RC Laser club racing at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club
by Tony Wilson 26 Oct 2021 16:36 BST
24 October 2021
RC Laser club racing at Fleetwood © Bob Jolly
Well last week we had a joint RC Lasers and Mustangs experience day.
We usually use the day to do whatever, maybe race if there's interest
or just sail each other's boats.
Any that have never ventured to the
other side or any outsiders and even friends have sometimes come
along. The weather wasn't too great, so on this occasion we only had a
handful of the hardier regulars. Sailed 4 races before and 4 races
after lunch and called it a day to the damp proceedings.
One week on and with very similar conditions. The same wind direction
from the South, although double strength and calling for 'B' rigs.
Instead of a 'W' shape sailing course, we again started by the pump
house but we sailed only half. A 'Z' shape and then a crossover
reverse on return. Trevor was up for getting in a few more races this
time.
Nine Skippers present, that was when Tony finally rolled up with his
lame excuse of couldn't find his dog lead and closely followed by
Smiffy. Alan Tickle had driven in from Southport and welcomed more of
a sailing challenge from the other side of the Ribble. Peter had
everything in start order with flags and boats at the ready and a
prompt start for our Doris with the 2 minutes countdown started at
10:30 sharp. There were slight bits of drizzle in the air, said to
fizzle out by lunch.
Ian Sinclair managed to steal the first race, while Alan S. just
managed to get on the water for a last place and Tony took the first
fleet plus one of the day, while still messing about in his car boot.
Tony then nailed race two with Peter coming in for his second, second
place. The races were fairly quick although dithering at the near bank
was testing a few.
Stevie Be good 'B' rig sailor won race three. There's usually no way
of freeing him from this, his favourite sail. It looked like there
was certainly going to be a mix in the finishing order this week, as
we were missing the big guns, the three musketeers.
The windy part of the course was by the start and seemed to be
bordering 'C' sail at times, but the club house bank had lulls and
flat water even too calm for our biggest sail. Coming in to the near
bank had you swapping many multiple times from one tack to another and
it must have been quite comical for the odd passer by, watching the
skippers leaning with head and shoulders from side to side.
One of the uncontrollable tussles at the start had Tony's boat caught
up with Steve's. Steve was out for a race as his rudder bush bevel had
come loose from the hull. Then another tangle from Tony, had him tied
up with Ian Hawtin's boat only to knock his rudder over a notch on the
splines. It was fairly busy on the short start line and you had to
have your wits about you as the Testosterone was high, even among a
group of squawking male fighting seagulls, in amongst the boats at the
countdown.
Eight races had and it was off to lunch. Ian S. was already out for an
early lunch as he had yet another rudder servo to replace.After lunch
it was' A' rigs at the ready for some as it looked like the afternoon
was just a little calmer. Alan S. now had rudder jitters and Eric was
still recovering from his early morning sail line breakage, so no
shortage of surprises through the day.
Mid afternoon and half the fleet had now up their sail sizes. Eric won
another race after eventually giving in to the big rig, but Stevie was
not shifting. Bob was caught out with a wet transmitter in the short
afternoon shower just after putting aside his mit, putting an end to
his sailing for the day.
2:15 and a few moans were wearing the fleet down in the light drizzle.
Alan T. being our furthest driver, thought we'de be a bit wimpish to
retire before 3pm. So another 4 quick races gave us the desired 3
discards on a completed 16 race score card.
A good spread of results.
The wins through out the day were shared amongst 5 skippers.
2 skippers 2 wins each and 3 skippers 4 wins each.
Results:
1 Peter Isles 25 pts
2 Tony Wilson 32 pts
3 Ian Sinclair 46 pts