Steady light winds at World Laser Masters
by Mike Pasco on 20 Feb 2008
Gun Kiwi sailor Murray Thom leads a pack in the Master fleet - Laser Master Worlds 2008 SW
Light steady breezes allowed all the scheduled races to take place today and lighter sailors enjoyed the conditions with the waves on the reach and the run lots of fun.
The Standard Rig Laser fleets sailed first today and the Apprentice Master fleet started first, followed by the Master fleet which has been split into two fleets of 45 for qualifying into gold and silver fleets. The Grand Masters start last in a fleet of 54 boats. Once the Standard fleets had finished the Radial fleets are called on the water for their 2 races.
Rohan Lord had a great day in the Apprentice Master fleet with a 3 & 2 to leave him second overall behind defending Champion Brett Beyer from AUS who won both races today. Luuk Van Basten Batenburg is the next best placed kiwi with a good race and a not so good race today leaving him 14th overall.
Murray Thom was happy with his day in the Standard Master division with a 5 & 3 and made sure that his fleet had a nice clear race track for their first race. The 50 boat Apprentice Masters fleet had started first so he managed to engineer 3 General Recalls before his Masters fleet started. Its very risky to do this at the Masters Worlds as all the starts are Black flags but the Jedi Master managed to sneak a look at the start boat after each general recall and his number wasn't up on the board of boats disqualifed so he kept working it until he was happy to start! Colin Caldwell was one of the NZL sailors to collect the Black Flag penalty. Murray lies 4th overall with Peter Van Ryn 7th and Nick Page, with a 2nd and a 13th today, lying 10th overall.
In the Standard Great Grand Master fleet, Bob Blakey had a good second race coming 7th and Peter Griffiths would have done better today but swam in the first race although he still managed 21st out of 54 and with his 11th in the second race he leads the Kiwis at 13th overall one place ahead of Ray Beale.
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