Laser II Inland Championships at Datchet Water Sailing Club

by George Hoskins (Ed. Mike Croker) 23 Mar 2006 06:43 GMT 18-19 March 2006

A chilly N to NE force 5 gusting 7 cut the number of entries to seven. A long offshore run to the start woke most of the crews up and the adrenalin was pumping by the time of the first start. The expertise of Nigel Skudder & Keith Hills soon showed; the Scottish team of Jude Baird and Fred Fuller were the best of the rest. Skudder & Hills again lead Baird & Fuller across the finish line in race 2, after Henry and George Hoskins had the mother of all spinnaker wraps whilst in second place. Skudder & Hills got their hat-trick in Race 3, followed by old hand Patrick Bird with Nathan Edwards, whilst frozen hands and broken bits cut the fleet to 4 finishers.

Sunday started with slightly less wind from the same direction. Skudder & Hills went left off the start, but Datchet regulars, Mike Clapp & Mark Bond, went right, beating everyone to the windward mark by a long way. Alas their spinnaker halyard failed, gifting Skudder & Hills another first, followed by Peter Williams & Alistair Kerr. The remaining two races saw the same teams in first and second places, reflecting the overall result.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Pts
1st	10588	Nigel Skudder	Keith Hills	Starcross SC	5
2nd	10624	Peter Williams	Alistair Kerr	Datchet Water SC	12
3rd	10057	Patrick Bird	Nathan Edwards		17