Laser Open at Burghfield Sailing Club
by Peter Blackman 18 Oct 2007 07:44 BST
14 October 2007
40 Lasers of all types for the Burghfield open © Peter Blackman
Around 40 Standards, Radials and 4.7s turned out for the Burghfield Laser Open and penultimate event of the 2007 UKLA Thames Valley Grand Prix series.
The first race got underway favouring those at the pin end. By the first mark the Standards were led by local sailors Nick Martin from David Smith and Peter Chaplin. By the end Smith crossed first from Jonny Peck (BA Silverwing SC) second and Mark Sollars (Burghfield) third. Toby Ayre (Maidenhead SC) took first in the Radials, ahead of Paul Holland (Wrasbury Lake SC) second and Vicky Hogg (Burghfield) third. Mathew Deacon-Smith (Warsash SC) led the 4.7’s to the finish with Jake Bullock (Burghfield) and Olly Porter (Royal Lymington YC) taking second and third respectively.
A shift to the south meant a change of course for race 2. Ian Gregory (Frensham Pond SC) led the Standards at the first mark from Smith and Sollars. Smith gained an inside overlap at the downwind mark and rounded ahead finishing first, Gregory second and Sollars third. Stephen Lloyd (Oxford SC) took first in the Radials, followed by Ayre second and Holland third. In the 4.7s Bullock and Deacon-Smith got inside Porter at the leeward mark with Deacon-Smith taking first, Bullock second and Porter third.
The final race provided the most challenging of the day. Again Gregory led the Standards with Peter Chaplin (Burghfield) second, and Smith, Peter Blackman (Burghfield) and Sollars battling for third. Gregory held his lead to finish first but Sollars came through strongly to finish second with Rob Starling (Burghfield) doing likewise to finish third. Julian Shawyer (Datchet) took first in the Radials, with Lloyd coming in second and Ayre third. After close racing, Deacon-Smith made it three wins out of three in the 4.7's, followed by Bullock second and Porter third.
Overall Results:
Standard Fleet
1st David Smith (Burghfield)
2nd Ian Gregory (Frensham)
3rd Mark Sollars (Burghfield)
Radial Fleet
1st Stephen Lloyd (Oxford SC)
2nd Toby Ayre (Burghfield)
3rd Julian Shawyer (Datchet)
4.7 Fleet
1st Matthew Deacon-Smith (Warsash SC)
2nd Jake Bullock (Burghfield)
3rd Olly Porter (Royal Lymington YC)