All photos © Tom Clark

Another great day's Laser racing at Rutland S. C. in the 2012 Laser open meeting. Visitor attendance was down significantly by nearly 40% on previous years but the fleet was bolstered by a record turnout of 15 boats from Rutland.

Whilst there may not have been the numbers expected for this event the quality of the competitors more than made up for lower numbers. Several grand prix winners and podium placed sailors attended, together with a 15-20 knot SSW breeze made the day one of the best racing days for Lasers at Rutland this year.

Race 1 was led from start to finish by Rutlands Laser Fleet captain Richard Pratt followed by Ed Bolton King in 2nd and Jonathan Swain in 3rd.

Race 2 saw 8 sailors round the windward mark with inches between them led by Rich bennett,just as a patch of wind arrived. A scorching flat out reach to the gybe mark followed with no capsizes at the gybe for the first 10 boats. Craig Williamson took the lead at the second mark, after the next reach, beat and downwind leg Ed Bolton King was in the lead followed by Rich Bennett and Jonathan Swain by the end of the race Jonathan Swain was 1st over the line followed by Ed B.K. and Rich Bennett.

Race 3 conditions stayed the same, the wind was holding but had shifted slightly south westerly. The fleet got away first time and were cracking off up the beat in close formation. Half of the fleet got caught out by the windward mark position which had been resited after race 2 and ended up reaching in to the first mark. Several of the leading sailors were in this bunch but managed to recover from the back of the fleet to a respectable finishing position leaving the way open for Jonathan and Ed to take the first 2 places and Mark Williams to take 3rd.

Daniel Wigmore from Middle Nene sailed consistently in his radial to 1st radial in 9th overall with two 8th places. Kelsey Suggit from Barnt Green was 1st lady in 11th place overall and Lori Hodson from Rutland was 1st 4.7 in 21st overall. Jeremy Lightfoot won the prize for completing all the races but not actually winning, a great feat considering he only started sailing last year.

Thanks from the Rutland Laser Fleet to all those who joined us to make this a memorable day's sailing, many of us were still in the bar talking about the day's racing long after the visitors had departed, some needed the rest.

Overall Results: