Streaker Ramblings - Elford Numbum races 7 & 8- 24/01/2016

Streaker Ramblings – Numbum Races 7 & 8 – 24/01/2016

High Grey clouds, overcast, but not menacing as we left home for Pidinghoe Sunday morning. There was a bit of breeze, south west-ish but not of any great strength. The forecasts, Windfinder and Windguru were showing 14 to 16 knots and easing after mid-day. On arrival at the pond it was still quite fresh but nothing too bad although the odd spot of whistling in the rigging was heard near the west slipway. Fifteen boats eventually went afloat, to sail a course set by the RO Daisy Alden Templeman with help from Bill Wates (Safetyboat helm) and others, around the outside of all the marks on the pond. An ARO was finally found in the person of Jo Whitehead assisted by Darren Field.

Well before the start sequence commenced the breeze died away to nearly nothing – barely a top end force 1.The start line from a fisherman’s jetty, to the striped mark, was rather biased to the inshore end and as a result Alan Simmons (Streaker) got a bit too close to the bank and stuck in a protruding tree – with Roger McCall (Laser full rig) on his windward side and in the reeds. They both got free eventually but not until the rest of the fleet, bar Bill Hudson (Topper), had all rounded the south west  mark off the clubhouse . Bill had been over the line at the gun and had to go back to re-cross.

Of the clear starters, it was Chris Turner (Laser Radial) first across the line, well to weather of Penelope Duncan (Laser Radial) then Johnathon Vernon (Streaker) further down the line. Richard Beal (Laser full rig) was fourth over the line downwind of Penelope. In the few yards to the turning mark there was a good deal of wind shadow from the clubhouse but it did not seem to worry Laurence Venus (Streaker) who, although not in the front rank of starters, was first to round the corner mark and set off down the run to the south east corner mark.

Alan eventually got onto that leg and went wide of the rest of the fleet near to the south shore. Louise Currell (Byte CII) was at the head of those on the south side and got a bit of puff at the last minute to round the south east corner mark in second place behind Laurence.

Alan on the other hand, on the north side of the rest of the fleet, rounded in third place. The final leg of the beat back from the Fisherman’s bay area to the clubhouse mark was full of holes, which did not seem to worry Luarence who cossed the line in the lead. Although Alan had closed right up on Louise, at the last minute there was a big shift forcing him to tack, whilst she managed to get clear around and Michael Veale and Mike Rosier (RS200) also sneaked across in front by 1 second! Fifth to finish the lap was Chris with Roger only four seconds adrift. Dave Murley (Laser Radial) was next around with Richard after him  and then Graham Hardy (Laser Radial) lying 9th. Johnathon held 10th with Bill.H 11th, Penelope 12th. Katy Wilfort and Liah Hunter (RS Vision) were 13^th, Jamie Smith (Laser 4.7) was 14^th and Natasha Stonestreet (Topper) 15^th.

Lap 2 saw Laurence continue to pull way out in front of second placed Louise as Alan passed Michael, and so did Roger, as Chris dropped back astern of Michael to hold 6^th place. Dave held on to 7^th place as Graham overtook Richard. Johnathon held on to 10^th as Penelope passed Bill.H. Behind them Katy, Jamie and Natasha held on to the previous lap positions.

Lap 3 and no change in the leading pair’s positions as Roger found enough breeze up wind to pass Alan. Behind them Michael and Chris stayed 5^th and 6^th respectively. Dave dropped back behind Graham and Richard. Further back there were no place changes but Jamie is recorded as having not finished.

Lap 4. Laurence continued to extend his lead from Louise, now 1minute 40 seconds ahead with Roger a further minute back. Michael crossed the line 2 seconds ahead of Alan with Chris in 6^th a minute and a bit further aft. There were no place changes in the remainder of the fleet and Natasha finshed last at the end of this lap.

Lap 5 Laurence continued to fly and his lead over Louise was now almost two minutes. Roger held on to 3^rd place pulling away from Alan as Chris made a slight gain on his time astern of 4^th placed Alan as Michael dropped back to 6th. Graham also lost a place to lie 8^th leading Richard and Penelope as Johnathon lost two places to lie 12^th with only Bill.H behind him.

Lap 6. Saw Laurence crossing the line nearly three minutes ahead of Roger who pipped Louise to the line by one second. Michael also went ahead of Alan to cross 4^th with Chris in 6th place.

With the handicaps applied it was Laurence the clear winner with Louise in second place and Alan third and Chris fourth. Bill Hudson took 5th place in his Topper.

R7

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Misty Blue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1138	42.42	0.00.00	1.0
2		Byte CII	2941	Shoreham	Louise Currell		1150	45.21	0.02.12	2.0
3	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1138	46.00	0.03.18	3.0
3		Laser	133416/26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1091	OOD		3.0
5		Laser Radial	83663	NSSC	Chris Turner		1135	46.23	0.03.48	4.0
6		Topper	21137	NSSC	Bill Hudson (c)		1340	45.57	0.04.03	5.0
7		Laser	191067	Pevensey Bay	Roger McCall		1091	45.20	0.04.24	6.0
8	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047	45.25	0.06.08	7.0
9		Laser Radial	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1135	42.32	0.07.03	8.0
10		Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135	42.41	0.07.12	9.0
11		Laser	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1091	42.33	0.08.26	10.0
12		Laser Radial	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135	44.47	0.09.18	11.0
13		Streaker	1832/1691	NSSC	Johnathon Vernon		1138	45.02	0.09.27	12.0
14		RS Vision	258	NSSC	Katy Wiford	Liah Hunter	1134	45.02	0.09.35	13.0
15		Topper	37585	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340	46.55	0.13.24	14.0
16		Laser Radial	122345	NSSC	Jo West		1135	DNC		16.0

The same course was used for Race 8 but by the start the breeze had eased even more and the line still had the same bias to the shore end.

First to cross, with no one on his wind, was Laurence with Chris second and just downwind and then Graham just to leeward of him.

Laurence was first around the clubhouse mark and off in clear wind down the running leg. Chris was next around followed by Jo Whitehead (Laser Radial). Alan was well back and had several boats close by not allowing him to bear off to the outside – north side of the pack. After eventually gybing away he did get to the outside with just Dave outside him. Gybing back onto starboard just before reaching the south east corner mark, he found himself pinned – literally between Dave and Jo who could not – or would not – give room.
Even after rounding he was still ‘attached’ to Jo and not able to get clear until nearly at the next – mid east side mark. On the following leg, now a windward leg, he was able to get past Dave. But on the next leg, from the Fisherman’s bay mark back to the line he was lying 7^th behind Laurence 1^st, Chris 2nd, Roger 3rd, Graham 4th, Michael 5^th and Louise 6th. Bill.H in Jamie’s 4.7 was in 8^th place ahead of Johnathon 9th, Jamie (sailing Bill.H’s Topper) 10^th, Dave 11^th, Katy 12^th, Richard 13^th, Jo 14^th, Penelope 15^th and Natasha 16^th.

Lap 2 Laurence pulled out an huge lead ahead of second placed Chris, just under 2 minutes. Roger maintained his third place as Alan made some headway and went up to 4^th just 2 seconds ahead of Louise – who had had to complete a 360 degree turn having caught the clubhouse mark on the first run. Michael was lying 6^th with Graham astern of him. Johnathon had passed Bill.H and Dave up a place to lie 10^th in front of Jo as Penelope crossed the line in 12^th place, having gained 3 slots. Richard remained in 13^th place with Katy next and Jamie behind her having dropped five places to 15^th with Natasha still at the back, this latter pair finishing their race at this point.

Lap 3, the final lap, and whilst Laurence continued to streak away, Roger was now in second place with Louise back up to third. Alan was not able to quite catch Chris who crossed the line 8 seconds ahead . Next came Michael still in 6^th place and still ahead of Graham. Dave clawed his way up to 8^th passing Johnathon and Bill.W in the process. Richard passed Penelope to finish 11^th as Jo dropped back to 13^th with Kathy 14^th and last.

With the Handicaps applied the outright winner was Laurence with Louise 2^nd, Roger 3^rd, Chris 4^th and Alan 5^th.

R8

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Club	HelmName	CrewName	PY	Elapsed	BCE	Points
1	Misty Blue	Streaker	1706	NSSC	Laurence Venus		1138	25.25	0.00.00	1.0
2		Byte CII	2941	Shoreham	Louise Currell		1150	30.47	0.05.06	2.0
3		Laser	133416/26	NSSC	Bill Wates		1091	OOD		3.0
3		Laser	191067	Pevensey Bay	Roger McCall		1091	30.15	0.05.53	3.0
5		Laser Radial	83663	NSSC	Chris Turner		1135	31.33	0.06.12	4.0
6	Last Bash	Streaker	1700	Lancing	Alan Simmons		1138	31.41	0.06.16	5.0
7		Topper	21137	NSSC	Jamie Smith (c)		1340	25.30	0.05.33	6.0
8		Laser Radial	163443	NSSC	Graham Hardy		1135	33.11	0.07.50	7.0
9		Laser 4.7	2063	NSSC	Bill Hudson (c)		1195	35.37	0.08.56	8.0
10		Laser Radial	142208	NSSC	Dave Murley		1135	34.50	0.09.29	9.0
11		Streaker	1832/1691	NSSC	Johnathon Vernon		1138	35.30	0.10.05	10.0
12		Laser Radial	81	NSSC	Penelope Duncan		1135	36.45	0.11.24	11.0
13		Topper	37585	NSSC	Natasha Stonestreet (c)		1340	29.09	0.09.12	12.0
14		Laser	43382	NSSC	Richard Beal		1091	35.54	0.11.32	13.0
15		RS Vision	258	NSSC	Katy Wiford	Liah Hunter	1134	37.46	0.12.26	14.0
16	Hot Toddy	RS 200	582	NSSC	Michael Veale	Mike Rosier	1047	42.05	0.18.42	15.0
17		Laser Radial	122345	NSSC	Jo West		1135	DNC		16.0

Another nice sail although the breeze never hit the forecast 16 knots whilst the sailing took place.
Alan.S 1700
For details of the overall placings go to the NSSC web Site - http://www.nssc.org.uk/cms/images/nsscdocs/results/2016/en7.htm