Laser South Coast and South East Grand Prix at Lancing Sailing Club

The morning started bright and sunny with a light, shifty breeze after a 50mph gale the day before. Luckily the sea had calmed enough for 14 Standards and 5 Radials to launch into Lancing Bay with a forecast of increasing wind which actually never came.

Determined to deliver the scheduled 3 races, RO Barry Goacher, bravely decided not to wait for more pressure, and got racing under way after a short postponement.

Standards

In the standard fleet, Race 1 was recalled, and by the 2nd attempt, the bias of the line had changed. Craig Palmer (Lancing SC) took full advantage to lead at the windward mark, followed by Sean Dwyer (Lancing SC). These two were gradually overhauled and after much place changing, Charlie South (Stokes Bay SC) emerged victorious, followed by Julian Wilkins (Chichester YC) and Guy Noble (Queen Mary SC).

In race 2 Charlie South led all the way. Sean Dwyer had a good first beat to round second, but was again overhauled, this time by Stuart Hudson (Spinnaker and Keyhaven) and Oliver Bush (Weirwood SC).

Charlie South didnt need to compete in race 3, but obviously enjoying the tricky conditions, did so and won again, this time followed by John Curran (Wembley SC) and Stuart Hudson, whose 3rd place was enough to give him second overall ahead of Julian Wilkins.

Radials

In the Radial fleet, race 1 saw David Trout (Lancing SC) open up a healthy lead at the first windward mark, only to lose nearly all of it on the second beat to the boats that went to the right of course and found more wind. He was eventually overtaken by Karen McGrath (Lancing SC) who held her lead on the short beat to the finish, followed by Trout with Ian Aldridge (Lancing SC) close behind in 3rd.

Race 2 was more about angles than pressure and resulted in a tussle between Ian Aldridge and Miles Vidler (Crawley Mariners YC and Weirwood SC). David Trout had a good first beat but forgot the upwind gate and had to reach back to it. Vidler held off Aldridge to win, with Charlotte Videlo (Frensham Pond SC) coming in 3rd.

Race three saw a change in tide direction which added some spice to the racing. David Trout followed Miles Vidler around the windward mark on lap one and found a bit more speed on the reach to take the lead. He held this to the finish followed by Aldridge and V idler who were separated by about half a second.

Overall Results: