Laser Midlands Grand Prix Round 4 at Swarkestone Sailing Club

by Paul Williamson 13 May 2012 20:54 BST 6 May 2012

The wind forecast of 2 - 3 miles per hour was not a very promising start for the 4th round of the Laser Midlands Grand Prix event held ast Swarkstone Sailing Club. However, those that arrived on the morning were greeted by a steady 6-7 miles per hour. This led the race officer to sail the first two races back to back with the forecast not looking good. Unfortunately by the start of the first race the wind had dropped down to the forcast strength, but two races were sailed.

Paul Williamson (Staunton Harold) led early in race 1 but was soon overtaken by Pete Newbery (Earlswood) and Andy Allan (Trimpley). Pete gained a commanding lead to win comfortably form Andy Allan in second. Local sailors Ian Monk and John Hainsworth used their local knowledge to good effect to come 4th and 5th behind Williamson in 3rd.

A change and slightly shorter course was set for the second race, Ian Monk quoted as saying 'he knows the lake like the back of his hand' proved this to be the case and took first place, second and third places were hotly contested by Newbery and Sam McKay (Swarkstone), but it was Paul Williamson who opted to go to the port side of an island just before the finish line who took second place in front of McKay.

The race officer delayed the start of the third race to wait and see if the wind was to fill in and the fleet were rewarded with a slightly better 5 - 6 mile per hour wind for the last race. However, with the course being identical to race 2, which took nearly 50 minutes the final race finished in just under 30 minutes, which in hind sight was good news as the wind dropped completely. This time Williamson made no mistake and won the race with a comfortable lead fom Sam Mckay, Ian Monk, John Hainsworth and Andy Allan.

This was the 4th event in the 2012 GP series sponsored by Wildwind Sailing and Rooster Sailing, the series is currently being led by Paul Williamson with Pete Newbery and Craig Williamsion (Staunton Harold) in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

Overall Results:

1st Paul Williamson (Staunton Harold)
2nd Ian Monk (Swarkstone)
3rd Sam McKay (Swarkstone)
4th Andy Allan (Trimpley)
5th John Hainsworth (Swarkstone)