Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series 2025 at Barton's Point Coastal Park - Week 10
by Jamie Blair 2 Apr 2025 21:01 BST
30 March 2025
Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series week 10 © Fiona Blair
A great breeze from the NW and showing just over 20 knots to run the last race in the Winter Series. This is the last race before sailing on much bigger dinghies and yachts for most of our racers.
The direction allowed a windward start and port rounding course of the triangle/sausage format.
9 racers set off, most with D rigs but two using the C rig. Clearly this was too much canvass as the wind increased to over 25 knots. Jamie Blair (51) stamping his intent over Tim Townsend (45) for race 1 with a win. All resorted to D rigs for the remainder of the morning.
The overall win for the Winter Series was between these two and close encounters in the period before the start and around the race course were evident, neither giving quarter. Penalty turns for both!
Seven races before the break and the two swapped places for first and second. Race 6 saw Tim leading up until the last beat but a difficult last tack allowed Jamie in and another win.
The fleet was never far behind with racing between Mark Penny (03), Jon Moon (84), Roger Gibbs (32), Charles Pegram (72) and Spencer Pope (62). Charles improved his results through the morning. Bob Woolford (76) and Andrew Nicholls (613) found the upper wind strength awkward to handle in the first period.
After the break Mark Penny (03) broke the winning sequence with a win in race 8 and Bob got it right in Race 9 with a win. Race 9 was a race that Jamie and Tim made a succession of errors that put them to the back of the fleet.
Tim continued his consistency and at race 12 Jamie and Tim were tied on points. Race 13 being the last race and lucky or unlucky for some saw Tim take the lead by the first mark with Jamie close behind. Jamie at the wing mark stopped in the water with a broken mainsheet allowing Tim a clear sail to win the last race and the overall for the day.
Tim also over the ten rounds is our overall champion, followed by Jamie, Jon, Mark.
Many thanks go to all the sailors who raced the Winter Series and many thanks to Fiona Blair for being the RO.
We will be back in December for our next Winter Series.
Week 10 Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 45 | Tim Towsend | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | ‑4 | ‑6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| 2nd | 51 | Jamie Blair | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ‑7 | 1 | 5 | 1 | (DNF) | 21 |
| 3rd | 3 | Mark Penny | 3 | 4 | 3 | ‑9 | 2 | ‑6 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 31 |
| 4th | 84 | Jon Moon | ‑8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 6 | (DNF) | 3 | 5 | 49 |
| 5th | 32 | Roger Gibbs | ‑6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | ‑7 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 50 |
| 6th | 62 | Spencer Pope | 5 | 3 | 7 | 4 | ‑9 | 5 | 7 | ‑8 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 55 |
| 7th | 72 | Charles Pegram | 7 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 4 | 6 | ‑9 | (DNF) | 3 | 6 | 6 | 60 |
| 8th | 76 | Bob Woolford | 4 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | ‑9 | ‑9 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 73 |
| 9th | 613 | Andrew Nicholls | (DNF) | (DNC) | DNC | 8 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 88 |