Laser Open at Beaver Sailing Club
by Julie Harris 20 May 2013 17:21 BST
18 May 2013
The year 2013 has seen huge changes at Beaver Sailing Club. A brand new clubhouse was recently opened and the club decided to mark this by running its first Laser Open Meeting for at least twenty years. The club was always a key part of the Northern circuit back in then. The Laser fleet has remained strong and in the past few years has seen the National Champion and Inland Championship titles come to Beaver. The Top Club Trophy from the 2012 Nationals is also in the Trophy cabinet.
The event took place on Saturday 18th May. The BBC weather forecast on Friday was not really helpful, predicting a month's worth of rain in a few hours on Saturday clearly deterred some of the travelling support. Needless to say the wind was a very pleasant 8 - 12 knots and not a drop of rain fell all day! A strong fleet came to the line in a fleet that included some of the countries best Youth sailors and some Masters who had a long list of championship wins between them. A slightly different one day format was used. Four 45 minute races were planned with two back to back before and after lunch. The whole dynamic of the event is changed with the extra race.
The first race was away in 8-9 knots of wind on a slightly starboard biased line. Henry Wetherell just led round mark one with Oliver Groves and Martin Penty close behind. Towards the end of the first lap an overlap allowed Oliver through and a real battle ensued for the rest of the race with Henry sneaking back ahead and holding on to the finish with Martin Penty third, Tony Wetherell fourth and Paul Williamson fifth. Paul had been flying though the fleet but just failed to get inside Tony at the second windward mark and the penalty was costly.
Race two followed a similar pattern but this time the race at the front was between Henry Wetherell and the hard charging Paul Williamson. Again very close and hard fought but Henry just managed to chalk up another win. Oliver Groves had been in the mix but slipped back into a battle with Tony Wetherell. Very close but he hung on for third, with Tony fourth and Martin Penty keeping consistent in fifth. Going into lunch there was everything to play for with several boats showing great speed and consistency.
After lunch a slight change to the course made the racing even more interesting with added opportunities introduced on a couple of legs. Henry Wetherell took control in this one and sailed away for an easy win but behind the racing was extremely tight with much place changing. Tony Wetherell was second round but came unstuck on the first run and found himself on the outside if a bunch at the leeward mark. Graham Mcwhirter took over second which he held for much of the race. Tony managed a good comeback on the second beat and retook third. The battle for second lasted the rest of the race with Graham finally been taken on the last lap. Daniel Wigmore, a Radial sailor giving the big rig a try came home fourth. He had a trying morning with a couple of penalties holding him back.
Although the winner was decided there was a tight race for the other places in the final race. The wind had increased a bit to 10-12 knots. Dan Wigmore got a clear start and got the port lay line spot on to squeeze round the first mark in the lead. He extended for most of the race. Henry had his only poor first beat but pulled through to second. Although he managed to close Dan down a little before the end it was still an easy win. Paul Williamson had an up and down day but third in the last race got third overall on count back. Two points separated second from fifth overall. Very tight racing with a good mix of Youths and Masters as well as a good mix of body sizes.
The Radials had some terrific racing within the overall fleet. Sam Waller dominated the Radials coming home first in all four races. Despite being tough going for the Radials against the Standards everyone came out of the event having enjoyed the challenge and improved.
The four race format worked well with race officer Peter Hone keeping things moving well. He then gave away the contents of a bulging prize table. Thanks for the help of Mike Saul Dinghy Services and Sail Register. Thanks also for the huge amount of work done to make sure the new clubhouse was ready to stage the event. Paul Williamson gave a few words on behalf of the visitors which were much appreciated by the whole team.
Overall Results:
1st Henry Wetherell (Y) Beaver SC 1,1,1,2, 3pts
2nd Oliver Groves (Y) Beaver SC 2,3,5,4, 9pts
3rd Paul Williamson (M) Staunton Harold SC 5,2,8,3, 10pts
4th Tony Wetherell (M) Beaver SC 4,4,2,7, 10pts
5th Dan Wigmore (Y) Grafham Water SC 6,7,4,1, 11pts
6th Martin Penty (M) Beaver SC 3,5,7,5, 13pts
7th Graham McWhirter (M) Halifax/UKLA 12,6,3,9, 18pts
8th Mark Smith (M) Beaver SC 8,11,6,6, 20pts