Medway RC Laser Winter Series 2018-19 - Round 11

Medway RC Laser Winter Series round 11 © MYC

Warm temperature, southerly winds 14-20 kts and blue sky attracted our best turnout for the Winter Series. Fifteen eager racers launched their boats well before the 10am start time, so early that a practice race was added to the programme. During the race the wind jumped from a "B" rig being the sail of choice to "C" rig.

With the larger fleet a longer start line was laid a slightly longer beat for the first leg of the triangle/sausage format. All seemed to be wanting a front row position at the start. We welcomed the Race Officer for our Open Meeting (14th April). Tim Townsend joined the normal team of Fiona Blair to keep the flighty sailors in order. Tim did call a number of boats over during the morning and even called a General Recall.

Despite the increase in wind Adrian Tomlinson decided to keep to the "B" rig but a sixth allowed Jamie Blair, Pete Freeman, Jon Moon and Brian Collings to stay ahead.

A change of mind to a "C" rig gave Adrian the 2nd race with Jamie close behind. This seemed to be the pattern for the morning with Jamie accumulating seven firsts and Adrian six. It was down to the last race with Jamie only leading by one point so the win in race 13 confirmed the overall winner.

Starting was as intense as ever with a number adopting different approaches. There was the usual gathering at the windward end that saw those wanting some space to bow down and head towards the pin end and hope for clean air and a fortunate use of either the bank or a wind shift. Those that chose to be either brave (Pete Freeman) or a boat length back from the line often tacked early to gain weather ground and clear air that way.

This still gave the port lay line as the risky route in to the windward mark. Sometimes difficult to see but those on starboard tack certainly saw well enough to cry out "Starboard". Repeats of this in all races with much ducking and diving and some contact (turns please!) before the boats spread out as the race continued. Early tackers from the start were sometimes lucky with a lift to the windward mark on the starboard lay line.

Medway RC Laser Winter Series round 11 - photo © MYC

As racing was tight across the whole fleet you could see various boats taking covering action to retain positions. Some boats were thwarted in their covering efforts when nature overtook control and the nose dive "untactic" lead to places being lost.

So a break out of the "D" rig for many proved a good choice but those early with the change didn't pay.

Going in to the coffee break Adrian was leading after Jamie scored a 5th in race 7. Behind them there was a group of three on the same points (Bryan Collings, Pete Freeman and Jon Moon, closely followed by four more boats on the same points. David Townshend had suffered a mainsheet issue and 4 races with a DNS didn't help his overall position. After the break he was loaned a spare boat from Roger White, producing a 2nd place result in Race 9. Another casualty with a dead rudder servo was Andrew Nicholls at the break allowing his rival Brian Lev'y a day when he beat Andrew!

Pete seemed to be called over the line at the start on a number of occasions and with some excellent battling back through the fleet. Dick Owens now taking on 75 following his brother's move to the south coast showed some great promise and finished mid fleet. Roger White lost the last two races having lost his keel during Race 12 very near the pontoon. Wading in wasn't successful but a sortie later in the day saw a triumphant Roger holding his keel aloft! So a well earned return by Bryan Collings to take 3rd for the day, but only 2 points clear of Pete Freeman and Jon Moon. A small jump to 6th with Dick and Richard Stone on equal points with count back giving 6th to Dick.

See you all next Sunday 24th February for Round 12. Details of location and start times on www.rclaser.org.uk/events

Round 11 Results: