Lasers at the Starcross Steamer

Wind and tide gods with the fleet

Drawn by the prospect of a south westerly force four, the Lasers who were the largest fleet on the start line inched towards their start in 1 or 2 knots of breeze. The sailors were looking forward to the predicted force four later on in the race even though they know this would favour the later starters and they would end up mid fleet at best.

The first beat, with the tide, saw the fleet split on both sides of the course with those on the left hand side gaining a distinct advantage. Ben Flower rounded the mark first closely followed by Rob Dyer and Greg Bartlett. The next leg, across the tide, was a broad reach with Ben and Rob showing good speed to stretch their lead at the front. In the Radials Jonny Wilson had managed to get a good lead over Ben Hawkes in second.

The following beat had turned into a fetch with the tide for two thirds of the leg in slightly more breeze. As the tide had turned and the wind had slightly increased, the two front runners got away from the next mark to sail into the distance and they were now challenging at the front of the fleet. When the chasing pack rounded the top mark the wind dropped slightly and the tide helped them to the next two marks.

Meanwhile all of the faster boats were now beating towards the top mark in less wind and against a ferocious tide (the mood amongst the Lasers was joyful). When the bulk of the Laser fleet rounded the bottom most southerly mark of the course they could see the wind filling in from the south.

After a frustrating ten minute wait the wind picked up and the bulk of the Lasers joined the front runners, the race was now on for the finish. Unfortunately for the Lasers an Aero 9 slipped into the lead on this breeze. Ben and Rob still managed to round the next two marks in the lead of the Lasers but were now only boat lengths from the chasing pack. Rob managed to get into the in front of Ben on the last leg and won by half a boat length.

The third Laser was about three boat lengths behind with Dave Stockton managing to be in the right place at the right time. Jonny and Ben in their Radials had stayed with the pack with Jonny piping Ben by a few feet at the finish.

All of the Lasers finished in the top 15 out of 96 starters and were happy to accept their luck in the imperfect world of pursuit racing.

Laser Results: (overall in brackets)

1st Rob Dyer (2nd) Restronguet
2nd Ben Flower (3rd) Starcross
3rd Dave Stockton (4th) Wimbleball
4th Kian Andrews (5th) Mounts Bay
5th Greg Bartlett (6th) Starcross
6th Jonny Wilson (7th) Wimbleball
7th Ben Hawkes (8th) Wimbleball
8th B Beare (12th) Paignton
9th Drew Gibson (15th) Starcross