RC Laser Northern Autumn Series at West Lancs - Day 5
by Tony Wilson 18 Dec 2017 06:19 GMT
17 December 2017
This was the last day in a string of 5 to complete the Northerners series for the Link Trophy and we were back at Southport. Best results from 3 events to count, but up until today only 5 skippers had officially qualified. Skip was leading followed by Tony and Peter was in third place but was all to change, maybe?
John Sharman was one of six other skippers with just 2 results, but they were good scores and he could be in with a shot. Shaun hadn't arrived and he was favourite. Alan was away and had left Trevor to run the show and for Skip to arrange the boat rescue duties and the catering staff.
From the off it was raining again and had been forecast for the whole morning - we must be keen, or just plain mad. Two circuits were required of a triangle in an anticlockwise direction for the eight RC Lasers followed by a one minute's gap for the start of three Dragon Force 65s. Their event was a one off, but the best were here with us for the day.
Skip won the first race and just in time for race two arrived Shaun.Threw on his B rig like the rest of us and he was off. These boats take literally only minutes to put together, unless like Shaun and you have forgotten where you put your rudder, hence his lateness.
There was quite a bit of South in the direction which was good for the first couple of races giving us some good beats up to the windward mark. Eventually the wind veered to the forecast direction of South West, inviting a timely coffee break after race number four as we were drenched and cold.
After warming up two more races were completed before lunch to give us a healthy start of six in total. Trevor magicked the figures over lunch and to everyone's amazement four Skippers were on a tie of 19 points. After the one discard Skip would have been leading, but there was still the rest of the afternoon to race.
The start line was again moved as the top mark could have been achieved on one tack, if you got it right.
Race seven and everyone was dancing, boats were all over the place as the rain had now stopped but the wind had really picked up. Calling in to the side for adjustment while the race was underway just wasn't good enough and the next race required the smaller rig.
Everyone except Peter went for the C sail, but there wasn't a great difference between us and his boat in D rig. Had we sailed on for more than 8 races we would have all more than likely gone smaller yet again.
Five separate Skippers had posted a win through out the day, but it was Shaun having four of them that made him take home the Link Trophy yet again.
There was some good racing had and this was the last race for the Northerners until the next one on the calendar in 2018, again to be held at West Lancs on the 7th January to start the next series.
RC Laser Northern Autumn Series Day 5 Results:
1 Shaun Holbeche (Fleetwood) 9pts
2 Skip Reaser (West Lancs) 13pts
3 John Sharman (Burwain) 17pts
4 Tony Wilson (Fleetwood) 17pts
5 Peter Iles (Fleetwood) 18pts
Series Results: (best three)
1 Shaun Holbeche, 300pts
2 Skip Reaser, 268pts
3 John Sharman, 256pts
4 Tony Wilson, 244pts
5 Peter Iles, 215pts
Dragon Force 65 Results:
1 John Tushingham (Keighley) 6pts
2 John Brieley (Birkenhead) 11pts
3 Peter Baldwin (Birkenhead) 16pts