Medway RC Laser Winter Series event 7 at Barton's Point Country Park, Isle of Sheppey
by Jamie Blair 31 Jan 2022 16:46 GMT
30 January 2022
RC Laser Winter Series event 7 at Medway © Fiona Blair
The day before showed winds in excess of 25 knots in storm Malik and similar for Monday with storm Corrie. We were in a light airs window WSW that never got above 7 knots. The third event with light winds saw 9 sailors chose the A Rig again.
The start line was starboard biased for all the races before the break leading to some crowding in the seconds before the start. A number were closed out and had to wait for the front line to go. No one was called OCS in any of the races.
Tony Alexander (04) made the best of the early races logging a 1st, 2nd and a 4th. Brian Lev'y (958) had a great start to the day with a clear start in Race 1 to collect a 3rd.
Race three saw the crowd late at the start but with Tim Townsend (45) timing the start just right. He led the fleet from start to finish. Some were left stranded at the start and usual leaders were left carrying results they hoped to lose through discard.
The light and shifting winds (5-10 degrees) along with patchy areas meant that it was eyes out the boat to give the best speed.
Race 4 saw a return to what followers would expect. Tim and Jamie Blair (51) side by side at the start with Tim trying to push Jamie to tack away as give way boat. Both pushed on almost to the port lay line to the windward mark. Jamie found some additional boat speed and led at the windward mark. It was then cat and mouse around the triangle sausage race course. Practice makes perfect and Bob Woolford (76) again getting some clear air kept the rest of the fleet at bay and logged a 4th place. Spencer Pope (62) also in a good place in 5th.
Race 5 was very similar with all but Bob taking similar results. Wind shifts and wind shadow from the land adjacent to the windward mark made that point in the race course the most difficult. So early tackers on to the starboard lay line often led to place changes before the procession of the reach.
Two more races before the break saw Spencer chase behind Jamie to collect a second in race 7. Some boat-on-boat contact saw penalty turns by Tim to add a higher result. Charles Pegram (72) took advantage of multi boat parking at the windward mark to collect a 3rd place. At the break it was close between Jamie and Tim and Tony was just 3 points adrift from Tim.
After the break the line provided a hint of pin end bias and the windward mark adjusted to give a good beat. Tim added some high scores, with Tony, Mark Penny (03) and Jon Moon (84) adding low numbers to their overall scores. Race 11 saw new front runners with Jon taking a well-earned bullet, Mark 2nd and Tony 3rd. Brian also brought home a 4th with Jamie and Tim clocking a 6th and 5th.
Race 12 saw Jamie add to his line of 1st places and Tim follow him in at the finish. Bob again with a result that he must have been very pleased about in 3rd place.
At that point the wind shut off completely and "N over A" metaphorically hoisted. Jamie won the day with Tim in second and Tony on third. A tough day but full of some good racing with best results of the series.
We look forward to the next round on Sunday 6th February, with light winds still on the horizon.
Round 7 Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 51 | Jamie Blair | 1 | 4 | ‑8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | ‑6 | 1 | 17 |
| 2nd | 45 | Tim Townsend | ‑6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | ‑6 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 24 |
| 3rd | 4 | Tony Alexander | 2 | 1 | 4 | ‑8 | 3 | 4 | ‑5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 27 |
| 4th | 3 | Mark Penny | 4 | 5 | ‑9 | 3 | ‑7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 37 |
| 5th | 84 | Jon Moon | 5 | 3 | 3 | ‑7 | 6 | ‑8 | 7 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 45 |
| 6th | 928 | Brian Lev'y | 3 | 7 | 5 | 6 | ‑9 | 7 | ‑8 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 57 |
| 7th | 62 | Spencer Pope | ‑9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 8 | (DNF) | 62 |
| 8th | 72 | Charles Pegram | 7 | 9 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 9 | (DNC) | (DNC) | 64 |
| 9th | 76 | Bob Woolford | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 8 | ‑9 | ‑9 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 67 |