RC Laser & Dragon Force event 2 at West Lancashire Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 18 Jan 2016 18:05 GMT
17 January 2016
RC Laser & Dragon Force racing at West Lancs © Tony McKone
This was to be the second meeting of the year at Southport Yacht Club. A day to be enjoyed with not only the two classes of model yachts, but also the real boats that included a selection of yachts at one side of the lake and the smaller Mirror dinghies opposite to where we would stand.
Would the weather be kinder to us this time? Could it be worse than the whole day of rain we endured to complete the 10 races we had a fortnight ago?
Anyone waking up early on this day though may have found 2 inches of snow on their car. Surely no one was going to turn up.
On arrival at the nearly full car park you would have never have known. At least 30 skippers had all made good effort to get to this great venue.
The course set up was a similar pattern to the norm, with a separate windward mark for each class taken to port, back across to the clubhouse also taken to port. Across the front walkway to the two sluice gate marks, both taken to starboard and repeat before the finishing line.
A two minute countdown for the Lasers with a one minute interval for the Dragon boats was given. With the Lasers being a more cumbersome boat it was vital for good sail trim setup, because, if you get it wrong with a fleet of these nimble Dragons on your tail, you can soon run into trouble.
The wind was from the Southerly direction again and blowing around 20 - 25 mph which meant most used the 'D' rig and occasionally the C sail whenever it dropped. At least we didn't have the nuisance blinding sun in our eyes this time, as the sky was well overcast.
Three races were sailed in short succession and then a welcomed break was called to thaw out frozen fingers and limbs.
After biscuits and coffee, a further three races were sailed to take us up to the lunch break around 1pm.
It was to no surprise that Dave Fowler was leading in the Laser Fleet while John Tushingham was giving us another preview of the sexy new Dragon Flight boat that is very soon to be released in between his DF 65 sailing, and boy does it go (watch this space).
After a natter and some mid-term totting up in the warm boathouse, it was out again for the final six races. Dave F. being ahead of the game had kept his lead, having only given away one first place to Colin. This was down to clever sail selection on his part, leaving us all nearly half a lap behind.
Jordon Porter also seemed on top form for the day and this earned him his second place in the final results.
Obviously most enjoyed a good day and travelled from as far a field as Central England and North Wales, with few new faces and some regular visitors for the day. Any bystanders must have thought the launch of Dragons looked like a WWII sorte as the 18 of them were simultaneously slipped into the water at the same time.
One incident of the day was when a capsized dinghy drifted helplessly towards where all our action was. This affected mostly the Dragon Force and obviously the pride of the young sailors.
Thanks go again to Alan Tickle and his West Lancs crew for putting on another great show. Not to forget Diane for scoring and also the kitchen staff for providing refreshments.
Next event, number 3 of the 6 week series, is to be on 31st January and then repeated fortnightly.
Overall Results: (top three)
Laser
1st Dave Fowler
2nd Jordan Porter
3rd Skip Reaser
Dragon Force 65
1st John Tushingham
2nd John Brierley
3rd Tim Long
For further information and future events visit www.rclasers.com