Medway RC Laser Winter Series - Day 12

Medway RC Laser Winter Series day 12 © Jamie Blair

With the weather on Saturday providing one of the hottest days in the SE at 19 degrees and 10 knots of wind all were looking forward to a pleasant morning racing on the last Sunday of our Winter Series. Indeed the last round until October when Medway RC Laser will host a qualifying Open Meeting for the UKRC Laser Association. Instead the day dawned with rain and very little wind.

At the lake the same picture emerged but with the rain stopping and a course in place the first race was run. Eight racers came to the start (numbers down because of other larger boat events) all with "A" rigs to try and grasp what was available in the sub 5 knots breeze.

Race one was completed with Tony Owens in front followed by Mark Penny but as the tail-enders finished the wind died completely. Mark who only joined us in January was delighted with his result in 2nd. You could just hear mumblings of "you can't sail in this" and with no perceived increase in wind an early coffee break was taken.

After nearly 40 minutes the wind did pick up but with a 180 degrees change. So good was the positioning of the buoys it was decided to leave them in position and utilise a reaching start! There was still a challenging beat to keep the racers thinking along with a downwind leg that might be affected by the wind over the café.

Eight races were completed by our 12.30 cut-off. The racing provided lead changes and the leader overall changed between Jamie Blair and Tony Owens right up to near the end; Jamie counting 4 wins, Tony with three and Pete Freeman a well-earned bullet to break the lock out in race 5. Looking for wind on the water and perseverance from others often provided changes in position. Certainly paid off for Brian Lev'y in race 3 taking a third to count. An unlucky day for David Townshend who suffered a failed rudder servo in Race 1.

Round 12 Results:

The Winter Series was hotly contested right up to the last round, with four sailors who were very capable of winning the series. Tony Owens was the most consistent all through the series but with Jamie, Pete and Ian all never far away.

Medway RC Laser Winter Series day 12 - photo © Jamie Blair

Medway RC Laser Winter Series Overall Results: