Laser Open at BA Silver Wing Sailing Club
by John Peck 8 Apr 2006 09:33 BST
02/04/2006
The second event of the Thames Valley circuit was hosted by BA Silverwing S.C. in Wraysbury and welcomed 16 lasers along with a fleet of Solos. A strong force 4 (gusting 5) wind with many very unpredictable shifts had the whole fleet guessing. Capsizes were a common feature even with the more experienced sailors.
In the first race Ian Gregory (Frensham Pond) had a great start and managed to get clean air while the rest of the top 5 challenged for places, Myself (John Peck), David Goddard, Roger Bennett and Andrew Bowes all battled for position eventually ending in Roger Bennett of BA Silverwing to come through and take 2nd, while David (Chipstead) and Andrew (Chipstead) came in a close 3rd and 4th,
after several capsizes in the shifty conditions. I just lost 5th place to Pete Roberts (BA Silverwing) to finish 6th.
In the second race Roger was pushed over the line and decided to continue in the hope he wasn’t over, unfortunately it was the case and he retired after the first leg. Ian Gregory had another great first leg and managed to continue his form from the first race onto a second win. The great sail in the race was from Peter Roberts (Silverwing SC) who managed to claw his way from 6th at the start to 2nd in the space of a lap, he then went on to pull out a substantial gap from the fleet which was only eaten into in the last lap by David Goddard who nearly managed to challenge for 2nd until he slipped up on a strong shifty downwind section.
The third race was a weird one to say the least. It produced the strongest winds with downpours, hail and a section where the wind went from a force 4 to nearly nothing! It was a race that changed place more times than you can imagine and is hard to sum up who had a good race or not. We also had to contend with not only our own fleet but also the Solo fleet on the course and having to work your way through them was a challenge to say the least. At the end David Goddard showed his experience and managed to master the conditions the best. He pulled out the lead and was closely followed home by Andrew Bowes who also had an excellent race. Ian, the overall winner of the event, came in 3rd in the final race of the day.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | Club |
|---|
| 1st | Ian Gregory | Frensham Pond S.C. |
| 2nd | David Goddard | Chipstead S.C. |
| 3rd | Andrew Bowes | Chipstead S.C. |
| 4th | Roger Bennett | BA Silverwing S.C. |
| 5th | Pete Roberts | BA Silverwing S.C. |