RC Laser Northern Summer Series at West Lancashire Yacht Club

RC Laser Northern Summer Series event 6 at West Lancs © Robert Wheeler / www.rclasers.com

RC Laser Northern Summer Series event 6 at West Lancs © Robert Wheeler / www.rclasers.com

A midweek visit to the Fairhaven lake revealed that the dreaded weed had once again surfaced. "What shall we do?" The 6th event of the Northern series was supposed to be held here.

Rob Wheeler was quick on the phone, and managed to save the day with Alan Tickle from the Yacht Club coming to the rescue. The small amount of weed to be encountered at Southport would only be the bits that would get churned up from the Leisure boats.

It was to be busy on the seaside resort as it was a glorious sunny day. To be shared with the full size dinghy sailing, a local fun run and the families that just wanted to get down to the beach.

Dress code for the day was anything, down to shorts and a good coating of sunscreen. Conditions were ideal for sailing with a dry day and moderate winds.

The 'B' rig was to dominate the day apart from a when the wind was forecast to drop off towards the end, when the A sail would have to be used.

Due to the other boat users on the lake, it was decided to set a course close to the shore line. Two laps of a triangle leaving all marks to port was the best solution finishing on a run.

After a seemingly delayed late start, Race Officer Alan Tickle got the boats under way, to surprisingly complete ten races before lunch break.

It was to no surprise that Dave Fowler was leading the pack, followed by Tim Long and John Sharman in hot pursuit. Would the afternoon change things and there would still be the discards to consider.

Hot lunch as usual was provided and enjoyed in the excellent clubhouse. Others took to basking in the warm sunshine with cool drinks on the terrace listening to the distant summer sounds of music and children on the fairground, while discussing the mornings races.

The full-size dinghies had now finished for the day, so a similar course was adopted but stretched out to cover a greater distance..

Another six races were sailed in the afternoon giving us the overall winner for the day. Dave Fowler, current National Champion from Kinsmill.

John Sharman had also stepped up a gear, by posting a string of second places and a first, which had put him ahead of Tim.

3pm appeared, the wind dropped on cue and it was off to the office for the scores to be added up. Sixteen races gave us the three discards that some had hoped for.

A very good days racing revealed a good standard from the fleet, by the seven separate skippers finishing with a first place and nine managing to get a second.

As this was a best of 3 from six races to count for the Bell Trophy, 32 Skippers entered the series with only 10 of them counting. Competitors came from as far a field as: Canada, Gosport, North Wales. Shaul Holbeche again being the overall winner of The Bell Trophy for the 3rd year running.

Thanks goes to the West Lancs Club for stepping in at the last moment, also the young boat hands for helping keeping scores and with rescue duties.

The next event 'Up North' is the Northern Championships on 18/10/2015 at Fleetwood MYPBC.

Top three results for the day:

1. Dave Fowler (GBR 840) Kingsmill
2. John Sharman (GBR 428) Keighley
3. Tim Long (GBR 999) LLandudno

Top three results of the series overall:

1. Shaun Holbeche (GBR 91) Fleetwood
2. Skip Reaser (GBR 39) WLYC
3. Tony Wilson GBR (985) Fleetwood

Full results at sites.google.com/site/fairhavenlasers/results