Laser Midland Grand Prix Round 8 at Olton Mere Sailing Club

Olton Mere is a 32 acre water situated in the heart of Solihull. It is surrounded by trees which leads to gusty and shifty conditions. With this size of water and the wind conditions (force 1 to 3) for the 2013 Laser Midland Grand Prix the sailors were typically doing 7 to 8 laps of the relatively small course.

For the five minutes before the start of the first race the start line had been relatively port biased, but within the last 30 seconds it shifted to be very starboard biased leaving those down at the pin dead and buried. Tom White closely followed by Maz Gipley from the home club led around the windward mark, a position he held until the last lap. Rob Lennox from Barnt Green and Paul Williamson from Staunton Harold had a battle for the first few laps until Paul broke through, he then whittled Tom's lead down to win the first race by half a boat length, with Tom second and Rob third. Matt French and Maz Gipley followed the leaders across the line in 4th and 5th places.

Paul Williamson led around the windward mark of the second race and gradually pulled away over the next lap. Rob Lennox followed Paul around the windward mark but passed the third mark on the wrong side, a mistake from which he couldn't recover. In a reversal of the third race Tom White picked up all of the shifts to come through to win the race ahead of Paul. Matt French improved on his 4th place from the first race to finish third, with Chris Troth and Rob Lennox 4th and 5th.

Tom White used his local knowledge and sharp spotting of windshifts to win the final race and win the event. It was a close run thing when he had a boat length lead over Paul Williamson when the shorten course signal was sounded. Rob Lennox was breathing down the neck of the leaders and changed places with Paul several times up the final beat to the finish line. Chris Troth took his second 4th place and Matt French was 5th.

This left Tom White a worthy winner with Paul Williamson second, Rob Lennox third, Matt French fourth and Chris Troth fifth. Maz Gipley was the first lady and Alexander Homer from Midland was the first Radial.

After 8 events and 8 different winners Sam Knight from Bartley leads the 2013 Laser Midland Grand Prix series with Paul Williamson second and Rob Lennox third. There is still a long way to go in the series with another 10 events still to take place, the next event is at Burton on Saturday 15th June.

Series results so far: