UK Laser Masters Series at Grafham Water Sailing Club
by Julian Elwood 14 Apr 2014 10:57 BST
12-13 April 2014
The first event of the 2014 Laser Masters series was held in perfect force 3-4 winds with some welcome sunshine on the Sunday. Race organisation by Peter Saxton and his team was excellent with three 45 minute races sailed back to back on both days using trapezoid courses.
Saturday saw Alan Davis (Oxford) and Dave Freeman (Queen Mary) dominating the standard fleet by taking first and second respectively in all three races. The bigger windshifts on Sunday made consistency harder and in race four Dave Freeman won with Julian Elwood (Ullswater) second just ahead of Alan Davis. Alan and Dave took 1st and 2nd again in race 5 which meant Alan could only be beaten if Dave won the final race Alan finished 5th or worse. Alan held a safe lead throughout to seal victory with John Aston (Grafham) 2nd in the final race.
Standard Rig Results:
1st Alan Davis (Oxford) 5pts (1st Master)
2nd Dave Freeman (Queen Mary) 9pts (1st Apprentice)
3rd Julian Elwood (Ullswater) 18pts
4th David Goddard (UKLA) 19pts
5th David Binding (Wierwood) 34pts (1st Grand Master)
In the Radial fleet David Summerville (Grafham) led Masters World Champion Ian Jones (Dovestone) at the end of the third run but both sailed the wrong side of the final mark on the dog leg reach to the finish leaving Ian Gregory as the winner with Graham McWhirter second. Race 2 saw Ian Escritt taking the gun from Ian Jones and in race 3 Ian Jones won with Ian Gregory second.
Ian Jones won races 4 and 5 from Ian Escritt to take a 4 point lead into the final race. Ian Escritt did all he could to close the gap by winning race 6. Steve Smith (a newcomer to the Masters fleet taking advantage of the new age limit for UK masters events that allows sailors to compete in the year they reach the age of 33) took 2nd and Graham McWhirter 3rd with Ian Jones in 4th doing enough to win overall.
Radial Rig Results:
1st Ian Jones (Dovestone) 9pts (1st Master)
2nd Ian Escritt (Yorkshire Dales) 10pts (1st Grand Master)
3rd Ian Gregory (Frensham) 16pts (1st Apprentice)
4th Steve Smith (Chew Valley) 17pts
5th Graham McWhirter, 27pts
6th Richard Major (Grafham) 29pts
10th Ninian Eadie (Queen Mary) 47pts (1st Great Grand Master)