Laser UK National Championships at Largs Sailing Club - Day 4
by Stephanie Videlo & Nette Woods 1 Aug 2019 08:44 BST
27 July - 2 August 2019
Radial & 4.7 Rigs (Stephanie Videlo)
The early morning northerly sadly disappeared as launch time approached and the sailors were held ashore until 12:30. However, the threat of a paddle board race seemed to do the trick and with a promising westerly building north of Cumbrae the fleet were towed up to the race area. The course was set for a westerly.
Heavy storm clouds had been building to the north of the race area with rolls of thunder and some interesting lightning. With everyone counting the gaps between the claps of thunder and the lightning bolts, the race officer and course safety lead made the wise decision to move the whole fleet south towards the north of Cumbrae and hopefully away from the path of the storm. The fleet sheltered for around 10 minutes as the storm moved further north before returning to the race area.
The first start for Radial Race 8 was a general recall and the second attempt was made under black flag. The second start was also a general recall which led to the blackboard and several boats being disqualified from race 8. At the third attempt the fleet got away.
The 4.7 start was postponed with 30 seconds to go as there was a massive wind shift- almost 180 degrees in places and the recently started Standards could lay the windward in a single tack. All races were abandoned. The wind shift brought the threat of bringing the storm clouds back to the fleet and the wind strength dropped to about 3-4 mph. The race officer decided that it was time to call it a day, all racing was abandoned and the long tow home began, leaving a handful of Radial sailors disqualified from Race 8.
Standard Rigs (by Nette Woods)
Day 4 started well with blazing sunshine and a great Race Clinic on downwind speed and tactics by young super star Joe Drake.
Owing to the lack of breeze, Race 8 was postponed. As a consequence, some of the sailors started preparing to get the Stand Up Paddle Board Relay Races under way (just one of the challenges planned for the Laser Aquatic Highland Games). However, before the relay race could begin, news came through that there was promise of a beautiful westerly wind, so the fleets got the go-ahead to launch.
With some haste, sailors changed and prepared to hit the water. The expected breeze was yet to materialise by the shore, thus the competitors had to be towed out to the race course. Sure enough, once the fleets reached the sailing area, a perfect strong breeze was blowing. Unfortunately, there was one problem, a storm which had been brewing over the distant mountains, seemed to be approaching.
As the storm neared with thunder rumbling and lightning flashing, the Race Officer directed all sailors away from its path. By the time the Radials eventually got away, the breeze was failing. The Standards started cleanly, but the storm caused a massive right shift to develop so that it became almost a one tack beat, so before the 4.7s could begin, the race officer decided to abandon the race, and then all racing for the day. So after several hours on the water, the sailors found they were once again having to be towed back.
Full results can be found here.