Laser Nationals - Exciting finale

by Clare Murray on 4 Jan 2012 Today was the final day of the Laser Nationals at RQYS. It was an exciting finish to the Radial Gold Fleet with two points separating the top three places.

Tristan Brown won the National title ahead of Krystal Weir in second and fellow Western Australian Mark Spearman in third, after two races in extremely light, shifty conditions at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Manly. 'The first race I stuffed up like yesterday as well,' Brown said.

'It was shifting everywhere and much lighter than earlier in the week. It was very easy to get buried back in the pack. I started off really well in the qualifying stuff then Gold Fleet didn’t really go as planned.'

Luckily for Brown his fellow competitors also had inconsistent results in the tough conditions which lead to a massive reshuffle of the leader board yesterday and helped him keep the top spot. Krystal Weir moved into second overall after a strong finish to the series with two fourths today.

'I did pretty well in both races. I was looking really good to take the regatta then I went around the wrong gate mark at the bottom and a couple of the boys got in front of me. Tristan matched raced me the whole way around the course. I had to deal with that the whole time so it was pretty difficult.'

Tom Burton won the Standard Fleet after a ninth and a first today. 'It was pretty stressful the whole day but even after the race I wasn’t that excited. I knew that if I came in the top five and Ashley Brunning won I’d still be safe. I got a good start and wasn’t sure if anyone was over. It’s good to do back to back national titles.'

Second place overall went to Ryan Palk who had a consistent day with a 13th (which dropped) and a second. Ashley Brunning didn’t make the comeback he had hoped after a disappointing day placing fifth and a DNF but he still managed to hold onto third overall. In the 4.7 rig Jack Felsenthal officially won in his fleet after already having low enough points yesterday to not need to sail today.

'It’s a great feeling, it’s my second nationals win.' (The other being the in the Minow class in 2009.)

Jack is now looking forward to two days off before he starts the OAMPS Insurance Brokers Australian Youth Championship, also being held at RQYS. 'It will be a good regatta. Two day break isn’t that long so I’ll just take it easy.'

Final race results at RQYS website