hitching a lift from Julian Dobson in his Laser full rig he got to the safety boat for assistance and from it he managed to ‘capture’ the boat and it was towed back to the bank where it was returned up right in time for him to get to the starting area before the start gun went off.

At the gun Zoe McCaig (Laser Radial) was first away close to the pin end mark. Next away was Ed Rollestone (Laser 4.7) and then it was Mark Ramsay (Supernova)  with Sean Beevers (Laser Radial) closer to the west bank. Zoe was first around the windward mark. Tom set off on the run to the mark just south of the island with Ed behind her and then came Sean with Mark astern.

By the time the fleet started to round the mark at the end of the run Sean was in the lead with Mark behind him.  Next to round was Ed, followed by Zoe and then Alan. 

The next leg was a fast reach from the mark in the south east corner to a mark off the Fisherman’s Bay as Rupert Smith (Laser Radial) went ahead of Alan. 

The order changed again as the breeze freshened for the final beat along the west bank with Sean crossing the finish line in first place followed by Ed and Rupert in third place. Thomas Beck (Laser 4.7) was fourth across and Mark fifth. Both Julian and Bill Wates (Laser Radial) were by this time ahead of eighth placed Alan. Mike Rosier (Laser Radial) was lying ninth, Dave Murley (Laser Radial) tenth, Zoe eleventh, Geoff Sheridan (Byte CII) twelfth, Andy Beck (Lightning) thirteenth, Will Apps (RS Queba) fourteenth, JO Bruggenworth (Laser Radial) fifteenth, Darrel Topp (Laser Radial) sixteenth and Alisdair Fortune (Laser Radial) seventeenth.

Lap 2  saw Sean lead Ed across the line by 29 seconds and no change of order in the next five boats but Alan dropped back  to 11^th allowing Zoe to move up to 8^th with Dave behind her and Alisdair behind him. Mike also dropped back to 13^th behind Andy. Geoff also dropped down the fleet to lie 16^th behind Will and Jo as Darrel brought up the rear.

Lap 3 Ed closed the gap on leader Sean to 14 seconds with Rupert still 3^rd and Thomas 4^th as Julian went ahead of Mark. Zoe gained a place to lie 7^th ahead of Bill with Dave, Alisdair and Alan in unchanged order.  Behind Mike went up to 12^th ahead of Jo as Andy dropped back to 14^th.and Will also lost a place to lie 15^th with Geoff and Darrel still 16^th and 17^th.

Lap 4 Saw Ed overtake Sean to cross the line just 5 seconds ahead with Rupert, Thomas, Julian, Mark and Zoe in the same positions as in lap 3. Dave went ahead of Bill by 8 seconds and Mike went ahead of Alan who still held on to 11^th place. Alisdair dropped to 12^th with Jo dropping back to 15^th behind as Andy and Geoff went ahead of her.

Lap 5 Ed continued to lead and stretch away from Sean to cross the line now 31 seconds ahead. Rupert, Thomas and Julian retained their respective places as Zoe took over in 5^th place ahead of Bill and Mark dropped back to lie 8^th ahead of Dave. Geoff pulled up to 10^th ahead of Mike and Alan. There were no place changes down the remainder of the fleet with Will and Darrel being finished here.

Lap 6 saw Sean close the gap behind Ed to 11 seconds with Rupert and Thomas still astern. Zoe pulled up to lie 5^th as Julian dropped back behind Dave 6^th and Bill 7th to stand 8^th. Mike went back to lie 9^th ahead of Andy as Mark fell further back to lie 11thwith Alan still12th, Alisdair 13^th and Geoff now down to 14^th . Jo managed to miss a mark and was disqualified. Ed, Sean, Andy was finished here.

Lap 7 was contested only by Rupert, Mike, Thomas and Zoe all others having been finished thus it was Rupert who crossed in first place followed by Mike, Thomas and Zoe.

With calculations made the winner of the race was Ed with Sean second, Thomas third, Rupert fourth and Mike fifth.

