Laser Grand Prix at Bury Lake Young Mariners

by Dave Blakesley 8 Mar 2009 21:39 GMT 8 March 2009

Bury Lake’s annual laser grand prix kicked off in style this year, with wind speeds peaking at 30 knots during the 3-race contest.

The first race saw Alan Bishop take the early lead, closely followed by Calvin Murray. As the race progressed we saw James Barton, who had been lagging behind around mid fleet, bounce up to start contesting the leaders. The results for the first race saw Barton 3rd, Murray 2nd and Bishop 1st.

The second race remained very similar to the first, with the wind building a little bit more, however this time, with Barton retired due to injury, Bishop, Murray and Graham Lund - who had scraped in at 4th in the first race - hotly contested the lead. Bishop was pipped at the mark by Lund who took first, followed by Bishop and then Murray.

After a short postponement, the 3rd race began, in deteriorating weather conditions, with the wind building to its peak. Among the race officers there was talk of cancelling the final race. However, with just 6 of the original 12 starting the race, it went on ahead regardless. After just 2 laps, the shorten course flag was posted, and the race drew to a close, with only 4 of the starters finishing, by this time in strong winds and horizontal rain.

Many thanks to the BLYM Race committee, and to Alan Russell for providing refreshments at every available opportunity.

Overall Results:

Pos	Helm	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	Alan Bishop	1	2	1	2
2	Calvin Merry	2	3	2	4
3	Graham Lund	4	1	3	5
4	Paul Knight	5	4	4	8
5	Dave Ritchie	6	5	DNF	11
6	David Bruce	10	6	5	11
7	Olivier	8	7	DNF	15
8	James Barton	3	DNF	DNS	16
9	Chris Patterson	7	DNF	DNS	20
10	David Langston	DNS	8	DNS	22
11	Tom Gilbert	9	DNS	DNS	23
12	Steve Bishop	DNF	DNS	DNS	27