Streaker Class Owners Association National Championships

Hosted by
Rutland Water Sailing Club

30th &31st August 2008

 

 

The 2008 Streaker Nationals were held at Rutland water 29th-31st August. The training day on Friday made it

a 3 day event for many. Racing was held on the Saturday and Sunday. All eyes were on the weather forecast for the preceding week and unusually and unfortunately what was forecast was what was delivered – very light, then nothing - nothing new there then!

Of the total 58 racers, a massive 42 competitors had pre-entered and more than half of these attended the Friday training session given by National Champion Steve Cockerill. With so little wind the session was held in the classroom and dinghy park with most time being spent unravelling the secrets of the Streaker rig. Steve persuaded us that it is not just the simple piece of extrusion as many might believe and was able to demonstrate that there are some serious tuning possibilities available.

Outstanding for this class and emphatically underlining the claim that this single hander class is going places where others can only dream of - 53% of the field was made up of sailors whose names did not appear on 2007 entry list, the great majority being newcomers to the class.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the class measurer Alan Gillard insisting that all boats would be weighed the many sceptics watched with amazement as up to 26 boats were efficiently weighed in one hour. The only hiccup in this production line when Michael Shuster’s older hull proved too heavy for its fittings - One of them failed catastrophically just before the scales were allowed to take the full weight!

On Saturday morning a Southerly force 2 rose steadily to a force 3 which would have been idyllic except that the beat was so shifty that much of the fleet hadn’t a clue which way to go.

Race 1

With a slight starboard bias on the line and more pressure on the right of the course, it was no surprise to find the starboard end of the line highly competitive as the Streaker Fleet held themselves near the line and under control. It was Steve Cockerill who pulled the trigger the best and lead the surge out to the left. Steve took an early shift back to the right to make best of the late right shift with pressure. Adam Cockerill had made an early tactical move to the right and benefited from this increased pressure and rounded second, slightly behind Steve Cockerill. It was a closely fought race for Adam who held off the chasing pack for most of the race, despite this being his first time in a Streaker. Tom Gillard made some great gains on the downwind legs to pull back to second. Ian Jones had an amazing last lap to make the break into the top three for the first time in the race, finishing slightly in front of Matt Jenkins.

Race 2

A ten degree port bias saw a strong contingent contesting the port end of the line. Adam Cockerill won the pin with Steve Cockerill in close proximity. Despite making an early tack to the right crossing the fleet, Adam and Steve were left in the wake of those who had taken an earlier tack to the right hand side. This resulted in the fleet meeting at the windward mark. First at the mark was Ian Jones from Tom Gillard and Alan Gillard. Pressure from behind on the first run saw the leaders being caught by Steve Cockerill and Jonny Shuster. Steve Cockerill rounded the gybe mark just in front of Adam Cockerill and then took Alan Gillard and Ton Gillard to Leeward to round slightly behind Ian Jones. Ian Jones had done the box on the rest of the fleet leaving him to the left of Steve when he rounded the mark. Tom Gillard tacked to clear his wind out to the left and was loosely covered by Ian Jones on the first shift to the right. Steve ignored the first shift to the right and headed further into the stronger pressure and was rewarded with a large shift to the right with pressure which took him from a close second to a clear lead which he held to the finish from Ian Jones and Tom Gillard, Alan Gillard, Jonny Shuster and Adam Cockerill. The rest of the fleet were left lapping slowly, still trying to figure out the wind pattern.

Race 3

A massive shift to the left on the start line saw the fleet unable to cross the line on starboard. Dave Shuster and Mike Hanes and Rob Adams made a late bid for the port end had the benefit of sailing above the fleet with speed and space and led the early charge to the right. Tom Gillard made best of the start at the port end and was able to cross the fleet before the wind went dramatically right. This left Tom, Dave Shuster and Mike Hanes well ahead of the chasing pack who were suffering from being on the left side of the course with a large right shift. It took many laps for Steve Cockerill to make it back to third, taking Mike Hanes on the last lap. Dave Shuster was quick enough to hold off Steve's last lap chase with Ian Jones taking Mike Hanes on the last reach to the finish.

Steve Cockerill's last race comeback provided the crucial point required to secure the Championship for the 3rd year as Sunday's 2 races had to be cancelled due to complete absence of wind.

At the prizegiving. the most successful club was once again Sheffield Viking. First Lady helm and most improved sailor since last year went to Ruth Baker of Deben YC.

Our thanks go to the support of Noble Marine Insurance for supporting the event and Trident for providing the Virtual Skipper 5 prize. Despite the shortage of wind the Championship was one to remember both for the quality of racing, enjoyable AGM, the friendliness of competitors and the astonshing influx of new and younger competitors. RSC provided an excellent venue and skilful and well judged race management.

Streaker Nationals 2008

Rank

Sail No.

