Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series Day 4

Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 4 © Fiona Blair

Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 4 © Fiona Blair

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!

Sailors were looking for A+ rigs but with only the A to sport it was a real gauge to get the start right with some way on to get clear air. Boats were even seen to be going astern when the wind shut off. Is there a tib=de on the lake? Practice made perfect although Jamie Blair (51) who was closed out at the starboard end of the line on two occasions and doing penalty turns!

The line gave a starboard bias and Race 1 saw Tony Alexander (04) make the start with better boat speed and take to the front playing what wind and shifts there were. Even with a good lead the last beat to the finish on the triangle sausage raised his heat rate as the chasing two closed down the gap.

Race 2 saw Lucian Stone (75) with eyes out the boat seeing more wind to the left side of the beat and lead at the windward mark but Bob Woolford taking the same route made other legs his and the race win was his. A returning sailor Charles Pegram (72) was left frustrated with comms issues with his boat, missing all the races.

The first beat was always crucial and to see the stronger win and the shift was always unpredictable with the windward mark positioned with he wind coming down the cut from the Queenborough Lines creating an outstretched hand effect.

Early tackers on to the starboard lay line were often successful to get to the windward mark as the wind direction lifted to the right. Also, for those chancing coming in to the mark on port were opportunist in taking ahead of a boat not "fetching" the mark.

With first discard in place Jamie Blair (51) headed the results, Lucian second and Mark Penny third. The fickle wind gave all hope for the rest of the mornings racing. We were seeing a number of sailors winning races.

At the break after Race 6 Jamie had a 3 point lead but Tony had pulled back to second. Only two points separated 3, 4, 5 places. By Race 8 Tony had won a number of races - good starts and following the wind shifts better than anyone else. The wind continued to increase from the millpond at the start to a level that the was talk of changing to B Rig.

Some stats - 5 boats got bullets, Roger Gibb had 6 podium places in 14 races. Race 14 after the event was to be the decider for the day and with the competition all keyed up for a best results finish Tony Alexander (04) was called OCS and as we all know going back almost destroys a good result. Tony made an excellent recovery to finish fourth in that race. Numbers crunched and Tony missed the overall win for the day by one point.

Jamie won the day. Lucian was third (even with rudder setting issues!!).

Our next set of races will be on Sunday 29th January 2023.

Overall Results:

Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series day 4 - photo © Fiona Blair