Laser Results
Saturday 20th & Sunday 21st March saw Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club host the second round of the Laser / Laser Radial World & European Qualifier with 154 boats turning up for the weekend at Mountbatten. The weekend event was run as a joint venture between Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club , Plymouth Youth Sailing & the Mountbatten Centre with the Laser Class Association providing their own race officer (Ken Falcon) with Keith Kendall from RPCYC / PYS being the assistant race officer providing valuable local knowledge.
The Lasers were made up of 52 Standard Lasers & 102 Laser Radials with competitors from the far reaches of the United Kingdom & Ireland. There were even Competitors from Bulgaria & Canada making it a truly international event. Plymouth was represented by Dan Ellis (RPCYC), Max Robinson (SSC), Kate Sargent (SSC), Liam Arrowsmith (PYC) & Ben Dodwell in the Laser Radial fleet with Adam Littlejohn (RWYC), Tom Rainey & Philip Reynolds (SSC) in the Laser Standard class.
Saturday saw a very wet misty day with visibility varying throughout the day challenging both the competitors & the race management team. At times it was a difficult task just to see the windward mark which along with a large sea swell & flood tide really tested the competitors. The triangular course was set up initially between South of Fort Picklecombe & Cawsands with each leg being 0.8 nautical miles long. Two races were held here with many of the competitors sailing in a large swell for the first time making it a new experience for them !!.
The third race was stopped shortly after the start as the wind shifted nearly 120 degrees. As the wind was now in a northerly westerly direction the race officer decided to move the course to within the sound. During the transit to the sound the fleet were greeted by a pod of Dolphins which jumped between the boats with some twisting in the air to the enjoyment of sailors. By now the rain had stopped & there was even the slightest promise of sunshine to raise the spirits of everyone. The wind had also increased in strength to provide some exhilarating racing.
Sunday saw light winds with the start delayed until the wind settled in both strength & direction. The racing was once again held within the sound with two races held back to back & saw some very close racing once again with position being fought for throughout the races.
The Laser Standard fleet was won by Olympic Gold Medallist & World Number One Laser Laser Sailor Paul Goodison with Nick Thompson second & Eifion Mon third. Local sailors Tom Rainey finished a very credible 18th with Philip Reynolds in 25th & Adam Little John in 50th place in the series.
The laser radial fleet was split into Alpha & Beta fleets due to the large number of entries (102), the results were then combined to give overall results for the radial class. The racing was extremely close with Ali Young eventually taking first place , Charlotte Dobson in second & John Currie in third.
Of the local sailors RPCYC’s Dan Ellis finished in 18th place with Max Robinson (SSC) in 31st place. Kate Sargent (SSC) despite winning the Beta Fleet finished in 62nd place with Liam Arrowsmith (PYC) in 80th Place & Ben Dodwell in 100th place.
The first round of the qualifiers was held at Stokes Bay on the 13th / 14th March & saw Max Robinson take 17th Place, Dan Ellis 23rd & Kate Sargent 52nd.
We wish all our local sailors the very best of luck in the next & final round of the qualifiers to be held at Hayling Island next month.
- Who said multi tasking was beyond the male of the species?
Special thanks are made to the volunteers from Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club, Plymouth Youth Sailing, Hooe Point Sailing Club & the staff of the Mountbatten Centre for making the series such a success & further promoting Plymouth as a World class venue to sail in.
Safety cover in close formation
