11/05/2019
Hornsea open meeting Hornsea Sailing Club

Eleven visitors joined four home Streakers at Hornsea Sailing Club in the East Riding of Yorkshire for round 5 of the Northern Paddle Series.

After a week of consistent rain, it made a very pleasant change to be greeted with blue sunny skies and a gentle if cool breeze that was generally in a North Easterly direction but was shifting by up to 90 degrees. One of the quirks of Hornsea Mere, which is a large 250 acre natural lake is the shallow area, which is clearly marked by a series of marker buoys. In general, the shallows do not play any part in the racing as you are not allowed to sail through the shallow areas, but it is a hazard for which, boats are allowed room for.

By the time the first race started the wind had increased but the direction was giving the Race Officer difficulty in setting a beat as the wind shifted more to the East. This meant that the 1st leg was almost made in one single tack. Fortunately, as the course set zig-zagged across Hornsea Mere the fleet still got a decent beat later in the course.

Martin Penty (Beaver SC) was the initial leader followed by Alan Gillard (Sheffield Viking). Alan took over the lead having obtained water at a mark. Alan was sailing his new Boat Yard at Beer Streaker, unfortunately for Alan the rudder stock decided to part company with the boat as a 'P' clip came loose, fortunately it was tied on. Martin had made Alan aware of the issue. Whilst Alan made hasty repairs Martin sailed off to win race 1. Alan recovered sufficiently to claim second. Behind there had been quite a battle between a group of Streakers, Peter Kitchen (Tees & Hartlepool), Ben Dennis-Smither (Beaver), Dave Smith (Welton) and Kevin Holmes (Halifax). Dave Smith made best use of a shift on the final beat to claim 3rd.

After lunch the next two races were sailed back to back on a changed course that gave a long beat virtually the length of Hornsea Mere. The shallow area 2/3rds of the way up the beat had to be allowed for as the windward mark was the other side of it. The wind made it interesting as it continued to shift, which allowed for places to change if you got it right or wrong. Right of the shallows paid.

Alan Gillard lead up the first beat followed by a group of Streakers, Peter Kitchen, Neil Dyer (Hykeham) and Martin Penty. Neil and Peter both picked a nice shift coming up to the 1st mark which pulled them ahead of Alan and Martin. Peter overtook Neil on the 1st reach, Alan and Martin overtaking Neil down to the leeward mark. On the next beat it was Alan who pulled clear followed by Martin to the finish as they reversed their results of race 1. Again, the racing was very close behind with many changes in position, young Giles Therkelson-Smith claiming 3rd, ahead of Dave Smith and Bob Towler (Beaver).

The Race Officer wasted no time in starting race 3 on the same course as race 2. The backdrop to the racing and heading our way was some heavy looking clouds. As the race started the wind had already started to shift around to the North. The wind was dropping, Martin Penty took the lead from the start, followed by Alan. Martin held the lead for the 1st lap as the wind continued to fade and swing left. On the 2nd beat Alan decided that he was obviously not going to pass Martin by continuing to follow around the right side of the shallows, so took a chance of going left. This paid as the wind dropped where Martin was on the right of the shallows but filled in on the left allowing Alan to take the lead and on a shortened course claim 1st place. The rest of the fleet drifted to the finish, lead by Dave Smith, closely followed by Neil Dyer.

Although the result was very clear who was to finish 1st, 2nd and 3rd the sailors placed between 5th and 9th all finished on 12 points. The scoring system working overtime to sort the permutations of results. This showed just how close the racing was in the Streaker fleet.

The Streaker class would like to thank Hornsea Sailing Club for a great day's sailing. The Streaker Northern Paddle Series is supported by North Sails. Perhaps fitting that the first three were all using North Sails.