Laserfest Tri-Series Round 1 at Herne Bay Sailing Club
by Steve Gray 14 Jun 09:24 BST
10 June 2018
Firstly, what is Laserfest I hear you ask? It was conceived as a club level regatta for club sailors and friends at Whitstable Yacht Club and first run in July last year. Still reeling from hosting 39 Lasers over the weekend, other clubs offered to host similar events this year.
Hence the Laserfest tri-series was born – June at Herne Bay, July in Whitstable and September in Broadstairs. To encourage the mid-fleet, sailors are split into Elite and Clubmen with an inter-club competition at all levels established for 2018.
The Whitstable team was organised like a well-oiled machine, speadsheets written to work out how to transport boats the 6 miles along the cost, with one member just back from the Volvo Ocean Race (fell asleep on Dongfong – bless you Kevin!), one back from the USA for the weekend to sail (Howdy Mark) and our itinerant Ozzie Jeffry the pom-basher Loosemore there was a truly international feel.
I'm sure the other clubs were better organised, but somehow everyone made the (rather short) start line in time – some 35 boats in all!
Why don't you can the drivel and tell us what happened in the racing I hear you shout – well truth is I don't know as I was still asleep on Dongfeng back in Cardiff (heavy night with French Charles). The pictures at Herne Bay show a sunny day with medium breezes and that start which put the emphasis on getting clear quickly.
Not a day for radials methinks? Well Ozzie Jeff from WYC (that well known bandit) won both races for a fair dinkum slam dunk result. He was followed by Olly Cage-White from Broadstairs with a 2,3 and Chris Brewer with a 4, 4.5 (not sure where these 0.5 results came from guys)
Whitstable B (Loosemore, Hunt and Jacko) won the elite team competition from 4 challengers and curiously another Whitstable B team (Gowring, Edmonson and Oliver junior) won the Clubman competition from 5 teams.
So, what do we learn? It's quite possible to have fun racing Lasers at a club level AND have fun sailing at other clubs without the pressure of open meetings. In fact, market it well (great result Cap'n Mike and the team), bring the WAGs and with a bit of luck and good weather a great turnout results.
So its onto Whitstable over the weekend July 14/15 and we're looking for even bigger numbers, there's a band booked for Saturday night, the club has bunk rooms and we may even get the committee boat out to start the races. Roll on Laserfest Tri-Series Rouns 2!
Elite Team Results:
Club Team Results: