Laser Performance Masters Qualifier at Parkstone Yacht Club

Laser Masters at Parkstone © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

Laser Masters at Parkstone © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

A century is a significant number, don't you think? After all, every budding cricketer dreams of making one; if you reach that age you get a telegram from the queen for goodness sake; and so it was that Parkstone Yacht Club was delighted to welcome, on 21st & 22nd April, 104 Laser sailors of both sexes, ranging in age from 35 to, well, let's say considerably more than that!

Members of forty-two different sailing clubs turned up with, unsurprisingly, the home club taking line honours with 25 sailors. Queen Mary Sailing Club had a strong contingent (14) and Stokes Bay, which has also been attracting large numbers of sailors to its Masters events, came third with a group of 8 helms. Bearing this in mind, you can imagine what a wide variety of experience was on show with 'first timers' and 'old hands' both being well represented.

Clearly, this sort of event is popular and this one attracted sailors from far and wide. We had one competitor with USA on his sail, and he didn't win the prize for being the visitor who had travelled the furthest distance! I reckon Gareth Edwards needs to look at his atlas a bit more carefully! Still, those visitors who had journeyed from Blackpool, Sheffield and Manchester made an impressive effort to join in the fun.

I'm not sure the Race officer for the week-end, Brian Drake, would have described it all as fun though. The 'Top Triangle' of Poole Harbour, where our racing was based, is a beautiful and tranquil area. But, for these two days at least, the wind Gods decided to play fast and loose with our fortunes. This presented race officer and competitors alike with some difficult decisions to make. Getting off the start line in good order was the first of these and it was a highly problematic issue, but, as so often is the case, the cream of both fleets rose to the top. The first two finishers in the Standard and Radial fleets had nett scores of 9, 17, 7 and 8 respectively, which suggests that James Gray, Alan Davis, Ian Jones and Ben Elvin coped supremely well with the challenges that faced them.

Briefing during the Laser Masters at Parkstone - photo © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

One of the joys that the leaders never got to experience in this event was that of mark rounding in the close company of other sailors! The fantastic drone footage provided by Ian Roman, to whom with give grateful thanks, was the perfect appetiser for our evening meal, and it clearly showed what an easy time the leaders have of it! On reflection I guess being lassoed by a fellow competitor's main sheet is a dubious reward for managing to stay up with the pack. Masters sailors do seem to have learnt Kipling's lesson though, and they treat triumphs and disasters with equanimity.

Laser Masters at Parkstone - photo © Ian Roman / www.ianroman.com

They say that you know when you're getting old when Police Officers start to look young. Well, our Apprentice Masters look pretty youthful to me, as a Great Grand Master. Goodness knows what our two Legends made of it. Giving away roughly forty years to the youngest in the fleet didn't stop them from coming 25th and 28th in the Radial fleet: hat's off to Ninian Eadie and Roger Williams.

Laser Masters at Parkstone - photo © David Harding / www.sailingscenes.com

The results for both fleets suggest that these were 'two horse races', but in the six-race series, the Standards had four different race winners and the radials had three. Thus, the spotlight of success shone on quite a few sailors. After an eventful first day in which she suffered the unusual experience of finishing 28th in a race, Roberta Hartley pulled up her socks and enjoyed her share of the limelight, finishing 8th overall and taking the 'leading lady' award. Nine female helms took part which will hopefully encourage many more to come along to the next event.

Laser Masters at Parkstone - photo © David Harding / www.sailingscenes.com

There were more winners than this though as we discovered at an amusing prize giving cleverly orchestrated by Gareth Edwards. Thankfully, there were prizes a plenty provided by our sponsors: Laser Performance, Southeast Sailboats, Tideway Investment Partners and Fernhurst books.

James Gray (1st overall standard fleet) and new class vice chairman Rob Cage (3rd radial, 1st grand master) made short speeches thanking sponsors and Parkstone Yacht Club volunteers (there were a lot!). They included Brian Drake and his race team and Ann Keates who had been the lead co-ordinator between Parkstone and the UKLA. As her worst half, I'm probably best placed to know how much she deserved this.

Being part of, or just witnessing an event like this Masters Qualifier at Parkstone gives one a much better appreciation of the phrase, "There's life in the old dog yet!"

See Ian Roman's video of the event on Vimeo here.

Overall Results: