Lakeland and Border Laser Grand Prix Round 4 at Coniston Sailing Club
by Jonathan Nicoll 27 Jul 2014 14:12 BST
26 July 2014
Nine boats entered the 4th round of the 2014 Lakeland and Border Laser Grand Prix series held in the beautiful surroundings of Coniston Sailing Club on 26th July. Those who stayed away because of the forecast will regret it because in addition to the expected sunshine by the afternoon there was a perfect Force 3 sailing breeze.
Club commodore and race officer for the day Judy Leese set a variety of courses from windward leeward to a sausage-within-a-rectangle which proved too complex for the simple minds of the Laser fleet.
Local sailor Sam Jones used his knowledge of Coniston's tidal streams to good effect to win all three races.
Second in the first race was another C.S.C. member Kim Cant followed by Jonathan Nicoll. Kev Currier was runner-up in the second race as the wind picked up a bit with Jonathan again third. Kim led for most of the first lap in the last race and that is when the fun started.
Almost everybody forgot about the sausage and set off around the rectangle again. Sam was the first to notice and turned back as the order quickly inverted itself.
Principal beneficiary was probably Paul Nicholls from St.
Mary's Loch who bacuse he was using a radial sail hadn't gone as far in the wrong direction as the others. In the end the finishing order was not that different from the other races with Paul second this time and Kev third.
The next event is at KIelder Water on Sep. 6th. All entrants who compete in at least 4 events will win a prize sponsored by UKLA and Rooster Sailing and will be entered into the national draw to win a Wildwind sailing holiday.
Overall Results: (top three)
1st Sam Jones (Coniston S.C.)
2nd Kev Currier (ConistonS.C.)
3rd Jonathan Nicoll (Ullswater Y.C.)