Laser Open at Yeadon Sailing Club
by George Dawson 10 May 2005 19:06 BST
8 May 2005
The prospects looked good as sunshine and a 10-`15 knot wind greeted the contestants. Our sole visiting boat, David Graham from Ripon S.C., was first to the windward mark, but Yeadon’s fluky winds got the better of him, and the Yeadon strong man, John Simms, soon established a permanent lead, albeit hotly pursued by long term winner Pete Slingsby and veteran Rob Parnaby, finishing in that order.
Before the start of the second race the wind had been strengthening, with gusts in excess of 20 knots, frequent changes of direction, and accompanied by intermittent, very heavy showers. Once again David Graham got off to a brilliant start, but a cunning change of course by Ringmaster Denis Beard sent him in the wrong direction, enabling Pete Slingsby to get in front. This was followed by a severe squall, which threw the whole fleet into disarray, and causing a number of boats to retire. During this mayhem Dave Statman gave a thrilling display of acrobatics, of which Ben Ainslie would have been proud. A penalty by John Simms threw him into second place, and our stalwart veteran Rob Parnaby’s persistence gave him another third.
By the time he third race started, the wind has eased considerably, and this gave David Graham the opportunity to consolidate his earlier experiences and he established a steadily increasing lead, which John Simms and Pete Slingsby could not break, finishing in that order.
Overall Results:
1st 121822 John Simms
2nd 149413 Pete Slingsby
3rd 172531 David Graham (Ripon)
4th 122182 Rob Parnaby
5th 135558 John Southall
6th 160687 Dave Statman
7th 120358 D. Stewart