Helm

Club

R1

R2

R3

R4

R5

R6

Total

Nett

1st

1667

Stephen Cockerill

Stokes Bay

1

1

3

 

 

 

5

5

2nd

1661

Tom Gillard

Sheffield Viking SC

2

3

1

 

 

 

6

6

3rd

1669

Ian Jones

Dovestone SC

3

2

4

 

 

 

9

9

4th

1622

Alan Gillard

Sheffield Viking SC

5

4

7

 

 

 

16

16

5th

1645

Adam Cockerill

Emsworth Slipper SC

6

6

6

 

 

 

18

18

6th

1650

Matt Jenkins

Sheffield Viking SC

4

7

11

 

 

 

22

22

7th

1608

Chris Woodard

Deben Yacht Club

8

9

9

 

 

 

26

26

8th

1664

Jonny Shuster

Deben Yacht Club

7

5

16

 

 

 

28

28

9th

1493

Mike Hanes

Deben Yacht Club

10

16

5

 

 

 

31

31

10th

1651

Alastair Fry

Sheffield Viking SC

20

8

10

 

 

 

38

38

11th

1660

Dave Shuster

Deben Yacht Club

15

25

2

 

 

 

42

42

12th

1619

Ian Bradley

Ouse Amateur

12

23

8

 

 

 

43

43

13th

1653

David Parkinson

Ullswater SC

16

14

14

 

 

 

44

44

14th

1581

Ges Brown

Hallamshire

23

11

12

 

 

 

46

46

15th

3

Alistair Docherty

Dovestone SC

11

12

25

 

 

 

48

48

16th

1630

Mike Rimmer

Hykeham SC

13

22

13

 

 

 

48

48

17th

1592

Ruth Baker

Deben Yacht Club

21

13

15

 

 

 

49

49

18th

1621

Chris Fry

Sheffield Viking SC

14

18

17

 

 

 

49

49

19th

1541

Nick Lovell

Ouse Amateur

9

17

26

 

 

 

52

52

20th

1657

Peter Collier

Bartley Green SC

17

24

18

 

 

 

59

59

21st

1610

Dave Cockerill

Emsworth Slipper SC

18

10

34

 

 

 

62

62

22nd

1627

John Hollis

Pennine Sailing Club

24

21

27

 

 

 

72

72

23rd

1662

Glen Wells

Bartley SC

26

19

28

 

 

 

73

73

24th

1548

Ian Whitfield

Tamworth SC

30

28

21

 

 

 

79

79

25th

1586

Peter Tyerman

Pennine Sailing Club

22

27

31

 

 

 

80

80

26th

1526

Dave Metcalfe

Hornsea

32

30

23

 

 

 

85

85

27th

1625

Dave Smith

Welton

25

32

30

 

 

 

87

87

28th

1574

Allan Gilies

Blackpool & Fleetwood YC

29

26

33

 

 

 

88

88

29th

1648

Mike Moody

Hornsea

27

29

35

 

 

 

91

91

30th

1605

Wendy Jones

Dovestone SC

19

15

59 DNF

 

 

 

93

93

31st

1591

Cathie Shuster

Deben Yacht Club

38

20

43

 

 

 

101

101

32nd

1310

Stuart Hood

Hornsea

31

41

29

 

 

 

101

101

33rd

1038

Robert Adams

Deben Yacht Club

45

39

20

 

 

 

104

104

34th

1449

Geoff Town

Broxbourne SC

47

33

24

 

 

 

104

104

35th

1354

Peter Coghill

Rotherham

33

45

32

 

 

 

110

110

36th

1499

Alex Reindorp

Bewl Valey SC

35

31

45

 

 

 

111

111

37th

1640

Ian Parish

Stewartby Water Sports

39

35

42

 

 

 

116

116

38th

1556

Peter Thornley

Stewartby Water Sports

46

49

22

 

 

 

117

117

39th

1478

Jack Turnbull

Redoubt SC

41

42

38

 

 

 

121

121

40th

1641

Richard Smale

Chichester YC

59 DNF

44

19

 

 

 

122

122

41st

451

Michael Shuster

Deben Yacht Club

36

46

40

 

 

 

122

122

42nd

1620

Pierre Naude

Deben Yacht Club

28

59 DNF

37

 

 

 

124

124

43rd

1374

Chris Wright

Ripon SC

40

38

46

 

 

 

124

124

44th

1360

Roger Wallis

South Yorkshire SC

37

52

36

 

 

 

125

125

45th

1446

Matthew Whitfield

Tamworth SC

44

34

48

 

 

 

126

126

46th

1507

Barney Proud

Stewartby Water Sports

42

43

41

 

 

 

126

126

47th

1553

Bill Strange

Stewartby Water Sports

48

40

39

 

 

 

127

127

48th

1603

Jeremy Daniel

Downs SC

43

36

49

 

 

 

128

128

49th

1567

Alan Simmons

Lancing

59 DNF

37

44

 

 

 

140

140

50th

1547

Malcolm Clack

RYA

34

48

59 DNF

 

 

 

141

141

51st

1632

Stuart Robertson

Blackpool & Fleetwood YC

50

47

52

 

 

 

149

149

52nd

1516

Malcolm Palmer

Ripon SC

55

50

47

 

 

 

152

152

53rd

1631

Hannah Hood

Hornsea

49

54

50

 

 

 

153

153

54th

1607

John Wolsoncroft

Broxbourne SC

53

51

51

 

 

 

155

155

55th

1596

Brian Rennie

Girton SC

51

55

53

 

 

 

159

159

56th

1388

Gary Hogan

Haversham

52

56

54

 

 

 

162

162

57th

1580

Lianne Therkelson

Welton SC

54

53

DNC

 

 

 

166

166

58th

1576

Hugh Brazier

York Railway Institute SC

56

DNC

DNC

 

 

 

174

174