Noble Marine UK Radial World & European Qualifier 2 at Pevensey Bay SC

Rigging up during the Noble Marine Laser Radial UK Qualifier at Pevensey Bay © Pevensey Bay SC

With nearly 100 Radials entered Saturday's racing was divided into a Round Robin contest of three races with the customary division into Gold & Silver fleets for Sunday's races. The weather was almost perfect all weekend with plenty of sun and a decent breeze. This early in the year it is never going to be completely hassle-free. On both days the wind started at about WNW and moved suddenly to approximately SW. On Saturday it was steadier but on Sunday it did move more erratically and caused delays in the racing schedule.

Saturday

Race 1a matched Jon Emmett with John Booth & newcomer Jack Cookson. Jon E. took the gun ahead on Jack, thereby showing that his 2nd place last week was not a fluke, with John B. in 3rd. In Race 1b it was a case of a thorn between two roses. Hannah Snellgrove won with new youth sailor Luka Tosic 2nd & Chloe Martin in 3rd. Hannah continued her winning ways in Race2a when she beat Jon E. into 2nd place & Matt Whitfield had his best result so far in 3rd. Race 2b saw John B. win his first race of the weekend ahead of Silver fleet helm Ben Elvin & Jack, again consistent in 3rd. Jon E. stayed in the first start for the 3rd time and in Race 3a he returned to winning ways, this time ahead of Rhiannon Massey and Alastair Goodwin. In Race 3b another newcomer, female helm Oren Jacob, took the gun with Jack 2nd and Chloe again 3rd. With the Round Robin completed a discard was allowed and this left Jon E. and Hannah tied on 2 pts overnight.

Sunday

This proved to be the more interesting day. The first race for the Gold fleet was completed successfully, although, Jon E. having to discard his 21st place from this race might disagree. In fact none of the front runners did well. The best was, again, Jack in 6th place. (Who is this star?)The win went to John B. with Ross Mackley & Erica Ruigrok 2nd & 3rd respectively. The wind then shifted to SW and provided great racing for the second race. Albeit there were a few boats ejected with the dreaded black spot (sorry – flag). The front runners returned to the front and Chloe took the gun ahead of Jon E., Hannah & Jack. The wind then shifted 30o and whilst the course was being reset it then shifted back to 230o and stayed there. In trying to re-establish the original course the 14:00 deadline passed and so it was not possible to run the final race. After five races Jon E. won just 3 pts ahead of Hannah with Jack 3rd.

In the Silver fleet the results were dominated by youth sailors, both boys & girls in equal measure. There were race wins for both Ellie Brown & Sam Thomas but overall Karyna Manuel sailed very consistently to record a 2, 3 scoreline and take the Silver fleet title.

There was some disappointment that the Radial fleets hadn't managed to sail a third race on Sunday but talking to the PRO Ken Falcon after the racing he explained that a third race on Sunday had been added to the schedule at the request of the competitors but he had to balance that with the need to get competitors ashore at a reasonable time because many of them have considerable distances to drive to get home. Last year there were instances of the Scottish sailors arriving home in the early hours of Monday. To paraphrase Messers Gilbert & Sullivan 'A Race Officer's lot is not a happy one'.

Many thanks to Pevensey Bay S.C. and its members for a great weekend's racing. The final Spring Qualifier is next weekend at Highcliffe. The full results can be found on the Laser website, www.laser.org.uk

Overall Results: (top five)