Streaker Open at Beccles Amateur Sailing Club

Steakers at Beccles © Karen Langston

Steakers at Beccles © Karen Langston

The first ever Streaker Open at Beccles Amateur Sailing Club on the River Waveney in Suffolk was sailed on Sunday 16th June and counted towards the Pinnell & Bax Southern Paddle travellers' series.

Four local boats lined up alongside four visitors for what was a great day of sailing. Shifting south westerly force four winds created some testing conditions at times but were very enjoyable.

The first race saw Mark Langston start at the leeward end of the line to take advantage of the line bias only to see the wind shift seconds after the horn, leaving him in fifth at the first mark. However, a couple of those early rounders took the starboard mark to port and had to return to re-round. This left Rowan Curtis, in his first ever Streaker race, in second place until an unfortunate clash of masts with Langston, saw him back into fourth. Veronica Falat, following a late start, came from behind to work through the fleet to finish second behind Ian Bradley in 'Binky', with Rowan holding onto his place to finish a very creditable fourth.

Conditions were much the same for the second race and saw Veronica take an early lead followed by Mark and Ian. It wasn't long before the positions changed again and Ian stretched out another impressive lead. Charlie Folkard in his Streaker 'Go Bananas' was hard on the heels of Mark, passing and re-passing, never allowing him to relax for a second until finally finishing behind him in fourth.

Everyone seemed to be feeling a little tired after lunch (OK - it was just me!) but the race got away ok with only one sailor caught the wrong side of the line. This didn't seem to slow Veronica down and she was back into second place before anyone knew what was happening. Alan Simmons was going well on the run in the early part of the race, catching and passing the third placed boat at the leeward mark, only to lose out on the returning beat. Rowan Curtis, looking more and more comfortable in his new acquisition, slowly made his way through the fleet to pass Alan and finish in another fourth position.

Commodore Glen Curtis thanked everyone for coming and making it such an enjoyable day. He hoped that the visiting Streakers had had a good day and that the Class would consider coming again next year.

Overall Results: