RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club - Week 3
by Tony Wilson 11 Feb 2016 12:44 GMT
7 February 2016
RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood week 2 © Tony Wilson
As the country sees off the tail end of Storm Henry, it seems the next one ready to give us a battering, Imogen was just around the corner.
30 mph winds for Sunday, meant 'D' Rigs would be a definite take along for the Sailing outing.
Eight local Laser Skippers were in attendance to brave conditions for the Sunday bash. A repeat of the same triangular course was to be used in the central area of the lake that we had been using for the past month.
Shaun Holbeche was missing as he must have had work commitments, although the next favourite big gun to contend with John Plant had completed repairs and boy does he know about sail settings.
The first race was won by Peter Isles, while Ken Crabtree was having some minor boat issues. Tony fried a rudder servo shortly after launch, so he had to retire to the club house for quick repairs missing the first couple of races.
The next string of races were won by John P. with Jim Lydon close on his tail.
and Eddie Greenwood was also having a good day.
A quick lunch after four races completed, gave us a 45 minute break and a chat for a recovery.
Leon had decided he liked it so much a fortnight ago, thought he would try another week of madness. Peter now joined by a couple of friends decided to unselfishly give up his afternoon sailing to instruct. Talk about a baptism of fire, what a day to be learning, even full hardened Skippers turn away on days like this.
The wind still in full force only varied by a couple of degrees, although enough to give us a few flat spots on the near wall. The lake had been lowered by at least a foot, which meant the lower part your sail wouldn't have been working as well when nearby. Work was still being done on the intersection to improve water flow between lakes, so the drop in height gave us some exiting launches, although it's not really recommended throwing your boat in like this.
Manoeuvres around the buoys sometimes resembled acrobatics. As the rudder was applied the bow would dig in, the stern would completely leave the water and flip around in the gibe action.
The afternoon included another 6 races to give us 10 in total.
Finished results for the bravery awards had John Plant as the winner, he did have a lot of first places. Second was Eddie Greenwood, followed by Jim Lydon for third place. Well done to the rest, it does seem like this weather pattern is becoming more the norm.
The next racing for the Budget low classes in this area for the coming weekend.
Dragon Force on Saturday afternoon at Fleetwood.
RC Lasers across the Ribble at Southport on Sunday 10am start.