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RC Laser Nationals at Burghfield Sailing Club

by RC Laser Class Assoc 6 Sep 2004 13:24 BST 29-30 August 2004
An A Fleet start at the RC Laser Nationals at Burghfield © Liz Tushingham

Tushingham and Fairbank share the honours

A record entry of 41 boats, including four entries from South Africa, turned out at Burghfield Sailing Club to fight it out for the fourth RC Laser National and Open Championship.

Race officer Peter Land got proceedings underway promptly, after the initial seeding races the entry was split into three fleets with promotion and relegation taking place after each race. Winner of the first round, sailed in near ideal 'B rig' conditions, was Chris Jackson, editor of Marine Modelling International magazine who also sponsor the Travellers Trophy Series. Chris is joining the fleet on a more permanent basis and certainly made his mark early on. Second place going to Olly Straker, last years overall runner-up and seemingly getting off to another good start. However, the next four races developed into tight battle between John Tushingham and Des Fairbank, the current South African national champion who along with Terry Flynn, Douglas and John Geekie had travelled over specifically for this event.

By the end of the first day John and Des had three wins apiece and where seperated by just three points, in Des's favour. Chris Jackson, Ricky Tagg and the defending champion John Arundell were not far behind overnight and still in with a good shot at the title.

Burghfield laid on a magnificent meal for the evening social, and suitably refreshed and eager, everyone gathered for an early start on the final day - but it was business as usual at the front of the fleet. Once again the first four races were shared by John Tushingham and Des Fairbank leaving them within one point of each other going into the last race. This was won by John Arundell, who was back on top form after a relatively bad first day, from Ricky Tagg and the ever improving Mike Weston.

After a very tight series Des Fairbank took the Open Championship by three points from the new National Champion John Tushingham.

A big thank you to Burghfield Sailing Club for being such good hosts and serving up probably the best clubhouse food in the country. Full results will be posted on the RC Laser website at www.rclaser.org.uk

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmPts
1st 56 Des Fairbank 19 
2nd 311 John Tushingham 21 
3rd 27 John Arundell 31 
4th 88 Ricky Tagg 45 
5th 89 Martin Lambert 49 
6th 44 John Cleave 63 
7th 98 Olly Straker 67 
8th 51 Mike Weston 71 
9th 184 Tim Davison 76 
10th 71 Andrew Kissick 77 

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