Results                                  Race 13 - 17/12/2023

Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
Laser Hull		LASER 4.7	207462	NSSC	Ed Rollestone		1210		34.27	6	0.33.13	0.00.00	1.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	46237	NSSC	Sean Beavers		1150		34.38	6	0.35.08	0.01.53	2.0
Laser Hull		LASER 4.7	No No	NSSC	Thomas Beck		1210		43.16	7	0.35.45	0.03.04	3.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	179808	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1150		41.42	7	0.36.16	0.03.30	4.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	61663	NSSC	Mike Rosier		1150		41.58	7	0.36.30	0.03.46	5.0
Menagerie		LASER RADIAL	146421	NSSC	Zoe McCiag		1150		43.31	7	0.37.50	0.05.19	6.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1150		39.38	6	0.40.12	0.06.53	7.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1150		39.42	6	0.40.17	0.06.57	8.0
Menagerie		BYTE CII		NSSC	Geoff Sheridan		1144		41.14	6	0.42.03	0.08.40	9.0
Laser Hull		LASER	7	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1101		39.45	6	0.42.07	0.08.24	10.0
Menagerie		SUPERNOVA	526	NSSC	Mark Ramsay		1077		40.21	6	0.43.43	0.09.41	11.0
Menagerie	The Final Bash	STREAKER	1832	LANCING	Alan Simmons		1128		42.50	6	0.44.18	0.10.43	12.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	85185	NSSC	Alasdair Fortune		1150		43.41	6	0.44.19	0.10.56	13.0
Menagerie		LIGHTNING 368	225	NSSC	Andy Beck		1160		40.10	5	0.48.29	0.12.39	14.0
Menagerie		RS QUBA	No No	NSSC	Will Apps		1260		42.30	4	0.59.02	0.18.35	15.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	2127834	NSSC	Darrel Topp		1150		42.30	4	1.04.40	0.20.40	16.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	166421	NSSC	Jo Bruggenworth		1150		DSQ				33.0

Race 14 was to be sailed over the same course with the breeze having dropped off slightly. It had been quite fresh in Race 13 reaching well into force 4 at times. There had been numerous capsizes in R13 and this would continue in R14 obviously resulting in place changes in both races.

At the start it would appear that Ed Thorburn (Finn) was first across the line with Ed.R next and Rupert  third to go with Zoe fourth. 

At the end of the first short beat there was a massing of boats at the windward mark with Zoe making it first followed by Ed.T then Rupert with Alan just ahead of Sean. 

By the time the fleet was approaching the mark just south of the Island the order was Ed.T followed by Zoe, then Alan  with, at that stage, Sean fourth. There followed the short beat to the mark near the south shore and then the broad reach across the pond to the mark off the Fisherman’s bay. 

This leg and the following beat along the west bank sorted out the order to have Ed.T first across the line at the end of the lap with Zoe 2^nd, Sean 3^rd, Ed.R 4^th,  Rupert 5^th  and Alan 6^th. 7^th place was filled by Mark, then came Julian, Mike, Geoff 10^th, Bill 11^th, Dave 12^th, Will 13^th, Andy 14^th, Darrel 15^th, Alisdair 16^th, Jo 17^th and lastly Thomas.

Lap 2 and the leading six boat’s order remained unchanged as Julian went up to 7^th having passed Mark. Mike remained 9th with Bill astern having gone ahead of Geoff. Dave stayed in 12^th place with Jo moving up to 13^th passing will and Andy on the way. Darrel and Alisdair remained at 16^th and 17^th with Thomas still 18^th.

Lap 3 had Ed.T still in the lead from  Zoe with Sean and Ed.R tying, both 8 seconds behind her. Rupert retained 5^th place but  Alan dropped to 10^th partly as a result of Mike catching a gust as he and Alan approached the mark off the Fisherman’s bay. Mike capsized nearly taking Alan with him. Julian climbed to 6th with Bill behind him having himself overtaken Mike. Mark was now 9^th also having passed Alan. The next five places behind Alan remained unchanged but Alisdair went ahead of Darrel to cross the line in 16^th who was then finished.

