RC Laser & Dragon Force event 3 at West Lancashire Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 5 Feb 2016 14:28 GMT
31 January 2016
The forecast for the whole week was for 30-40mph wind speeds, although on close inspection the weather site revealed a small open window of opportunity for when the wind could drop below 20mph during Sunday. A quick early morning check, boat packed, sailing head on and it's off to the races.
En-route there seemed to be a bit of haze in the distance and the odd shower had actually been forecast through the day.
Winds were adequate for B sails to be rigged and it was from our usual direction heading for a southerly beat. So the start had been planned to be by the road side of the lake.
Ten RC Laser skippers were present this time, but only 5 Dragon Force helms turned up. There must have been another DF / RG65 event programmed for the weekend. Or maybe they just knew we were going to have a damp day as the drizzle had now set in for the day.
The first race on a figure eight shape course was won by Peter Isles. The next few races won by Dave Fowler were in a combination of C and B rig conditions as the wind was a bit up and down. The last race before lunch was mainly sailed with A rigs as the wind had dropped right off.
During the delayed lunch break the wind veered 90 degrees round to the West and had picked up so much that the A sails were quickly discarded and replaced with, believe it or not, the D storm sail. This had all been within 45 minutes and suddenly it felt like a completely different day.
A quick shuffle of buoys to tweak the course and a start taking into consideration the westerly beat and two shortened triangles, heading in a clockwise direction leaving all marks to starboard, for the first three races of the afternoon.
Casualties, whether from mechanical faults or just outright exhaustion, started to filter in. By about 2pm we lost the Dragon Fleet - maybe they had had enough or was another change of rig just too time consuming?
Another buoy was introduced into the course and we were off again for the last couple of races in a box shape pattern. Dave F. had still been on winning form up until the last couple of races. Jordan Porter and Peter Isles went for the wild card and decided for a last C sail bash to pip him on the last.
Apart from about 30 mins during lunch time, it was light rain all day until 3pm at close of play when it really came down. As some of us are aware you really need to be dressed correctly for these type of outings otherwise you feel no different than being on a real boat.
A good day of real action.
Overall Results:
RC Laser
1. Dave Fowler
2. Jordan Porter (on a count back with Peter for equal points)
3. Peter Isles
DragonForce
1. John Brierley
2. John Sharman
3. David Williams