Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series - Day 13

Sunday saw the 13th Race day for the Medway RC Laser Winter Series from Barton's Point Coastal Park Lake, Isle of Sheppey. We have been racing all winter from the middle of November giving sailors from both offshore and dinghy fleets opportunity to sail through the winter months. We have only lost two race days due to bad weather.

Sunday was close to the mark and well done to all for persevering in the cold NE and rain. "C" rigs were the sail of choice for the first period before coffee and with the start line offshore and a short beat towards the competitors the first beat proved to be the most tricky to get right.

A port end bias provided an easy beat for some but the short distance to the windward mark left a number of boats coming to the windward mark on the port lay line. Too many infringements of the rules resulted in this first race being abandoned and boats sent back for a restart with a second reminder that rules observance should be dramatically improved.

Rules observance did improve and Tony Owens and Jamie Blair taking the lead in a number of races and heading the pack of twelve boats at the halfway stage coffee break. The course a standard triangle/sausage, with some wind influence in the leg across from the windward mark from the café caused some bunching and loud hails for Mark Room at the wing mark. Similar close racing at the leeward mark gave all many opportunities to get in the right place for the best rounding.

Other race wins came from Bryan Collings, Richard Stone and Peter Freeman. A selection of "B" rigs came out following the break but with the wind gusting at times this was not always the sail of choice.

Tony Owens won with a consistent set of seven bullets. Jamie scraped 2nd overall from Bryan Collings and only from the result in the last race. Close racing for 4th and 5th place between Peter Freeman and Richard Stone with the last race putting Peter ahead. 6th to 7th was close too with David Townshend again taking the 6th overall position with the result from the last race.

Tony Alexander beat his arch rival Jon Moon despite a last race effort by Jon to narrow the points gap and Jon only missing out on 7th place by only two points. Andrew Nichols and Brian Lev'y raced hard all morning achieving a spattering of good results but the average left Andrew in 9th and Brian in 10th.

Thanks to our Race Officer Fiona for braving the cold and calling the line. All the culprits know who they are...!

So the Overall for the Winter Series after Sunday puts Tony Owens in the lead just 7 points ahead of Jamie Blair. 3rd, 4th and 5th places are between Richard Stone, Jon Moon and Bryan Collings and all to play for. Brian Lev'y and Andrew Nicholls are fighting the 7th and 8th places with Brian just holding ahead.

Two race days left till the end of the Winter Series so the series could be decided next week but places could change right up to the very end.

Let's hope the next two weeks give us good weather for a fair end to the Winter Series.

15th March results:

Winter Series with 3 discards: