Laser & Radial Open at Waldringfield Sailing Club

Lasers at Waldringfield © Alexis Smith

Waldringfield Sailing Club held its annual Laser and Radial Open on Sunday 15th June.

We welcomed 31 boats, 16 standards and 15 radials, with visitors from neighbouring rivers Alde and Orwell. With a warm force 3-4, and a spring tide in the afternoon, a committee boat start north of the island meant wide expanses of water to enjoy.

The morning sailing was great racing, with a beat through the yachts to the windward mark followed by a downwind choice of hugging the shoreline, taking the long route over the banks or chancing a gust down the middle, with varying results each round.

In the standard fleet, Stephen Videlo had the best idea as to what was going on and went on to win both morning races after swapping the lead several times with Hamish Stone.

In the radial fleet, Cameron Harris, Daisy Collingridge and Aaron Woolf shot away from the fleet and seemed to be having their own race, all leading at some point until Daisy came out on top. The second race was much tighter with the fleet sticking together. On a hotly contested final run, Adam Eaton managed to get past Daisy and eventually cross in 1st place.

Lasers at Waldringfield - photo © Alexis Smith

After lunch, with the tide now on the ebb, the order of the day was reaching the shallows off the line as quickly as possible. Toby Tracey made a pin end start to win the first afternoon race, while a second from Stephen meant he won the meeting with a race to spare. In race four Hamish led from start to finish to take second overall, while Charlie Linsell produced strong results to a take a very creditable third place.

In the radials and race three, Cameron played the shifts up the beat well to come in first, with Mike Hanes in second and Diana Pipe third. The final race saw the fleet split up the first beat with Mike/Daisy taking the less fancied right side to reach the windward mark behind Aaron and Chris Woodard. Daisy squeezed inside Aaron on the following run, going on to win and take the radial trophy.

Well done to Daisy, Cameron in second and Aaron in third, and special mention to the other brave young sailors Faye Gosling, Harry Chatterton, Robert Keen, Katie Spark and Hattie Collingridge in her 4.7. A great showing which bodes well for the Under-21 Radial Open on Sunday 29th June. Visitors very welcome.

Overall Results: