Laser open meeting at Clevedon Sailing Club
by Robin Goff 29 Jul 2019 17:48 BST
28 July 2019
Laser open meeting at Clevedon © Geoff Langan
Six brave competitors took part in this years Laser open meeting at Clevedon SC comprising of four visitors and two local sailors, in the challenging westerly force 5 gusting 6 wind.
Race officer Ian Hotchkiss set an M-shaped course in Clevedon bay which gave two beats, two beam reaches with two gybe marks and a Broad reach across the bay.
In the lead up to race 1 safety boat skipper Mike Batchelor and crew Gary Buffery and Andy Summerell were kept busy dealing with multiple capsizes, but all the racers managed to stay upright for the start. John Ling from Bartley Sailing Club quickly established a good lead followed by local sailors Rhys Davies and Martin Gibson.
At the end of the first lap Davies elected to tack round at the second gybe mark which allowed Gibson to move into second. Not far behind were Mike Dyer and Graham Royce from Bowmoor Sailing Club. On lap 2 Davies suffered a broken toestrap and tiller extension and was forced to retire. Ling won the race followed by Gibson Dyer and Royce.
In Race two Royce decided he'd had enough fun for one day and came ashore. Leaving the rest to battle it out in the now increasing Force 6 breeze. Once again Ling got off to a good start closely followed by Gibson and Dyer these positions remained unchanged for the rest of the race.
Dyer decided he'd had enough after race 2, which left Ling and Gibson to contest the final race. Ling again quickly established a good lead which he held to the finish.
Overall results:
1st John Ling Bartley SC
2nd Martin Gibson Clevedon SC
3rd Mike Dyer Bowmoor SC