Laser Open at London Corinthian Sailing Club
by Simon Hills 25 Sep 2014 16:39 BST
21 September 2014
Laser Open and Bart's Bash race at London Corinthian © Richard Wood
The Laser Open meeting at London Corinthian Sailing Club on at Hammersmith is the only event in the Thames Valley Circuit sailed on the tide, and indeed the only event to be sailed on the Thames itself.
But if that looked like being a disadvantage to the visiting reservoir sailors, it yet again proved not to be. Most had anyway been to the event before, and as before, they thought, 'Oh yes, there's the tide, this is how we'll deal with it.' So the front of the fleet of 27 boats was incredibly tight in a course that that started with a close reach against the tide before the fleet was sent upriver into better wind and a tactical beat again against the tide back towards the start line.
Fighting for honours at the front of the fleet were John Peck and Peter Roberts from Silverwing, Nigel Rolfe from Parkstone and Gary Bullock, of 'Homeless' SC. Kevin Seebaluck was the pick of the Londoners, picking up two seconds and discarding a third, with Simon Hills and Clive Kitson fighting each other to get into the fray but not quite doing enough to trouble the leaders on behalf of the home club.
After an incredibly tightly fought contest, the Open was won by Gary Bullock on the same points as Seebaluck, but with a first in his pocket to justify his win, putting the Corinthian in second place. Third was Nigel Rolfe and fourth John Peck.
Racing was no less tight in the Radial Fleet, where the boats were often seconds apart. This time, though, the locals did prevail, with Cara Glover taking final honours and Robin Johnson, the fleet's eldest competitor and grand grand master, coming second. Anna Dobson. Special mention should be bad too of Deborah Hughes from Burghfield, who sailed three excellent races and was top Laser Radial and 4.7 combined.
The first race of the Open was part of Barts Bash, which was won by Peter Roberts.