PLSC RSA Regatta - Strong Laser fleet compete on Panmure Lagoon

by Chantal Grass on 13 Mar 2016 The 39th RSA Regatta was held on the challenging waters of Panmure Lagoon.

They came from far and wide, Taipa to the North and Ohope to the South as well as Whangarei, Waikato and Auckland with one sailor coming from the UK making up a strong fleet of 41 Lasers split into 30 standards and 11 Radials.

The wind gods settled in with winds up to 8 knots from the East making for some highly tactical close racing. First start landed up as a general recall as boats charged over the line before the start gun but Garth Briden and Jock Bilger, our race officers gathered in the exuberant jockeys sending them gallivanting on their way with a successful restart. Four races were held in these moderate but tricky winds requiring a fair chunk of concentration to out manoeuvre the agile fleet.

The winner for the day was Andrew Childs from Taipa Sailing Club in the Standard rig, he had travelled down four hours on the day to pick up the coveted trophy which he missed out on last year. He was followed closely by Luke Deegan from SSANZ and David Giles from Weir Wood Sailing Club in the UK. The Radials was won by PLSC’s very own Kevin Welsh, Roger Winton from Onerahi Yacht Club was second and third as well as 1st Junior Radial was Loic Eisenring from PLSC, with the Radial Women’s fleet taken out by PLSC’s Shaaron McKee.

The day ended with a BBQ and lamb on the spit followed by prize giving.

Thanks must go to all our sponsors whom help to make this an extraordinary successful Regatta. We thank RSA for donating all the trophies as well as Waipuna, CRC, PredictWind, Auckland Seaplanes, Burnsco, Survitec Group, The Water Shed, Red Carpet Tours, Auckland Marine, Joy Adams Sail Repair, NZ SailingNet, FlyaJet, Sugarcrafts, YMCA and Auckland Maritime Museum for generously supporting our club by donating some amazing prizes for the sailors to take home.

Thanks again to our sponsors for supporting our RSA Regatta. Thanks must also go to all the members who helped out on the day.