RC Laser Fleetwood Club Autumn Series at Fleetwood - Day 4
by Tony Wilson 11 Dec 2017 06:26 GMT
26 November 2017
RC Laser Northern Autumn Series day 5 at Fleetwood © James Spicer
This one was the last in the Autumn series for the Fleetwood club and oh boy was it going to be cold. Ground temperature zero and winds from the East with a possibility of snow.
During the day we were also going to have the year's prize giving for each of the seasonal terms for Lasers and also the other sailing classes. Some Glühwein and Grog to warm up the cockles wouldn't be a bad idea.
Liz had received 5 replies of 'Yes, we are coming sailing' and among the prizes, was the Thomas Rothwell Trophy to be awarded to Elizabeth for her duties carried out through the year. Liz emails up to 30 skippers on the Wednesday individually prior to all of the Laser club races. This is just to remind the lazy ones when we forget to check our club calendar.
In the pits, boats were being tweaked and had already started to jitter. Both Jim and Tony's winches were playing up, Ken's rudder servo was trembling at a good pace, due to the cold so he says. It did eventually settle down after a while when the racing got underway.
The course was set for an anticlockwise triangle sailed twice. Tony set off at good speed until he clung to the windward mark to allow the rest to pass and letting Eric have the first race as every one else followed home and all were in C Rig attire.
The second race was won by John P. then his problems started as his goose neck snapped. For the third race he rejoined us with his D outfit, just as Peter Isles rolled in a bit late to join the sailing and had gone straight for his B sail, this made us eight in total.
The third and fourth race were won by Tony and he was getting some good leads, while Jim's boat finally gave into a dead winch. Trevor lent him a spare hull so he could continue the day.
Peter now started to take the lead as the wind was looking to suit his sail better than the rest and he took the fifth. Two others joined with a quick change up to B's so we had a split of three and three as a couple of boats had now dropped out.
Eric was having problems and wasn't happy with his sail so hopped back into the C, only to do no better. He then went for the A sail to everyone's wonder on the last race before lunch. Race seven had gone to Peter and the last one to Tony.
Thinking we were doing great firing off eight races before lunch, we were debating whether we would conclude in the afternoon with another four, or we might actually make a total of sixteen.
Prize giving went ahead a bit later than planned as the clubhouse electric lighting had gone out just after we had had lunch. A great spread was provided by the club members, lots of pies, cakes and sandwiches for a feast. By nearly 3 pm it was decided to call it a day, so no more racing and boats were packed away.
Results for the day:
1 Tony Wilson 11pts
2 Peter Isles 12pts
3 Ken Crabtree 15pts
Results and Trophies for the year:
Autumn Series 2016
1st Welsh Cup: Eric Reid
Winter Series (Early) 2017
1st Yachtsman Hotel Trophy: John Plant
Spring Series 2017
1st J.Parkinson Trophy: Tony Wilson
Summer Series 2017
1st Harrowside Trophy: Peter Isles
Thomas Rothwell Trophy 2017 (Endeavour)
Elisabeth Rothwell for her good services to the Laser Skippers
Next week on the Laser calendar is for the last one in the Northern Series over at Southport and could be exciting, as it's still anyone's guess to who will win the title, as we've had a couple of event winners.