Lap 4 and Ed.T was still in front as Sean took second place ahead of Zoe. Ed.R was still 4^th with Rupert  behind  and then Julian6th. Mike went up to 7^th as Bill dropped back to 13^th allowing Geoff into 8^th as Mark and Alan remained 9th and 10^th. Dave went up to lie 11^th as Thomas made a comeback rising to lie12th. Jo was 14^th across the line having dropped a place but with Will still behind her as Andy lost two places to lie 17^th behind. Alisdair and Andy were finished here.

Lap 5 Whilst Ed.T still led the fleet Zoe went ahead of Sean - by 3 seconds at the line. Ed.R still held 4^th place 15 seconds ahead of Rupert. Julian and then Mike were next  with Dave  up to 8^th place ahead of Geoff and Thomas , now 10^th. Mark and Alan were relegated to 11^th and 12^th respectively whilst the last five boat positions remained unchanged from lap 4. All but the top five boats were finished here.

 

Lap 6 the final lap and Ed.T was still in front of the fleet and ahead of Sean who had re-passed Zoe. Ed.R was still 4^th, Rupert 5^th.

With Calculations made the winner of race 14 was declared as Ed.R with Sean second, Zoe third, Rupert fourth and Ed.T fifth.

Results:-

    Race 14 - 17/12/2023

Start: Start 1, Finishes: Place

Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Finish	Elapsed	Laps	Corrected	BCE	Points
Laser Hull		LASER 4.7	207462	NSSC	Ed Rollestone		1210		38.43	6	0.32.00	0.00.00	1.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	46237	NSSC	Sean Beavers		1150		37.33	6	0.32.39	0.00.45	2.0
Menagerie		LASER RADIAL	146421	NSSC	Zoe McCiag		1150		37.56	6	0.32.59	0.01.08	3.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	179808	NSSC	Rupert Smith		1150		38.53	6	0.33.49	0.02.05	4.0
Menagerie		FINN	595	NSSC	Ed Thorburn		1049		36.29	6	0.34.47	0.02.55	5.0
Laser Hull		LASER 4.7	No No	NSSC	Thomas Beck		1210		36.04	5	0.35.46	0.03.48	6.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	61663	NSSC	Mike Rosier		1150		34.47	5	0.36.18	0.04.07	7.0
Menagerie		BYTE CII		NSSC	Geoff Sheridan		1144		35.23	5	0.37.07	0.04.53	8.0
Laser Hull		LASER	7	NSSC	Julian Dobson		1101		34.18	5	0.37.23	0.04.57	9.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1150		36.17	5	0.37.52	0.05.37	10.0
Menagerie		RS QUBA	No No	NSSC	Will Apps		1260		40.32	5	0.38.36	0.06.56	11.0
Menagerie	The Final Bash	STREAKER	1832	LANCING	Alan Simmons		1128		36.35	5	0.38.55	0.06.30	12.0
Menagerie		SUPERNOVA	526	NSSC	Mark Ramsay		1077		36.12	5	0.40.20	0.07.29	13.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	166421	NSSC	Jo Bruggenworth		1150		39.13	5	0.40.55	0.08.33	14.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	85185	NSSC	Alasdair Fortune		1150		34.45	4	0.45.20	0.10.13	15.0
Menagerie		LIGHTNING 368	225	NSSC	Andy Beck		1160		35.08	4	0.45.26	0.10.23	16.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1150		36.455	5	0.45.29	0.12.55	17.0
Laser Hull		LASER RADIAL	2127834	NSSC	Darrel Topp		1150		28.20	3	0.49.17	0.09.56	18.0

 

Not for the first time this winter the breeze was quite stiff, causing quite a few swims, some more than one for some but all seemed to enjoy themselves.

The next, and last, race for the Freeman Iceberg will be on Boxing day 26th December  – not next Sunday - which is Christmas Day. I will not comment on the weather outlook but have looked  myself.

In the meanwhile Bett and I send Christmas Greetings and Best Wishes for the New Year to all our readers.

Alan.S 1832 and Bett.S

PS. Some of you will wonder how I get such detailed positions for each lap. I have to create Excel spread sheets – from the recorded lap sheets – and then sort them to give the detailed order each lap. This is very time consuming and can be not helped if the results are written as clock time and not elapsed times – using a stop watch - or a mixture of both.