Streaker Association Logo

P&B Southern Paddle Series 2017 well underway

The Burghfield open on Saturday 22nd April was the third and most recent event in this year's P&B Southern Paddle Series and attracted a good entry of 15 boats. The series started modestly in March with the Tamworth open which only had 4 entries but things picked up at Bough Beech with 13. So far 22 individual boats have taken part, representing 18 different clubs, and it's interesting that the southern coastal clubs (Swanage, Hayling, Newhaven & Seaford, Lancing and Downs) are represented, suggesting there's a resurgence of interest in sailing Streakers at sea. It will be interesting to see how many boats attend the next SP event at Downs SC on the Kent coast on May 21st.

The series leader is currently James Dawes from Redditch who won all the races at Tamworth and was 2nd overall at Bough Beech. He also got a 2nd in one of the races at Burghfield to add to his tally. Remember, it's individual race results that count for the Paddle series and that you'll need 9 race results to qualify for the prizes at the end of the series. (Also, if there are 4 races sailed in an open, as at Burghfield, only the first 3 count towards the SP series.)

Brenda Hoult was the winner at Bough Beech and was second at Burghfield and her race tally includes 3 wins. Like James she's sailing a new Streaker from The Boatyard at Beer, fitted with mainsheet track and traveller. Veronica Falat also has a new boat from TB@B but is using the more usual stern mainsheet system. She had good speed at Burghfield and won the event, counting 2 race wins. The conditions were flukey in the extreme so it's hard to know what to read into these results.

Newcomer to the Streaker fleet, Duncan McDonald from Newhaven & Seaford, is also making his mark. He came 3rd overall at Burghfield, sailing 1934, the Butler FRP boat that he recently bought second-hand. He led throughout the final race. Another Butler FRP boat that was did well at Burghfield was Alex Reindorp's 1953 which was new last summer; he was always in the leading group, sometimes out in front on his own, only to be caught out when the wind filled in from unexpected directions. 

With 6 events to go, there are 18 races still up for grabs so there's still a chance for everyone to qualify. 

The report of the Burghfield open can be found here and the SP results table is here.

 


More information on

Class Sponsors

HD SailsNorthRooster SailingHartleyNobleAllen Sailing
Streaker Class Logo

Developed & Supported by YorkSoft Ltd