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Laser II Nationals at South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club

by Simon Lomas-Clarke/Helen Carroll 8 Jul 2004 08:11 BST 3-6 July 2004

South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club was treated to a display of vintage Laser II sailing with big winds on day one of the 2004 National Championships. Several Irish visitors came over to suss out the competition in preparation for the European Championships to be held in August in Ireland. A selection of university boats also arrived to challenge for the student prize.

After a sleepless windy night for those camping, Race officer Richard Date and team decided to hold the fleet on shore until the gusts of 35+ knots had died down to a more sailable force 5-6. After a number of the favourites were wiped out by the blustery conditions, student Laser II world champions, David Annan and James Nuttall from Surrey University, showed their form in heavy weather, comfortably winning Race 1. Conservative mid-fleeters benefited from the ambitious downwind spinnaker work displayed by the slightly too confident front-fleeters, and Mark Lloyd (returning to Laser IIs) and crew Sam Littlejohn put in an impressive performance to finish 2nd. Class veterans Terry Palmer and Caroline Cooper demonstrated their expertise in heavy weather to finish 3rd.

Similar conditions for Race 2 saw the favourites back where they would expect, with a start to finish lead for heavy weather specialists Nigel Skudder and Keith Hills. Irish visitors, World Champion crew Stephen Campion, now at the back end of the boat, with Andrew Boxle crewing, sailed consistently to finish 2nd, with the Lomas-Clarkes showing their newly found big breeze skills in 3rd.

A gentler day dawned, sunny with shifty force 3 breezes, in which the race team decided to use the P course. Skudder and Hills continued their previous day’s success, working the right hand side of the course to finish comfortably in 1st. John Chapman and Bryan Mobbs showed good boat speed to move up through the fleet into 2nd and the Lomas-Clarkes came out the better of a port/starboard incident with the Pages to finish 3rd.

The shifty conditions continued for Race 4 and a small cluster of boats started from the port end establishing a convincing lead by the windward mark with Campion’s lead never being challenged. Great teamwork and astonishing upwind speed saw Helen Carroll and Matt McCarthy sail into 2nd. Warwick University’s Paul Smalley and Alex Cramp also sailed a good race, finishing 3rd.

After a pause for a change in wind direction, a trapezoid course was laid and Race 5 got underway, with Keith Thornbury and Liam Donnelly from Northern Ireland leading the first two legs until they were overtaken by Skudder and Hills at the leeward mark. Russell and Vicky Page came from the pack to gain a significant lead that they never relinquished. Carroll and McCarthy continued to show good boat speed in the difficult choppy conditions. Day two finished with the championship standings as close as the racing on the water with the competition still wide open.

Light shifty conditions prevailed for the duration of the championships leading to close tactical racing and much place changing. Carroll and McCarthy led for one lap of the Olympic course in Race 6 but were overhauled by light weather specialists the Pages on the second beat. Despite splitting gybes on the last run, Carroll could not catch the Pages who held their lead for the finish. The Irish visitors showed their light wind skills with Campion 3rd and fellow countrywoman Kate Grimes 4th. Race 7 saw the Pages, Mike Clapp and the Lomas-Clarkes hitting the right hand corner. The Pages rounded in front with the Lomas-Clarkes hitting the mark in the strong tide to knock them down the order. The Pages held on to their strong lead, followed by Palmer and Cooper, and Lloyd and Littlejohn.

With no wind on the final day the Pages were crowned the Laser II National Champions, showing consistent form in the full range of conditions.

A huge thank you to SCYC for a fantastically run championships.

The UK Laser IIs now look forward to the Europeans at Skerries SC on 8th-13th August, and with four of the top five UK boats going, the UK team are in a strong position to challenge their fellow European sailors.

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmCrewClubPts
1st 10418 Russell Page Victoria Page Budworth 15 
2nd 10588 Nigel Skudder Keith Hills Starcross YC 21 
3rd 9750 Helen Carroll Matt McCarthy Blackwater SC 26 
4th 10496 Jon Chapman Bryan Mobbs Budworth 33 
5th 10331 Terry Palmer Caroline Cooper Upper Thames SC 38 
6th 10422 Simon Lomas-Clarke Sarah Lomas-Clarke Datchet SC 40 
7th 8998 Mark Lloyd Sam Littlejohn Lancing SC 40.8 
8th 8154 Stephen Campion Andrew Boxle Skerries SC (Ireland) 44 
9th 10636 David Annan James Nuttall University of Surrey 46 
10th 5749 Mike Croker Di Croker Lancing SC 47
1st Lady Helm, Helen Carroll (9750), Blackwater SC
1st Student Boat, David Annan and James Nuttall (10636), University of Surrey
1st Youth Boat, James Jagger and James Dyson (8136), Huddersfield SC

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