Streaker Southern Championship 2025 at Bough Beech Sailing Club

Streaker Southern Championship at Bough Beech © Sue Firth

The Streaker Rooster Super Series kicked off in style with a healthy turnout of 19 boats at Bough Beech SC for the Streaker Southern Championship and round two of the North Sails Southern Paddle Series. Four back-to-back races in a light and patchy easterly offered plenty of opportunity for big gains and losses throughout the day.

Ian Gore (Up River SC) came to the event to shake down his brand new Streaker 2216. But that wasn't going to stop him putting himself in pole position at the heavily biased pin end for the start of race 1. Tacking immediately onto port (with everyone else), Ian was quickly into his groove and led the fleet around the windward mark. He was away in a breeze of his own while the rest of the fleet played snakes and ladders!

Each lap, the downwind legs brought the fleet back together, allowing new challengers to find the pressure up the next beat. By the finish, Robin Parsons (Deben YC) had emerged as the best of Ian's chasers but was sadly unaware that he'd been scored OCS. The beneficiaries were Nick Marden (Bough Beech SC) and Simon Cory (Downs SC), finishing second and third behind Ian.

The conversation with Ian Gore between races: "now you just need to do the same again to prove it wasn't a fluke"! He duly obliged, with another masterclass in connecting the patches of pressure around the course to lead from start to finish. The battle for the minor places was tight once again, with plenty of place changes throughout the fleet.

Robin took second (to count this time!), followed by Simon Gillow (Chipstead SC) and James Dawes (Redditch SC).

The three fleets, Finns, D-Zeros and Streakers, then waited under AP for the course to be re-set as the breeze veered to the south-east and picked up a bit for the last two races.

Race 3 saw Chris Lewns (Broadstairs SC) re-writing the script from 'the newest boat wins' to 'the oldest boat wins'. Sailing his 27 year-old wooden Streaker 1332 (the 1988 Nationals-winning boat), he took a leaf out of Ian's book by leading around the windward mark and never being caught. With Ian back in the pack, it looked like another second on the cards for Robin but, little by little, Ian made the best of the significant shifts to claw his way back into the fight.

On the final lap, Ian just managed to get the better of Robin to take a hard fought second behind Chris.

Going into race 4, Ian's overall position was safe but there were at least four others in contention for the remaining podium places, including Robin, Chris, James and Duncan Glen (Spinnaker SC). It was back to business-as-usual for Ian, taking a commanding lead to show that he also has good speed in more powered-up conditions. Newcomer, Duncan took second, while James was third.

So, with that, Ian Gore of Up River YC becomes the 2025 Streaker Southern Champion and marks himself out as someone to watch at the Streaker Golden Jubilee Nationals at Rutland Water in July! The three-way tie for second fell to Chris Lewns of Minnis Bay SC, with Duncan Glen of Spinnaker SC in third.

Our thanks go to the staff and volunteers at Bough Beech SC for hosting the event and making the best of the challenging conditions.

Next up on the growing Streaker travellers circuit:

• 26 April - North Sails Southern Paddle Series at Banbury SC
• 26 April - HD Sails Scottish Series at Newburgh SC
• 17 May - Holt Golden Jubilee Tideway Race at Ranelagh SC
• 31 May - HD Sails Northern Paddle Series at Hykeham SC

Note that the HD Sails Northern Paddle event at Hornsea on 3 May has been cancelled, due to essential clubhouse maintenance.

1st Ian Gore, 2nd Chris Lewns, 3rd Duncan Glen - Streaker Southern Championship at Bough Beech - photo © Neil Firth

Overall Results: