RC Laser Southern District Championship and National TT Event at Ardleigh Sailing Club
by Amy Brown 19 Oct 2017 16:56 BST
14 October 2017
Even the National Champion had his boat rescued during the RC Laser TT at Ardleigh © Adam Brown
With the unfortunate cancellation of the Sheerness TT, Ardleigh stepped up to the plate to host the TT event and Southern District Championship on the 14th October.
The day brought southerly winds of 15 to 20 miles an hour, which lead to 9 Lasers on B rigs entering in the competion. The sailing became challenging, leading to gear failure with two rudders being lost and a couple of mainsheets coming adrift.
Before racing had even started Amy Brown and Dave Fowler lost their rudders in the lake. After the skippers briefing, and making a few adjustments to sails, racing began. The course set was a simple port-hand triangle course with a good long downwind leg.
The starts were very tight, apart from one where everyone was over-keen with the race having to be restarted after a general recall as half the fleet was over the line due to a sudden shifting gust causing the boats to accelerate.
By the end of the afternoon session everyone had improved their sailing ability with boats finishing very close together at the finish line.
Ardleigh saw the first boat showing support for Australia.
Thank you, Adam Brown, for taking the photos at the event. Overall there were 14 races that took place.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 840 | Dave Fowler | Fairhaven | 20 |
| 2 | 30 | Adrian Tomlinson | Royal Temple | 24 |
| 3 | 7 | Andrew Wishart | | 46 |
| 4 | 72 | Alex Curtis | | 47 |
| 5 | 60 | Robert Wheeler | Fairhaven | 51 |
| 6 | 36 | Roger White | Ardleigh | 64 |
| 7 | 1008 | John Armstrong | NDS | 67 |
| 8 | 69 | Richard Kemp‑Sail | | 96 |
| 9 | 90 | Amy Brown | Ardleigh | 105 |
The next TT event is being held on the 4th November at Gosport with the AGM at 16:00. Please see www.rclaser.org.uk for information.