Laser Thames Valley Open at Datchet Water Sailing Club

Lasers at Datchet © DWSC

Lasers at Datchet © DWSC

Having lost a number of their once proud Laser fleet a few years back, Datchet is a sailing club on the rise again with a regenerated Laser fleet helping to cement this regatta as one of the major fixtures on the Thames Valley circuit. There are certainly few venues to rival the Datchet Water reservoir, with excellent onshore facilities, easy launching, a wide expanse of water and, unusually for an inland venue, a steady breeze. Add the picturesque backdrop of Windsor Castle and you have the perfect inland sailing venue.

The 2010 Laser Open was well attended, with strong teams travelling from Wembley, Papercourt, Silverwing, and notably Weston and Queen Mary who had recently fought it out for honours at the National Club Championships. The breeze was a steady force 3-4 throughout the day, so conditions were near perfect for hostilities to begin across the fleet of 31 standard rigs.

Race 1 saw Richard Horn (Weston) and Thomas Weeks (Maidenhead) break from the pack early and maintain their lead to finish in that order at the front of the fleet. Behind them places were generally chopping about, with Dave Freeman (Queen Mary) charging through the fleet after an early 720 to take 4th spot at the finish behind Graham Lund (Aldenham), ahead of a peleton containing Gary Bullock and Rupert Bedell (Queen Mary).

In Race 2 Bedell found speed and form from nowhere, rounding the first mark 15 boat-lengths clear ahead of Gary Bullock and a pack containing local Datchet favourites Paul Robinson and David Rickard. Bedell's notoriously poor mental strength was not a factor for once and he was able to rely on good upwind speed to stay away from the chasing pack and finish unchallenged ahead of Weeks, Robinson and Rickard. Bullock had a catastrophe on the second beat dropping to 13th and whilst Freeman was showing form as one of the fastest boats in the fleet, he failed to breakthrough again and finished 5th.

Going into race 3, Weeks of Maidenhead was the clear leader overall but it was the turn of the Queen Mary boats to take charge. Bedell once again was clear at the first windward, but this time was chased relentlessly by Rickard of Datchet. However, Freeman was lurking ominously a little further back and took his chance on the final beat to cross tacks with Bedell at the final windward. The joint Queen Mary class captains jostled for position down the final reaches but it was Freeman who established the upper hand and beat Bedell into 2nd place, landing a significant psychological blow ahead of the final race for the overall win. Behind them Rickard, Lund, Robinson and Bullock (making up for his earlier mess) filled the top 6 places.

With the regatta now a straight fight between Bedell, Freeman and Weeks, the wind edged up a notch for race 4 to a steady 15 knots. With heavy pin end bias on the line, there was an inevitable pile up at the leeward end, with Bullock exiting spectacularly to cross the fleet on port amid a general melee. As the fleet converged at the windward mark, Bedell again seemed to have found another gear and was clear ahead, with Freeman and Weeks both in the pack. Graham Lund lead the chase in 2nd place, tracking Bedell tightly all the way around, but on a final beat where the wind strength edged upwards still, Bedell remained flat out to hold on for the win. Freeman in 3rd was unable to do anything about it, and was understandably disappointed to add another runners up medal to a string of near misses in Laser Opens. No doubt this will be rectified very shortly.

So Queen Mary boats took the honours but Datchet SC served up an excellent event and should be well supported again next year.

Many more photos are available here.

Overall Results: