Laser Midland Grand Prix Round 17 at Trent Valley Sailing Club

The 2014 Laser Midland Grand Prix moved to the River Trent for the annual Trent Valley Laser Open Meeting for Round 17 of the Grand Prix. Some of the competitors had recently attended the National Championship at Largs where the length of each leg was of a similar length of around about 1 mile, however this is where the similarity ended because the maximum width of the river is about 50 metres. The conditions proved interesting and tricky for all of the competitors which saw some very close racing and a few capsizes even from the front contenders.

Race one saw the local sailors dominate the early stages, with a reach to the first mark followed very quickly by a run against the current, those who opted to hug the bank pulled out early leads. Ben Richardson and Andy Hunter pulled out good leads by the second mark, with Alley Britton closely followed by the first visitor, Paul Williamson from Staunton Harold. Paul Managed to overhaul both Alley and Andy on the beat, but didn't look like catching Ben who won the race with a comfortable lead.

By race 2 the lake sailors were beginning to get the hang of river sailing. This time Alley Britton took an early lead closely followed by Paul Williamson. Alley seemed to have the edge downwind, with Paul pulling through on the beat. However, Alley got on the wrong side of a sudden shift on the last run to capsize leaving Paul with a good lead. Third place was hotly fought between Ben Richardson and Rod Theaker from Staunton Harold, but again the fight was lost due to a capsize, this time from Rod.

The start of the final race became a repeat of race two with Alley getting an early lead again to be overtaken by Paul on the upwind leg. This time however, Alley found even more downwind speed to lead entering the final beat, but Paul got the better of a shift half way up to take the lead and the final gun. Ben Richardson recovered from a poor start to work his way through the fleet to finish second with Alley third. Rod Theaker who held third place for much of the race capsized again to let Simon Limb from Nottingham through into 4th place.

The overall positions were: Paul Williamson: 1st, Ben Richardson: 2nd, Alley Britton: 3rd, Rod Theaker: 4th and Simon Limb: 5th.

In the Radials Eleanor Craig had another good event to finish 1st (8th overall), with William Gould 2nd (10th overall) and Rebecca Grimshaw 3rd (12th Overall).

With three events to go in the series sponsored by Wildwind and Rooster. Craig Williamson (Staunton Harold) leads with John Ling (Bartley) second and Rob Lennox (Barnt Green) third. With three more events to go at Draycote (20th September), Shustoke (28th September) and Staunton Harold (5th October) the series is still wide open.

Series Results so far: (showing those who have sailed more than 1 event)