Laser 4000 Nationals at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

Action from the Laser 4000 nationals at Torbay © Heather Davies / www.fotoboat.com

Action from the Laser 4000 nationals at Torbay © Heather Davies / www.fotoboat.com

This one was intense! Eleven Races, four days, and not one obvious favourite. Perhaps the entire event was summarised by race 5. Four laps in a shifty, gusty 18–22 knots, an intense battle at the front with places changing every leg and eventually the 2nd, 3rd, 4th boats crossing the finish within a boatlength. At the halfway point - two days and six races - a look at the results showed that we were no nearer finding a winner, the top four were still covered by 4 points. This was weight equalised one design racing as it was intended when the Laser 4000 was conceived. High speed, high standard, close tactical racing with seven different race winners.

Eventually though there has to be a winner and ex 49er campaigners and former European champions John Wilson and James Barker sailed an excellent series to win the event. With the closeness of the racing all the other teams at some stage tripped up and started to fall away from the lead battle, but Wilson & Barker kept banging in countable scores. On day three when the wind at around 10 knots was at it lightest of the week some had thought they might struggle but in fact it was at this point they took a grip on the title. Theirs was an excellent display of confident, intelligent sailing.

“Get your discard in early” may be a dinghy park joke, but starting your series with a 21st and 10th is obviously not ideal if you have designs on the title. However Chris Webber and James Dickinson overcame that obstacle to finish 2nd overall. After such a shaky start they then went on to win 3 races and climb steadily up the leader board. A superb 2,1 on the tough final day allowed them to jump from 5th to 2nd.

Third overall went to Hugh Watson and Dave Lilburn. After being a part of the lead battle for the first two days their campaign started to unravel when they hit a starboard tack boat on the first beat of race seven. The collision broke their forestay (Hugh’s third dismasting in 3 nationals!) and although they managed to stop the mast falling down completely and replace the jib for the next race they never quite got themselves back into contention.

With a pre planned crew change halfway through, Huw Powell and Kevin Barnard/Kevin Reed sailed a strong series to finish 4th overall after lying second at the midway point. On equal points in 5th overall were the early leaders Mark Heather and Bonnie Moody.

All that intense racing, a range of conditions from 10 – 25 knots, a very hospitable host club who provided a great race officer made this yet another very successful Laser 4000 championship. Off the water it was just as good – the sun came out for at least 2 hours one afternoon! And the fleet enjoyed a range of entertainment from bar games to a team curry and a trip to the local nightclub - featuring an awesome air guitar jamming session and some interesting pole dancing routines from both male and female members of the fleet. If all that sounds like your kind of week then next years championship at Beer is not to be missed – see you there.

Overall Results: