Sunday 7 October 2012

Streaker Ramblings - Haversham SC - 06/10/2012


Saturday morning, 6th October 2012, in Hove dawned to pouring, if light, rain which stayed with us on the drive up to Haversham - just north of Milton Keynes. We were at least 70 miles into the 120 mile drive before the rain ceased and the sun came out in a deep blue cloudless sky for the inaugural Haversham SC Streaker Dinghy Open Event .This was the final Open Meeting in the Pinnell and Bax sponsored Southern Area Paddle Series and was additionally  also the Streaker Southern Area Championships. Ten visiting Streakers joined the sole club Streaker – Gary Hogan - for this meeting which was combined with a six strong fleet of Byte CIIs.
Due to a lack of wind near the club the courses were set at the South end of the lake with what little breeze there was coming from the west shore.
With a beat across the lake it was Alan Gillard (Sheffield Vikings) first across the line with Veronica Falat (Waveney and Oulton Broad SC) just to leeward and Primrose Salt (Chew Valley SC) tucked in behind Alan.G.  Alan Simmons (Lancing SC) was further towards the pin end but moving quickly in the light airs and although rounding the windward mark in fourth place soon lost out to, firstly, John Burgoine (Tamworth SC) and then Matt Whitfield (Tamworth SC) dropping to 6th by the end of the first lap. Matt.W continued to gain ground passing John.B in the second lap and Primrose.S in the fourth and final lap. Paul Jago (Hykeham) moved between 8th and seventh spot back but to 8th at the finish. Mark Mason (West Oxfordshire) was lying 7th at the end of the first lap dropping back to 9th at the close, Chris Smith  (Island Barn SC) hovered at the back with initially 9th place dropping to 11th then getting back up to 10th at the finish. Bill Strange (Stewartby) clawed his way up from 10th at the end of the first lap to 7th by the finish. Gary.H was initially last, climbed one to 10th, then lost it again at the end of the race.  Meanwhile Alan.G and Veronica drew out well ahead of the remainder of the fleet.

After lunch the second race of the day was set, still in the southern half of the lake, but taking marks in a different order (and side). First off their marks was John.B at the southern end of the line with Matt.W to windward but slightly behind. Alan.G was in the middle of the line and Alan.S down at the North end with Veronica.F somewhere between these two. John B was first round the windward mark with Matt.W close behind and Alan.G behind him. By the end of the first lap Alan.G had passed this pair and Alan.S had moved up to 4th spot obtaining an inside berth at the mark, having called starboard on Bill.S and Veronica.F who found an awfull big hole at the windward mark and lost all momentum. By the end of the third lap Alan.S was in 2nd place, well behind Alan.G but ahead of John.B and Matt.W. At the end of the 4th lap Alan.G still led but Paul.J had climbed up to second place and Matt.W passed Alan.S too. Veronica.F wavered between 5th, 4th and 5th place at the finish whilst Mark.M, 6th at the end of the first lap, dropped to 9th by the finish.. Bill.S pulled back one place from an initial 8th to 7th wheras Chris.S also climbed  one from 9th to 8th. Gary.H lost one place from 10th to 11th when Primrose.S overtook him. Alan.G having gained a considerable lead was the winner for the second time.

Race three was held back to back with race 2 and again on a slightly altered course down at the south end of the lake. Alan.G having already scored two wins, to take the event top spot, decided not to enter the final race so it was Paul.J hot off the blocks closely pursued by Bill.S and Veronica.F with Alan.S in 4th at the end of the first lap. By lap 2 Alan.S had climbed past these two into second place where he stayed for the next two laps in spite of heavy ‘pressure’ from Bill.S continually on his transom. Matt.W   went from 5th in lap 1 to 4th and stayed there to the finish. Alan.S briefly overtook Paul.J but lost out again during the final lap with Bill.S taking third and Matt. W 4th place .Veronica fell back to 5th in lap two and decided to withdraw to the shore. This left John.B in 5th position with Mark.M 6th and Gary.H 7th. Chris.S took one spot back passing Primrose.S to take 8th place in the last lap.

The conditions were very testing with big shifts and much variation in wind strength. Near the west bank – where the windward marks were located – flat calms appeared and disappeared at the drop of a hat. Boats just feet apart could be in different wind conditions.

Overall winner of the meeting, and Area Champion, was Alan Gillard with Paul Jago runner up and Alan Simmons in third place.

Name
Club
Boat No
Race1
Race 2
Race 3
Points
Position
Alan Gillard
Sheffield Vikings
1691
1
1
DNC (12)
2
1
Paul Jago
Hykeham
1651
(8)
2
1
3
2
Alan Simmons
Lancing
1700
(6)
4
2
6
3
Matt Whitfield
Tamworth
1446
3
3
(4)
6
4
Veronica Falat
Waveney & Oulton Broad
1654
2
5
DNF(12)
7
5
Bill Strange
Stewartby
1791
(7)
7
3
10
6
John Burgoine
Tamworth
1713
5
(6)
5
10
7
Primrose Salt
Chew Valley
1812
4
(10)
9
13
8
Mark Mason
West Oxfordshire
1667
(9)
9
6
15
9
Chris Smith
Island Barn
1770
(10)
8
8
16
10
Gary Hogan
Haversham
1757
(11)
11
7
18
11

The Southern Paddle series for 2012 now being finished (at this meeting) the winner was declared as Ian Bradley of Ouse A S C who was not present and therefore was not presented with the trophy. Runner up for the SA was Veronica Falat, 3rd place going to Alan Simmons and 4th to Gary Hogan – these latter two having been to almost all of the possible events, again this year.

The Cadzow Trophy was presented to Chris Smith – it had been ‘lost’ and was not found until well after the Nationals where Chris won it with his newly built (the best turned out) boat.

The prize draw for a new Pinnell and Bax Streaker sail was carried out with the winner being William Cunningham from Seafarers SC – who was also not present. He will shortly be receiving a token to present to P & B to claim his new sail.

Alan Simmons 1700