Laser and Europe Open at Overy Staithe Sailing Club
by Andy Turner 27 Jul 2025 19:25 BST
26-27 July 2025
Overy Staithe Laser and Europe Open © Bernard Clark
The Laser open attracted twenty two entries. The wind was a rather fickle force 1 north westerly with bright sunshine. The first beat from Worple to Norton provided quite a navigational challenge with a spring tide surging into the harbour and several back eddies near the edges.
Lucy Lamont established a lead early on and held off all challenges on her birthday, chased by Will Ellison and Ash Deakin (Lucy's elder brother).
In race 2 the tide was now ebbing presenting a whole lot of different problems but at least the wind held up. Again Lucy Lamont established a good early lead but this was whittled away, particularly on the downwind legs, with Jonathan Jones eventually taking the lead at the last mark.
Day one ended with Lucy in the lead on 3 points but closely followed by her brother Ash, and Jonathon Jones who were both on 6 points.
In the Europe fleet Ellie Clark enjoyed all the space of the racecourse as she was the only entrant for the first day of racing. Starting 5 minutes after the Lasers she showed good speed to overhaul a number of them. She goes in to day two with a scorecard of 2.
With a force 3 northerly blowing for day two, the race officers sent the fleet out to sea. Once the fleet was over the bar nerves settled and racing got under way. In race 3 Ashley Deakin established a good lead and couldn't be caught despite being chased by Tom Joyce. Further back yesterday's birthday girl and leader overnight, Lucy Lamont, dropped places and retired. Will Ellison sailed consistently to take third.
In race 4 Tom Joyce established a good lead whereas Ash Deakin was called back at the start. However some astute tactical sailing in the strong tide meant he pulled up to second at the finish, with Jonathan Jones finishing third.
Overall with one discard Ash Deakin finished first, one point ahead of Tom Joyce with Jonathan Jones in third.
Simon Turner claimed two firsts in the Europe fleet to claim first overall with Ellie Clark second.
Many thanks to the two safety boat crews who performed expertly in laying the course and in rescuing sailors. Also to the committee boat crew who endured two hours of sitting in a rolling committee boat.