Streaker Southern Paddle Open at Emberton Park Sailing Club

Streakers at Emberton Park © Karen Langston

Thirteen Streakers competed in the Emberton Park open meeting on Saturday 12th April, part of the 2014 Southern Paddle series sponsored by Pinnell & Bax, and enjoyed some incredibly close racing. The breeze was shifty and variable in strength and the course configuration gave plenty of mark roundings and so there was plenty of place changing and you could never relax – there was always someone poised to overtake you!

Each race started with a short beat to a starboard-hand mark which brought immediate excitement, especially as the mark was close to the bank! In the first race Mike Hobin, Debbie Degge and Barney Proud led the way down the first reach. Ian Bradley was soon in amongst them and eventually Veronica Falat caught up and this group of five pulled away from the rest. By the finish Debbie was in the lead with Ian second, while Veronica just managed to pip Mike and Barney to the line in the final few yards.

To make life even more interesting, the course for the next race involved sailing to marks the other side of an island. Debbie and Mike were again in the lead early on and led most of the fleet in a clockwise direction round the island, while Barney cleverly realised that anti-clockwise was better and he was soon close on their heels, while several others were struggling in lighter wind and shallow water! No-one could get a secure lead in this race. Veronica led for quite a while but Debbie claimed water at the final mark and in the beat to the finish both Debbie and Ian played the shifts well to beat Veronica into third place.

After lunch the final race saw Debbie capsizing on the run but she had already won the event and so could retire happy, leaving the rest of the fleet to scrap for a result and it was Ian who eventually established a good lead to the finish, with Mike gaining a valuable 2nd place ahead of Veronica.

Ian and Mike were respectively second and third overall with Veronica winning the 'lucky loser' prize of a Streaker burgee.

Many thanks to all at Emberton Park SC for providing such entertaining racing - and the food was excellent too!

Overall Results: