RC Laser Winter Series at West Lancashire Yacht Club - Day 6

Sunday 16th March saw the sixth and final day's racing in the very successful Laser and Dragon Winter Series at West Lancs. The wind was strong enough for small rigs, and cold enough to stop for coffee. At least it was dry.

Lasers

We saw the return to form of National Champion Dave Fowler. He won all 10 races quite convincingly.

The lesser places were much more of a fight.

Shaun Holbech had to beat Dave to win overall, and that didn't happen, though with two discards, his worst score to count was a 3rd. The real fight should have been for 3rd in the overall series. John Sharman was on equal points with Andy Kissick at the start of the day, but rather like the current Manchester United football team, they simply didn't perform. This left Adam Kissick to count 2nds and 3rds to finish with a good enough score to beat them both. The rest of the fleet, although far more competitive than at the start of the series, were very uneven in their scores, with no one skipper managing to string to healthy run of decent results. Of course, this could be bad, or it could be a reflection of the overall improvements and the general standards of those racing.

Dragons

The once again has John Tushingham giving a master class, though Tim Long showed some of the form that had deserted him the last couple of times out. Graham Whalley sailed well enough to keep the pair of them honest while Graham Cornford and Tom Mills fought out for the lesser placings.

Once again, West Lancs pulled out a rabbit from the hat and had arranged for Graphite Sails and RCBoatsUK to sponsor free sails for a draw at the end of racing.

Tom Mills won for the Dragon sails second time, and Dave Fowler won the Laser sail. A more comprehensive report is being compiled. Full results can be found if you Google fairhavenlasers.

Laser
1 Dave Fowler (Kingsmill) 8pts
2. Shaun Holbech (Fleetwood) 18pts
3. Adam Kissick (Blackpool & Flylde) 20pts
4. John Sharman (Keighley) 48pts
5. Skip Reaser (West Lancs) 54pts

Dragons
1. John Tushingham (Keighley) 8pts
2 Tim Long (Llandudno) 14pts
3. Graham Whalley (Manor Park) 26pts
4. Tom Mills (Fleetwood) 28pts
5. Graham Cornford (Fleetwood) 32pts

As the West lancs Vice Commodore said, where else could you expect a regular turnout of 30 or more boats, no protests, good humour throughout the fleet, free sails, good lunches and a wonderful atmosphere with skippers happy to lend boats and equipment without question.

RC racing has come of age, and next Winter will see more of the same.

Well done everyone.