Noble Marine Laser Radial Autumn Qualifier at Sunderland Yacht Club

Despite the less-than-promising forecast, 78 Laser Radial sailors made the trip to Sunderland last weekend for the first Autumn Qualifier of the year. Saturday morning dawned with very little wind and a considerable amount of tide across the course due to the stunning 'supermoon' that has been gracing our skies over the past few days. The decision was made to split the Radials into flights rather than sail as one fleet to make starting easier to manage for the Race Committee in the tricky sailing conditions.

After an initial postponement onshore, the fleet was launched into a very gentle SE breeze. With the tide ripping upwind at a great rate, starting was a perilous exercise; especially, with the black flag coming out to play. It would appear that the Laser Radial fleet has perhaps an unfair reputation for pushing the starting line as not one sailor added the dreaded BFD letters to their score line on day one!

The leaders to the windward mark in the first flight played the shifts up the left-hand side of the course. With shortened courses due to the light winds, only a triangle was sailed for each race on day one, so the key for the leaders was defence on the reaches while trying to take into account the strong current. Daniel Whiteley managed to do this successfully to take the first flight bullet from Ali Young and Georgina Povall. In the second flight, it was Jon Emmett who took line honours with Jamie Calder second and Rhiannon Flack a creditable third.

The wind had decreased for the second race of the day and the tide started to turn. The upwind leg proved to be fairly one sided with more pressure on the left and people starting at the Committee Boat end of the line having to battle back through the fleet throughout the race. The leaders in both flights came off of the pin end and worked the left – Young taking the bullet in the first flight chased by Whiteley and Lewis Smith, and Anna Sturrock sailing the best race of the second flight chased down by Alistair Higgins and Emmett.

Due to only two races being completed on the Saturday, the round robin was scheduled to continue on day two. Sunday morning saw the crucial ingredient (wind!) once again lacking, but after another wait onshore a light SE filled in once again with 6–8knts of breeze; a little steadier than the day before. After some discussion within the fleet, the course was changed to a trapezium-sausage format to ensure that at least one downwind leg would be sailed even if the course was required to be shortened due to lack of breeze. The general feeling at the end of the day was that this was a very positive change.

In the first flight it was top Israeli sailor Oren Jacob who got her day off to the best start, playing the shifts best to take the win from Povall and Young. In the second flight, Hannah Snellgrove won the pin, led to the top mark from Merrick Stanley and extended on the downwind leg to take the win. Ellie Cumpsty kept clear on the downwind to get around a group of boats and take second from Ben Whaley.

Emmett took the win in the final race of the day from Jake Farren-Price and Calder which was enough for him to win the Qualifier overall on countback from Young, who finished second in the second flight's final race chasing London 2012 Olympic Champion Lijia Xu of China who showed her form to extend away from the fleet on the downwind legs. Whiteley's third place in this race was enough to see him take third overall after sailing a great, consistent series.

Many thanks go to Sunderland Yacht Club for the great venue and their warm welcome, and to all the organisers and the Race Committee for dealing with the tricky sailing conditions and making sure that what, for many people, was a long trip was very worthwhile. A huge respect for all the Scottish sailors who so regularly come down to the south coast to compete was felt by all the southern sailors! Next stop is the second Autumn Qualifier held in Paignton in two weeks.

Overall Results: (top three)

1 Jon Emmett, 5pts
2 Ali Young, 5pts
3 Daniel Whiteley, 6pts

Full results at www.kbsuk.com/laser/events/showrace.asp?EventID=77&RaceURL=%5Bresults%5D/sunderlandrad.2015nh.html