Laser 5000 Nationals at Lymington Town Sailing Club Overall

The second day of the Laser 5000 Nationals was characterised by some pretty extreme winds, with speeds of 22 – 25 knots, easily gusting into the 25+ area in the last race. Unfortunately this meant that many of the newcomers to the fleet decided to sit it out, which was probably the sensible decision. Of the 4 boats that did make it out onto the water for the 2nd days racing, only 3 made it to the start line, with Tom Hill and Matt Celand unfortunately unable to control their boat enough to get near the start line!

The racing was hard work and some close racing between Thomas Sauval/Alistair Farman in GBR 5231 and Taff Owens/Nigel Sims in GBR 5233 (Army) saw the lead changing several times in each race, with Mark Kudlinski/Ollie Scrimshaw holding the 3rd place in GBR 5057 throughout. In reality it was the boat that made the least mistakes in the extremely windy conditions that won line honours, and with Thomas/Alistair wining the first race of the day and Taff/Nigel taking line honours in the second and last race of the day, it was a fair result.

With the wind building all the time, the upwind legs became a fight to keep the boats tracking up the course and getting through the tacks in as smooth a manoeuvre as possible. However, this did not preclude some tactics and it was neck and neck for significant upwind legs. The wind became so extreme in the last race that no boat made the decision to hoist the kite, however the first race of the day saw downwind speeds in excess of 23 knots and hair was certainly on fire! The video shows just how windy it really was.

Many thanks to Lymington Town SC for hosting such a fantastic reggatta in some testing conditions. Many sailors left knowing they needed to practice in heavy winds before the Europeans in Mohnesee (2nd to 6th August).

Overall Results: