Medway RC Laser Club Winter Series - Day 4
by Jamie Blair 12 Jan 12:41 GMT
11 January 2026
Bitterly cold racing with strong South-East winds
For the fourth round of the Winter Series six sailors take to the water for a SE 11 knot wind. We had missed two weekends, the first for Christmas and what a lovely day the 28th December was and the second because the 4th January was in the -6 degrees of freezing.
The course today gave a good view of the start line gave the RO repeated opportunity to call boats over the line. From the beginning of the session Tim Townsend (45) looked intent on taking the overall He won races 1, 2 and 3, with the other spots changing as the morning progressed. The forecast of increasing wind was happening as each race was completed and with gusts now up to 15 knots the B rig showed how quickly the boat becomes overpowered. Race 4 saw Roger Gibb (32) on a C rig capitalise on control and taking a good start overtook all the B rigs on the first downwind leg for a win. Still persevering with fleet on B rigs Roger collected another win in Race 6.
At the break and time to warm up Tim was an impressive 6 points clear. 2nd to 5th very close. Bob Woolford (76) showed some improving results from previous weeks collecting two fourth places but was unable to complete the session with boat issues.
After the break all were on C rigs as the wind was now up to 20 knots. Mark Penny (03) fully recharged from the break took wins in race 7 and 8 as well as high ranking results in the remaining races. Tim continued his dominance with two further wins. Roger and Mark, a mixture of seconds and thirds as they both competed for the second overall place with Jamie Blair (51) always snapping at their heels.
Tim finished the session 10 points ahead of second overall with Roger and Mark on equal points, separated on countback with Mark taking the silver spot. Fourth was just 2 points behind. The wind had now increased to 25 - 30 knots and with the wind chill finally getting to all the racing was curtailed.
We will be back in a week's time on the 18th of January.
Day 4 Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 45 | Tim Towsend | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑5 | 2 | ‑3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| 2nd | 3 | Mark Penny | 2 | 4 | 4 | ‑6 | (DNF) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 23 |
| 3rd | 32 | Roger Gibb | 4 | ‑5 | ‑5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 23 |
| 4th | 51 | Jamie Blair | ‑6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | ‑4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 25 |
| 5th | 4 | Tony Alexander | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | (DNF) | 5 | 5 | 36 |
| 6th | 76 | Bob Woolford | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 6 | (DNF) | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 52 |