Laser 5000 Inlands at Rutland Sailing Club

Laser 5000 Inlands at Rutland © Peter Davies

Laser 5000 Inlands at Rutland © Peter Davies

Laser 5000 Inlands at Rutland © Peter Davies

This weekend saw the final event of the Laser 5000 UK circuit come to a close. The weekend was forecast for light winds, so 8 boats made their way to Rutland Water expecting a weekend of tactical racing.

The first races got away midday Saturday with the usual couple of stragglers being late over the start line. The top mark saw the usual crowd of Grafham boats Thomas and Alistair and Mark and Nicky at the front and the fleet stayed like this for the rest of the race, no one taking any risks this early on. The second race saw the same at the top mark, though Taff and Nigel were seen luffing Niall and Matt up into the headland of the water on the first downwind leg. In the middle of the race the wind shifted right round to make the upwind downwind leg into a reaching leg. This caused a procession of boats involving 4000s and Vortex and at times the entire Vago and 2000 fleet on an already short course. The final race saw a few more knots of breeze coming through and this started to set apart the crews with race experience, whilst a few other teams had a quick hull check on the kite legs.

The second day started with Mark and Nicky at the top and Thomas and Alistair close behind and the lighter forecast meant many crews were sitting forward of the mast. The fourth race saw Paddy and Simon take first place in front of the top two teams whilst it started to get heated as protests were starting to be called. The competition got heated for the fifth race with many crews fighting for the top space. This all came to a head at the last downwind mark when many of the top crews were in very close company of each other. Amongst the calls of water and luffing, Paddy and Simon lead Tom and Andrew to the finish leaving the leaders to battle out for third place. The final race was still all to play for. Mark and Nicky only needed to finish one place behind Thomas and Alistair and with a few of the newer crews finding themselves near the front and in a place to do some damage, it could have gone either way. Mark and Nicky kept their cool and finshed second after Thomas and Alistair to take the title of Inland Champions 2010 for another year.

This finished off the year for the 5000s, but off the water the committee are planning in earnest for next years events. It’s been a great year for the 5000s, with fleet numbers increasing again and the racing getting tighter.

You can watch the video footage here.

Overall Results:

UK Circuit 2010 Overall Results: