Please select your home edition
Edition
leaderboard with question mark E6 launch 2021

RC Laser Autumn Series at Fleetwood Model Yacht Club - Week 2

by Tony Wilson 12 Jan 17:51 GMT 4 December 2022
A radio-controlled Laser ready to launch © Tony Wilson

Light cloud and a moderate breeze of 12 MPH from an Easterly direction - 'That'll do'. This was just one of the local forecasts for Sunday.

One week on and we had a good turnout, with a perfect direction for a good day's sailing. John Armstrong having travelled the furthest had picked the right week, as last week had been pretty marginal and challenging.

Some took two sails with them to the start, as it was a bit of a walk back to the car from the far end starting line, that was well past midway of the lake.

Derek was checking out the running of (GBR 750) another's Laser, for someone else and during one race snapped a somewhat brittle aged gooseneck on his favoured choice 'B' rig.

Smiffy had painted his Laser hull in Battleship grey to hopefully intimidate a couple of the skippers into submission, but we weren't buying it. He did win a race mind you, but that was down to Derek's magical trim setting. But then after that, he fiddled with it again.

With a nice plumb start line across the lake, we had very little complication in course setting and adjustments were easy. All the buoys were set in a nice easy pattern, placed neatly around the lake.

The races were of good size and a finish after one and a half laps towards the centre of the lake, after negotiating the well balanced leeward gate for the final beat.

By the end of the day we had plenty of good competitive racing and position changing, with Shaun only having half of the wins this time. Up into the afternoon Derek had slowly been accumulating water in his hull, but had still managed some impressive wins.

The bottom gate seemed just about right, as this could certainly affect your finishing order and then for the closing final finish we sailed to the top end of the lake on, the last race.

The grass bank was awash with multiple sail sizes throughout the day, as most had nearly emptied their sail bags of their contents.

Second, third and fourth place were separated by just 2 points, that's how close some of the racing had been.

A good day with plenty of excellent racing for the ten Skippers in fourteen super races, what's there not to like about the Laser?

Results:

1 Shaun Holbeche 10 pts
2 Derek Priestly 22 pts
3 Tony Wilson 23 pts
4 Steve mattison 24 pts

Related Articles

Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 11
Close competition across the whole fleet Today we welcomed nine sailors to race in the 11th session in our Winter Series. Another wind direction for the RO to set the normal triangle/sausage with the start/finish a third way up the beat. Posted on 22 Mar
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 10
Big waves for little boats! Always with the wind in a WSW direction and on the puffy side the long fetch of the lake provides some big waves to contend with. Near the café the rebound off the lake edge stimulates even more wave effect. Posted on 15 Mar
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 9
Light airs again! We arrived to find a NW-N wind and around 10 knots. No shelter from the café today and a standard triangle sausage course set with good length beats. Posted on 8 Mar
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 8
Dogs off chains The morning began with 18 Knots and some gust up to 20 knots all from the NE. With the chill factor clearly going to affect the sailors, the course was set as a pseudo Sail GP shape with a reaching start and then a triangle sausage. Posted on 3 Mar
RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood week 3
A few boats stranded out of reach due to technical issues The direction and lack of wind would mean we only needed our large sails for the day and a two lap figure of eight pattern course at the club end of the lake. Posted on 16 Feb
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 6
Sunshine racing (not in your eyes) and great banter between all The morning began with 18 Knots of wind from the NNW and unlike the sun had taken his hat off to greet 11 yacht racers eager to race. This wind direction is the least favoured by the Race Team with the café building creating an influence. Posted on 8 Feb
RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood week 2
Superstitious race officer refuses to stop at 13 While checking out the forecast at home, if you could choose which sail to take along and if only limited to one of them, my guess would have been the 'C' rig. Posted on 5 Feb
RC Laser Winter Series at Fleetwood week 1
Greeted by the fire brigade, requesting a postponement We had a forecast with plenty of wind, but this time it would be the rain that would dampen our spirit. On arrival we were greeted with the fire brigade, they were having their yearly training exercise for three new rookie recruits. Posted on 3 Feb
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 5
6 podium places in 11 races wasn't enough to take the top spot No sun today but our largest turn out with twelve yacht racers wanting a piece of the action. Early boats on the water brandishing a B rig but as the wind increased prior to the first race the C rig was chosen by all but one. Posted on 2 Feb
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 4
Sunshine and sunglasses on a day that was to be cold and no wind We were blessed with sun but before racing started there was no wind. The course was set to what should have been a WNW direction. The wind at the first race was just that but with only 5 knots the fleet of 7 boats found it slow! Posted on 23 Jan