Laser EPS Nationals at Burton Sailing Club
by John Codner 29 Jun 2011 17:46 BST
11-12 June 2011
The first race starting in a force 3-4 N-NE breeze saw Simon Bates quick off the line and taking a middle line up the beat but was overtaken by Rob Dangerfield and Claire Ellis who had gone to left side of the course to get a good lift to the mark and went on to open up a good lead with Simon Bates, John Codner and Claire Ellis mixing it behind with lots of place changing. Rob was now well in front and missed the shorten course signal completely going well outside the line to allow Simon Bates the win with John and Claire to follow with Southport helms Andy and Tony Leeson also missing the line and failing to finish.
The 2nd race was a much closer affair with Rob just winning from Simon who had squeezed ahead of John At the final leeward mark with Claire close behind followed by Andy and Tony Leeson.With a lighter breeze Claire worked her way through the fleet to win from Rob, Simon and John.
Sunday dawned bright but the watery look to the sky soon turned into a grey force 4-5 West with plenty of heavy gusts later in the day, the Leesons having had a luxurious night and benefit of a weather forecast thought that getting cold and wet did not appeal. A straightforward race which was won at the start after John fluffed a good chance of a port tack flyer Rob took the race followed by Simon, John and Claire.
Race 5 saw a building wind out of the west with Rob and John swapping the lead and Rob easing ahead to win from John, Simon and Claire.At the break before the last race it was thought that Rob only had to start to win, however at the 5 minute gun the gusts started to roll in dunking a couple of Laser radials around John who decided the forecast big wind had arrived and decided to retire. At the first mark all 3 boats were together and hurtled off to the leeward mark with first Simon and then Rob going in, Rob took a long time to recover and retired. Simon got going again to overtake Claire on the beat and both stuck out a hard race for Simon to win and Claire a well deserved 2nd.Simon's win gave him the Championship by way of consistent sailing. Rob was unlucky as he plainly had the boat speed, and Claire ended up a well earned 3rd.
Overall Results:
1st Simon Bates, 9pts
2nd Rob Dangerfield, 12pts
3rd Claire Ellis, 14pts
4th John Codner, 14pts
The next Open Meeting is at Llangorse SC on 24/25 Sept hopefully those who have recently bought boats will join a friendly club and a friendly fleet for a good weekend.