Streaker Northern Paddle and Yorkshire Series Open at Ripon Sailing Club

Ripon Streaker Open © Terry Spence

Ripon SC hosted a Steaker Open meeting on 9 May, one of the Streaker class's Northern Paddle and Yorkshire series. The forecast for the event was not optimistic, rain and light winds only giving way to up to 16mph late in the day and this may have contributed to the rather lower than usual entry of 12 boats.

The day and the water were shared with a Supernova Open taking place at the same time. The decision was taken to postpone for 30 minutes for both classes to give time for the wind to perk up a little. A worthwhile wait as a better breeze did arrive and racing got under way with the Streakers off a few minutes ahead of the Supernova fleet. The course for both classes were the same but only at a couple of pinch points did they find themselves wanting the same part of the lake and by then both fleets had spread themselves out somewhat.

In the first race the start line favoured a port end start followed by an early tack onto port as soon as there was space to do so. This allowed boats from that end of the line to get away and build up a gap on the others, just so long as they read the shifts right. There were shifts aplenty to help or hinder this. Ian Priest took an early lead ahead of Chris Wright and Tim Coleman and on the long downwind leg back to the southern part of the lake was able to capitalise on his own personal corridor of breeze to set up a substantial lead. Some this lead was eroded in the later stages when the chasers received more favourable shifts up the final beat but he was never seriously under threat and those three finished in the order that they had raced in for vitually the whole of the race.

Ripon Streaker Open - photo © Terry Spence

After a break for lunch race 2 got under way from a startline in much the same area of the lake as the previous race and again a port end start seemed favoured. However Chris Hampshire, sailing in a borrowed boat, worked the right hand side of the beat, rounded the first windward mark well clear of the others and was never challenged for the whole of the race to lead from start to finish. The wind strength increased throughout the race, giving occasional planing and with it Ian Priest climbed to second place ahead of Chris Wright. The Supernovas were well spread out behind the Streaker fleet though a gaggle of them arrived at the exit from the narrows, between the north and south lakes, at the same time as a gaggle of Streakers were headed in the oppostite direction. Everyone was well behaved though and there were no conflicts or even raised voices.

The third and final race proved eventful for some. There was no port bias on the line this time and towards the end of the countdown a group of boats near the committee boat end seemed determined to push each other over the line. Most made it back in time and a general recall was avoided but Ian Priest had to duck back, having been OCS. A change of course for this race saw a repeat use of several of the marks used in the previous races though there was one crucial difference. A buoy at the farthermost end of the course, that had previously been taken to starboard earlier in the day, was this time a port rounding. The first four boats to get there erroneously rounded to starboard and immediately had to try to unwind themselves and re-round without impeding the next group of boats to arrive ready to correctly leave it to port. Surprisingly they managed to do this without undue entanglement or problems but the pack was comprehensively shuffled. Ian Priest somehow managed to benefit from this potential mayhem to set up an event winning lead. Chris Hampshire at one point seemed to be in a position to challenge him but fouled another boat in the later stages and had to take penalty turns. Second boat home Tim Coleman crossed the finish line just ahead of Chris Wright but didn't get a finish signal, having been OCS at the start, so Lucy Priest took third place for this race.

Overall Results: