Laser Open at Beaver Sailing Club

Beaver Laser open © Simon Wigmore

Beaver Laser open © Simon Wigmore

A glorious day greeted the competitors for the 2014 Laser Open Meeting Held at Beaver Sailing Club. Last year was the first Laser event held at the club for many years. Based on that experience the format was slightly tweaked for this year to include five races of 30-40 minutes duration. The home club had all of its big guns available this year with both Podium Potential and Youth Squad being Represented in the entry list as well as returning visitors from last year. A very high quality fleet.

The fleet went out for the first three back to back races in bright sunshine with the wind exactly as forecast. The windward leeward course was set but as soon as the anchor went down the shifts set in and a tricky morning began.

After a short postponement race one was away. A shifty affair with ups and downs but by the end the pattern had been set with Jack Wetherell taking the win from younger brother Henry and Oliver Groves. Issac Marsh came home fourth having moved up to the Standard for the day.

Race 2 had a good first beat but a big left shift on the first downwind leg left a series of reaches. The race officer shortened this one early with Jack Wetherell in first, Dan Wigmore enjoying the Standard in second, Henry third and Oliver fourth.

Finally for race three the wind built and steadied. This was a fantastic race with a lot of action. The previous front runners found themselves with a bit of work to do after the first beat. This time it was Henry Wetherell who took the win from Richard Hanby who had been on the up all morning. Jack only managed third in this one albeit with a great comeback over the race.

Races four and five after lunch enjoyed gradually improving conditions and some close exciting racing. Jack took two more race wins with Oliver Groves second in race four and veteran Martin Penty finally found some speed to take second in race five, with Dan Wigmore third.

While the the race format is challenging for the race management, the competitors get more action. Consistency really is the key with this format so it was no real surprise to see Jack Wetherell take first overall with a master class in a hard series, with Henry second and Oliver Groves third. Richard Hanby in fourth sailed an excellent series but just could not break into the top three enough. Dan Wigmore had great pace but suffered with the same inconsistency he showed last year. Special mention should be made of Georgia Booth from Scaling Dam Sailing Club in her Radial who had a brilliant day. Good first mark roundings were only spoiled by a lack of horsepower round the rest of the course. She easily finished top Radial and beat quite a few Standards overall !

Special thanks should go to race officer Peter Hone and his team, the catering team whose efficient lunchtime turnaround kept the programme on track, Dan Wigmore for his kind words on behalf of the visitors, Sail Register and of course the competitors who put on a fantastic series of top class racing.

Overall Results:

1st 201481, Jack Wetherell (Beaver SC) 1,1,3,1,1, 4pts
2nd 206852, Henry Wetherell (Beaver SC) 2,3,1,3,5, 9pts
3rd 200889, Oliver Groves (Beaver SC) 3,4,4,2,7, 13pts
4th 200666, Richard Hanby (Beaver SC) 6,5,2,4,4, 15pts
5th 204219, Dan Wigmore (Grafham Water SC) 9,2,5,6,3, 16pts
6th 174542, Martin Penty (Beaver SC. 12,8,6,5,2, 21pts
7th 186128, Issac Marsh (Scammonden SC) 4,6,8,9,10, 27pts
8th 166, Graham McWhirter (UKLA/Halifax) 7,9,10,8,6, 30pts