Laser Open at Great Moor Sailing Club

Action from the Laser open at Great Moor © Stephen Lee

Action from the Laser open at Great Moor © Stephen Lee

Action from the Laser open at Great Moor © Stephen Lee

It was a dark and stormy day. Well, grey and breezy anyway. Though the sun hid for all but a few minutes, a gusty, sometimes fluky, force 3 - 4 north-westerly hung around throughout to provide energetic beats and sporadic off-wind gallops with only a few capsizes all day. Despite injury limiting the home turnout, visitors and hosts launched 18 lasers for the event including 2 radials and a 4.7.

For the morning's racing a simple figure-8 course was set with a beat clear of gates allowing racers the full choice of course for the upwind leg. Drama arrived early when Alec Savitsky (GMSC) broke his mast during the countdown to race 1 and he found himself with an Ainslie-esqu challenge on his hands for the remainder of the day.

Come the start signal, those still with intact boats had aimed for the pin end (the preferred end all day) and everyone started cleanly. Richard Patrick (GMSC) was first to the windward mark with Kerry Tucker (Northampton) and Marc Savitsky (GMSC) duelling for second not far behind. Positions were static until the next lap when Kerry and Marc chose opposite tacks but were probably both surprised to find Duncan Jenkins (Aldenham) had fought through to second by the end having chosen a route up the middle. The contest for minor places continued with Jenkins, Savitsky and Tucker joined by Gary Bullock (Datchet) and Jake Winter (GMSC) and places swapping frequently. Patrick, now over a minute ahead of the next boat continued d to pull away achieving a maximum lead of nearly a minute and a half though by the end of the race Jenkins had also broken away from the fleet and reduced the deficit to just over 70 seconds to finish second with Tucker third.

Gary Bullock enjoyed a better start for race 2, getting quickly onto port near the committee boat then back to starboard to cross ahead of the bulk of the fleet although he found March Savitsky just able to avoid having to give way. Marc Savitsky made the top mark first with Patrick snapping at his transom and Bullock as close behind him. Though Bullock reached the next mark first Patrick had the better reach to round the third 13 seconds clear of Bullock with Savitsky trailing third. In this order they were pursued to the leeward mark by Alec Savitsky and Jenkins. Patrick had extended his lead during the next beat to 30 seconds. A mid-gybe capsize despite execution of a snappy dry recovery cost Alec Savitsky places on the run to Jenkins and Tucker. In the now noticeably weaker wind Patrick and Bullock exploited the available gusts to draw further ahead: Patrick now 40 seconds up on Bullock and Bullock over a minute ahead of the pack. A recovery in the wind helped Alec Savitsky to overtake his father and to pass Tucker again to finish 4th behind Jenkins then a luffing match between Marc Savitsky and Tucker on the race to the line allowed David Lambert (Aldenham) to steal 5th place.

Patrick had established himself as the person to beat as lunch broke out. Based on points Jenkins might still be a contender though the morning's evidence meant few would have bet against Patrick continuing to dominate.

A buoy was added to the afternoon course to create a short second beat and long broad reach but the start line remained unchanged and the pin remained the preferred end to start. The crowding had its victims with Tucker forced to take two turns and Daniel Collette (BLYM) required to restart. Marc Savitsky again finished the beat first with Don Valvona (GMSC) and Lambert second and third. The Savistkys, Valvona and Bullock jostled for the lead on the charge down the lake with Marc Savitsky starting the beat first. Alec Savitsky and Valvona enjoyed a noisy beat, probably reviewing the merits of the 2005 rule clarifications, but the distraction wasn't enough to prevent Alec reaching the bear-away ahead of Marc. Patrick, having been 'squeezed' at the start and finishing the first beat 8th, had climbed by the end of the second to 5th. By the end of the third beat Alec Savitsky had amassed 45 secs of lead over his father, Bullock had overhauled Valvona but Patrick had pushed through to 3rd place though still 25secs behind second. While the inter-Savitsky interval remained largely static Patrick crept steadily up on second over the next lap, establishing an overlap during the upper beat and passing inside Marc Savitsky at the top buoy. Patrick fought to get out from under Savitsky's wind shadow, breaking free on the lower half of the lake to pull away and to 2nd place and overall victory, though still a minute behind Alec Savitsky, but now a minute ahead of Marc. Bullock finished 4th and Jenkins 5th.

The windward mark was moved and the start line rotated to cater for the veer in the wind.

First place overall was settled but 2nd and 3rd remained undecided. Alec Savitsky, 9th in the leader table and with his discard already committed, was a contender with only 5 points from his other races, but he could not afford another bad result. Jenkins and Bullock in 2nd and 3rd places with 10 and 11 points respectively (5 and 6 when their worsts were ignored) would be the competition.

Two boats were over at the start of race 4. Tucker, deciding slowly that she was OCS, had a long detour back to the start but Jenkins, the other offender, effected a neat dip to recover quickly but within the mob. Gary Bullock made the first mark first with Jake Winter (GMSC) second, Patrick third and Alec Savitsky fourth. After three more marks the group was into the downwind leg and Patrick and Bullock caught a gust the others missed to sail into clean air and away. Patrick came out just ahead by the bottom of the lake but Savitsky sailed an efficient beat to squeeze into second by the windward mark. Jenkins meanwhile was trying to win a tussle with Winter for 4th. Keeping his boat flatter during the next downwind reach Patrick was 27secs up on Savitsky by the end of the lap and Jenkins had passed Winter to get within 2 lengths of Bullock. One more beat and Patrick led Savitsky by 33 seconds with Savitsky 30 seconds ahead of Bullock. It looked as though Savitsky would claim overall second but third place would depend on the result of the battle between the Bullock and Jenkins who remained only a few seconds apart. Approaching the bottom of the lake Patrick had established an unassailable lead but Bullock had pulled away from Jenkins to close the gap with Savitsky to just 9 seconds. For the final off-wind charge Bullock sailed high to get into the gusts before Savitsky by Savitsky held him off to enter the home straight ahead and sail to second place overall.

Bullock took 3rd but the overall result wasn't obvious since both he and Jenkins had effective 2nd, 3rd and 4th places and a discarded 5th. After a careful check of the rules the decision went to Gary Bullock.

Overall Results:

1 Richard Patrick (G.M.S.C.)
2 Alec Savitsky (G.M.S.C.)
3 Gary Bullock (Datchet)
4 Duncan Jenkins (Aldenham)
5 Kerry Tucker (Northampton)
6 Marc Savitsky (G.M.S.C.)
7 Jake Winter (G.M.S.C.)
8 David Lambert (Aldenham)
9 Rodger Gibson (G.M.S.C.)
10 Don Valvona (G.M.S.C.)
11 Tim Shepherd (G.M.S.C.)
12 Alex Leslie (G.M.S.C.)
13 Andrew Clark (G.M.S.C.)
14 Charlie Painter (G.M.S.C.)
15 Daniel Collette (B.L.Y.M.)
16 Daniel Leslie (G.M.S.C.)
17 Alex Carter (G.M.S.C.)
18 Kate Allen (G.M.S.C.)