RC Laser Spring Series at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club - Day 1
by Tony Wilson 17 Jan 2017 14:43 GMT
15 January 2017
The first RC Laser event for the New Year was upon us for Fleetwood, but there was no water to sail in as the lake had been drained. Well we've done it before and to the rescue we had been given permission to use the next door boating lake.
As I set off from home back in Kirkham, there had been a constant light rain or "It's spitting" as some of the Northerners would say, but it soon cleared up as I was passing Skippool, the narrowing part of the river Wyre famous for its local boat yard and Creek.
There was a bit of reluctance and haze in the heads of the Fleetwood lads with no clear direction nor urgency to get the ball rolling as it had gone past 11am before a couple of us had started to panic and thought, "Are we going to sail today or not?".
Out came the rescue boat and a handful of extra buoys to place in the borrowed lake just to suit the wind direction. There's a bit of a lull along the boat house, but it actually gives you the added protection to keep any forecast rain off you under the overhang.
By now it was 11:30 and a couple of the lads were thinking we should just leave the boat in the water ready to paddle around again, bring in the buoys as it will soon be getting dark.
Off went the starting pistol and in quick succession we hammered home 4 two-lap races before lunch at 12:30. Wow, we weren't doing too bad.
Trevor decided on a shortened lunch break of about half an hour, just giving himself enough time to sort out his receiver problems. By the way Garry seemed to be doing just fine, but others were also having a share of the spoils.
Back on the water and nothing had changed, same course with same C sails used by all 6 skippers.
Eric and Tony were having some difficulty with the far mark, that's what happens when your only relying on a park receiver. Eventually they just about got over the problem by shuffling along under the 30 metre tunnel that housed the big orange boat overhead on the first beat, and then remained over the far side, halfway along the course by the wooden jetty.
With the next 4 races being sailed quite quickly without too many problems, it was then discussed whether to call it a day or not. But, as it was only 2pm, we all decided to squeeze in another couple. Not bad with ten decent size races being completed in what looked earlier like a forlorn day with no enthusiasm.
Everybody enjoyed a good old outing with some good grouping, again a race extra or less could have changed the results either way. Just look at the middle set of points. Garry won the day, but with others on his heels let's just see how this spring season pans out.
Please check out the videos from our friendly neighbouring lake.
Well done Garry.
Day 1 Results:
1 Garry Benson, 14pts
2 John Plant, 17pts
3 Eric Reid, 23pts
4 Jim Lydon, 24pts
5 Tony Wilson, 25pts
6 Trevor Bell, 46pts (radio problems missed out the first 4 races)
Next race is in a fortnight, or nip across the river to Southport next Sunday.
Scheduled races www.fleetwoodmypbc.org
The full programme is now out and contains the dual Saturdays for the Dragons.
Df65 at 12:30 and the bigger brother DF95 at 14:30 every fortnight, starting next week.