RC Laser Spring Series at Fleetwood Model Boat Club - Round 3
by Tony Wilson 18 Apr 05:58 BST
15 April 2018
RC Laser Spring Series Round 3 at Fleetwood © Trevor Bell
Thinking this was just going to be an average club race day, there seemed to be no great urgency into getting myself up to speed and flying down to Fleetwood for a prompt start. Probably a bit lax but awakened when I got there, as I thought I had misunderstood the announcement from our Liz and that I must have stumbled on the next scheduled RC Laser TT event. Seven Skippers had replied with a confirming 'Yes' although somehow we had 13 boats on the water, and it looked great.
Burwain Lasers had an unfortunate cancellation of their water space as to full size boats needing the whole lake for a regatta. John Sharman and Hugo had rallied the lads over to Fleetwood to join in on their fun. Also a couple of non registered locals had turned up due to the half descent weather. John S. had covered a fair few miles up and down the M65 and M55 as he had forgotten a few bits early on as well as the 3.3 km Susan had clocked up on their step o meter for the days racing.
First mishap for the day and Jim realised at the start line the boat operates a bit more controllable when you attach the rudder. Never mind, I haven't done that one yet. But it was by the end of Tony's third race that yet again he had put his fin in back to front. Am I the only one ever to do this, I don't think so.? If I hadn't have taken the boat out to check for debris, I may have just continued until the end with great despair.
Racing was going good and the Burwain gang seemed to be showing the locals up on their own home ground, surely this can't be right. Richard tells me they have been practising relentlessly every Sunday over on their waters regardless, sometimes just exercising the start routines many times and boy is it paying off. Some skippers were originally struggling on their cross over from dinghy racing but are now well up to speed.
Hugo and John S. were having some good racing along with John Plant and Eric from the Fleetwood boys. Trevor was trying to squeeze in eight races before lunch as a couple of showers were forecast for early afternoon. B sail was dominant for the day although Peter Isles had his A sail under control for the first few races.
After lunch a couple more guys joined Jim with their C rig and we started race 8 for the afternoon session just as the sky darkened, but it was like a gentle mist that didn't spoil the fun. The wind had now crept round from the South East to South, so Peter Isles got to the boat to move his new designed buoys. He had knocked these up from some 2 Liter white painted high viz Pop bottles and sliding weights, which were very effective and nimble to use.
John Plant was out of the racing for the afternoon as his rudder servo had packed in and probably because he had sailed much with the DF65 on Saturday maybe more than enough had been had. Hugo also missed out the last 3 races or so for a bit of local sight seeing, but these two guys still had good results for the day.
On one of the afternoon races we heard a shout of ' Yippee I'm in front ' coming from Susan and it was good to see that she no lingers at the bottom of the pack to where we all seemed to have also initially started.
We stuck to the X cross pattern for the afternoon as opposed to the earlier Triangle and I seem to remember John P. telling me that there is a book in the clubhouse with selected layouts for certain wind directions. It would save on all the head scratching to thinking out a suitable course although we should know most of it by now.
Twelve races were had in total with six Skippers posting a win. John Sharman had the majority leaving him with just 13 points to take the day. Third, fourth and fifth place were separated by one point and required a count back. It was a good day, mainly dry and mild, but with challenging winds. A repeat session where maybe the Fleetwood boys could take the lead next time would be good.
Round 3 Results: (top three)
1 John Sharman (Burwain & FWD) 13pts
2 Richard Whittle (Burwain) 32pts
3 Eric Reid (Fleetwood) 44pts