Laser class at the Waldringfield Cartoon Trophy

Stephen Videlo wins the Laser class at the Waldringfield Cartoon Trophy © Alexis Smith

Seb Balch, runner-up win the Laser class at the Waldringfield Cartoon Trophy © Alexis Smith

Waldringfield SC's annual Cartoon Trophy open meeting is named in memory of the famous cartoonist Carl Giles, who used to sail at Waldringfield and, over the years, gave the club many original sailing-themed cartoons, framed copies of which are now competed for each year by the various racing fleets. This year's event on 7th-8th September attracted 74 entries, of which 28 were Lasers, with 21 racing in the main fleet, and a separate start for the 7 Radials, (comprising predominantly the club's juniors who have recently outgrown their Cadets).

On the Friday before the event the weather forecast was not encouraging, with the Met Office suggesting 19-20 mph with gusts up to 36 mph on Saturday, and a meagre 5-6mph on Sunday, which undoubtedly deterred some potential competitors. As the fleets rigged on Saturday morning it was clear that the Met Office had got it spot on, resulting in almost half the main Laser fleet opting to hoist their Radial rigs (in addition to the dedicated Radial fleet!) ahead of what was to be a gruelling day's racing. It wasn't just the 10-minute average wind maintaining 20mph that provided the challenge, but the repeated gusts over 30mph, and, after the tide turned at 2 o'clock, the huge standing waves!

Despite weighing in at under 70kg Stephen Videlo, fresh from winning this year's Lark National Championships, showed phenomenal speed, winning the first two races, and he would have completed a clean sweep, despite capsizing three times during the final race, but for a clumsy rounding of the final mark, which allowed Charlie Dearlove to snatch a late victory. Seb Balch was Stephen's closest challenger, finishing 2nd in the first two races, but four capsizes in the final race knocked him down to 6th, and Mike Hanes, sailing with a Radial rig, was keeping up with most of the Standards to score a very consistent 3rd and two 4ths. However the brutal conditions humbled quite a few of the fleet's usual front-runners, with many surprising double-digit scores being recorded, and by the end of the final race only about one-third of the fleet were still on the water!

Sunday dawned meek and mild, and it looked like the Met Office had got it right again as we launched, with everyone back in their Standard rigs, but there were a few surprises ahead! The wind piped up nicely for the first race, albeit there were some big shifts and holes to shuffle the fleet, and then died completely during the lunch-break, and then a front came through, bringing intermittent rain, a bit of hail, plenty of gusts over 20mph and a ferocious squall just before the end of the final race! None of this rattled Stephen, who sailed superbly to fend off all competition, and record three straight 1sts, and secure a convincing series victory, and a great framed Giles cartoon to grace his wall for the next year! The chasing pack varied in each race, with 2nd, 3rd and 4th places being taken by Ben Stone, Hamish Stone and Charlie Dearlove in race 4, Toby Tracey, Chris Whitehouse and Chris Woodard in race 5, and Seb Balch, Jonathan Penn and Mike Hanes in Race 6, giving an indication of the depth of competition within the fleet.

In the smaller, and generally less experienced, Radial fleet the challenging conditions resulted in a pretty high attrition rate, with only 2 or 3 finishers in most of the races, but the youngsters who battled through deserve credit and will have learned a lot about heavy weather Laser sailing! Charlie Linsell put the knowledge gained from recent national competition and Qualifier events to good use, with only Sarah Northey's victory in race 4 preventing him from securing a clean sweep.

Lasers at the Waldringfield Cartoon Trophy - photo © Alexis Smith

With this, the club's final "open" event of the season, completed, Laser racing at Waldringfield reverts to routine class racing for the Autumn and Freezer series, with the Laser fleet in extremely good health, with 70+ Lasers at the club, regular racing turnouts of around 20, (peaking at 37 this season), and some of the best fleet racing in the region!

Overall Results: