RC Laser Northern District TT at Burwain Sailing Club
by Tony Wilson 9 Jul 2019 16:35 BST
7 July 2019
RC Laser Northern District TT at Burwain - July 2019 © Tony Wilson
A forecast for 4 MPH light winds, but would it be enough for us to sail on lake Burwain? 12 Skippers, half made up from the local club and a handful over from Fleetwood and one guy all the way from Barrow in Cumbria.
The Burwain club sail exclusively RC Lasers every Sunday and it shows by the quality in just a couple of years. Mind you some have defected from full size dingy racing, which helps in a more leisurely past-time, without those physical demands.
Trevor was taking names down, while one of the local guys was putting in lots of buoys for a good choice selection. It makes it easier, as the wind what little to be, was destined to swing around.
A triangle of two laps all in an anticlockwise direction with a start and finish in line with the jetty was announced at skipper briefing. The countdown was set at just a minute as there wasn't much running around to do and we even had the raised platform so all could more or less view the whole lake without even moving.
Eric from Fleetwood won the first race as he snatched the victory just at last minute from Hugo.
Then Graham won the next, but the racing looked a mixed bag of ability and you couldn't always guess the outcome. Some that sprinted off the start blocks could have easily been overtaken as you hit a dead wind spot.
Steve Mattison won race three and it was his first time to sail at Burwain, which by now he was beginning to enjoy. Richard won race four, then it was Hugo's turn to make a couple of home runs. It seemed as though each were just taking it in turns.
At six races we had our lunch and then it was out again to much of the same. The course was reversed to clockwise, although still using the same marks to go round as the wind had swung a touch. The wind had slightly increased but we were still on 'A' rigs. There was just one attempt and for one race for a skipper to drop down a sail size and it put others off that were thinking of doing likewise, there just wasn't enough of the swan diving to require downsizing, but they were going well under the extra blow.
Hugo put in a couple more wins, then Eric managed another and Darius got the last race that completed 12 races for the day. We had some good racing.
Looks like the Burwain guys got a 1 2 3, as in the winners were all from the Burwain club.
Maybe Fleetwood could return the favour on their home waters to show them their best in return.
Next race in this series is over at Fleetwood on the 21st July which is not so far off.
Results:
1 Hugo Chandor 24 pts Burwain
2 Graham Waugh 32 pts Burwain
3 Richard Whittle 37 pts Burwain