Laser Radial Inland Championships at Carsington Sailing Club
by Jon Emmett 2 Nov 2008 21:47 GMT
1-2 November 2008
This year’s Radial Inlands held at Carsington Water SC on the first weekend of November were very difficult with the strong winds rewarding good boathandling. To make the best use of the lake PRO Ken Falcon set a long beat with a series of reaches back downwind to have no less than three gybe marks on rounds 1 and 3, with round 2 just being straight downwind. With the majority of the 70 competitors really feeling the cold, a swim was to be avoided at all costs!
The first race was initially led by Cameron Douglas before he was passed downwind by Jon Emmett who extended his lead to take the race. Meanwhile Douglas had a tough battle with Hannah Snellgrove who eventually passed Douglas on the final lap only to discover that she had been black flagged at the start. Craig Williamson was third with Thomas Hewitt fourth and James Grant fifth.
Race two and the breeze veered and increased. George Spelding had a great first beat but was passed by Emmett downwind. He managed to hang onto second despite a close tussle with Snellgrove which saw her doing turns and having to settle for third. Fourth was Douglas with Michael Pridham in fifth.
Race three was extremely close at the top with half a dozen boats rounding together. However the lead three of Emmett, Snellgrove and Douglas soon established themselves with Olly Porter having his best race of the regatta with a fourth and Pridham bagging another fifth.
Sunday and the wind was consistently over 25 knots at start time so racing was postponed for an hour. With the wind now backed and eased, conditions were much easier. Moray Clarke led for most of the first lap before being passed by Emmett on the final reach. Emmett then built a commanding lead whilst Clarke secured second. Snellgrove powered through the fleet to take third with Williamson taking fourth and Jack Wetherell fifth. At this stage Snellgrove, Douglas and Clarke all had one result out of the top five so going into race five, things were still wide open for second place.
The final race saw Snellgrove lead around the top mark but she was soon passed by Emmett but remained hot on his heels until the final Gybe mark where she went for a swim, handing second place to Douglas. Moray Clarke took third place overall,with David Williams fourth and Wetherall fifth. Interestingly the finish order of the top five in the final race matched the finish order of the top five overall, with third to fifth split on most firsts tie-breaker.
Overall Results:
1st Jon Emmett Weir (Wood SC) 4pts
2nd & 1st Junior, Cameron Douglas (Dee SC) 11pts
3rd & 1st Youth, Moray Clarke (Helensburgh) 24pts
4th & 1st Master, David Williams (Grafham Water) 24pts
5th Jack Wetherall Beaver 24pts
10th & 1st Lady, Hannah Snellgrove