Dan Slater reports on Day 6 of the 2015 Laser Worlds in Kingston

by Dan Slater, The Water Shed on 9 Jul 2015 Dan Slater, of The Water Shed, is coaching at the 2015 Laser Worlds. He files this report from the final day of the regatta:

Day 6 Laser Worlds - New World Champion Nick Thompson for GBR

Well done Nick Thompson, the man who has been second and third in the Laser Worlds on numerous occasions has finally prised the monkey off his back, and won the 2015 Laser Worlds with a classy performance.

After a win in the final race Germany's Philipp Buhl went into second overall, passing Australian Tom Burton. Both these guys have sailed some very impressive races in very testing conditions.

Other top performers where the two Kiwis Sam Meech and Andy Maloney who in Race 1 today finished first and second but where consistent across the week.

To me, this was the best I have seen these two guys sail for a long time - both tactically and technically.

The other Team, who again is under the guidance of some of the world's best former Laser sailors, is the Australian team who showed some fantastic skills. They are by far the best Nation with two in the top five and another in 11th - who also sailed an amazing final series.

So what do we make out of this years top 10?

1 - They are all part of a bigger training team and not just a coach and one sailor program.

2 - Nine out of 10 all sailed in the last regatta prior the Worlds in Weymouth and the guys who decided not to go, and trained elsewhere - such as the Dutch, Brazil and Italy - all didn’t perform.

3 - Eight 8 out of the 10 also won races in the championship.

Some have asked me what happened to your Dutch team? (Dan is one of the Dutch coaches - Ed)

I think we have a few reasons for not performing - some I can talk about and others I won't discuss. But one reason is that we have a Olympic Trial consists of only two regattas, and although the boys cannot match race, they had their minds on other things.

Last year we had very high instance training, and this year the boys have had a coach each - and it's taken the intensity out for sure.

They both struggled with execution of a plan here - and that comes from training. They both have the skills - and now Nic has a 2 pt lead over Rutger in the Dutch race for Olympic selection at the Europeans late next week.

So thank you for reading and hope to see you at THE WATER SHED for some Laser gear.

I wish all the Master sailors and Youth Radial sailors all the best over the coming weeks for their Worlds.