West Lancashire Yacht Club RC Laser Winter Series - Round 5

RC Laser & Dragon Force Winter Series at West Lancs day 5 © Roger Lincoln / www.viewaround.co.uk

With the sound of roof tiles rattling in the night from the 40mph+ winds, would it settle by the morning? It was surprising to see 16 skippers prepared to beat the elements, as the temptation must have been to stay snug at home on this chilly day.

Bacon butties finished and they're off. Or maybe not. 'Lasers clear the start line' calls race officer Clive. Overcome by 30mph gusts, most of the Lasers had already been overtaken by the Dragons despite their delayed start. Do I struggle to tack or should I simply gybe?

Well not many could, or if so kept quiet about it, but it did get easier as the day went on. The course was two laps of a simple triangle. Clockwise rounding, but with a very short start line. After the first three races the scheduled coffee break seemed a real good idea.

Three more races followed before lunch and it looked like John Sharman was the man to beat. Skip and Tony were always close on his heels, with Eric and Alan showing they also meant business. Even with the D sail tightly adjusted the boats just kept performing for camera man Roger Lincoln who captured some great shots.

A warm up and lunch gave way to a few drops of rain appearing on the windows. It had been forecast so we were lucky to manage so long before donning our wet gear. Transmitters were quickly stuffed into carrier bags to prevent water ingress,unless you had one of those state of the art Turnigy TX Mitts. Jordan having Laser boat problems, decided to jump ship, nick Dads DF and join the Dragon gang to see how their fun compared.

The wind did eventually drop enabling C rigs to be used for the last couple of races. With 12 races miraculously completed, John Sharman finally came out on top. Second and third places were very close, Tony Wilson then Skip Reasor. Alan Tickle. was agreed to be the winner of the most improved on the day.

Dragon racers had also similar results to the previous meet,with John Tushingham in first place, followed by Tim Long and Tim Lanigan in third. The next event in 2 weeks is the last of the series. If you are new to model yacht racing, this would be an ideal time to get on the score sheet.

Full size dinghy sailors are also always welcome, there's usually someone who will let you have a go for 15 minutes over lunch, but be warned, it can be very addictive.

Final event in the series is 15th March.