Laser SB3 Grand Prix- Round 4 - Lymington

by Rachel Nuding on 11 Jul 2007 The final event of the Laser SB3 Volkswagen Touareg Grand Prix series took place in Lymington over the weekend of the 7 and 8 July.

Hosted by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, the conditions were almost perfect, 15 – 20 knots of breeze, sunshine and 120 keen sailors all trying to stop the winning streak of the European champion Geoff Carveth sailing ‘Palava’. But to no avail, Geoff won four of the six races.

Champagne sailing conditions greeted the competitors on Saturday morning and Principal Race Officer, Roger Wilson, sent them off on a two lap 1.2 mile course. A big wind-shift when the boats were coming into the first mark kept everyone on their toes, but Toby Litton sailing ‘Speed’ stayed in front to take the first line honours of the day.

The Royal Lymington’s new committee boat had its first encounter with an SB3 on the second race, but that didn’t stop Geoff taking his first win of the weekend. Another wind-shift after the second race saw the committee boat moving further inshore and the entire course relayed in a very respectable 20 minutes.

Race three once again saw Geoff Carveth in the lead, hotly pursued by Catherine Summerhayes and the all-girl crew in ‘Team Maclaren’.

Sunday brought more sunshine but for the first time in what seems like weeks, no wind. After an hour’s postponement, the fourth race had the fleet champing at the bit and consequently there was a general recall. They all behaved with the black flag hoisted and a tactical race with the tide split the fleet in two. Once again Carveth led them around the course, again with Team Maclaren in hot pursuit.

John Outhwaite in ‘Baloo’ notched up his best score of the weekend for race five which once again saw the fleet taking different sides of the course. The black flag rule was still in place for race six and saw Dominic Akers-Douglas in ‘Sybarite’ and Rory Barr in ‘Silverback’ taking an early bath. Geoff again led the pack with Catherine snapping at his heels.

Whyte & Mackay Earls Court Boat Show generously sponsored bottles of whiskey for the first three in each race. Carveth and crew managed five, Team Maclaren had four and Team Touareg three!

Praise for the Race Committee came from many competitors at the prize giving. The entire race management was slick, with good start lines, marks moved when necessary and clear signaling giving the competitors fair and exciting racing.

The presence of an on-the-water judge each day gave the competitors less time in the protest room and more time in the bar and thanks must go to the weather God who gave everyone such beautiful conditions.

Laser SB3 final overall positions

1 3053 Palava Geoff Carveth / Ben Oakley / Sarah Allan / Emma Clarke 7
2 3031 Team Maclaren Catherine Summerhayes / Barbara Watson / Sacha Oswald / Christina Summerhayes 12
3 3200 Team Touareg Crag Burlton / Adam Heeley 18
4 3037 Tack Tick Russell Peters / George Yeoman / Rob Struckett 31
5 3144 Synchro Andy Rodwell / Jonny Alison / Hywel Poole 31
6 3057 Baloo John Outhwaite 33
7 3082 Badger Racing Paul Lovejoy / Chris Hamel / James Lund-Lack 33
8 3269 Champagne Blonde Daniel Geoghegan / Charles Cumbley / Adam Knibb / David Giles 36
9 3017 Doolalli Colin Simonds / Ed Simonds / Justin Eveleigh 39
10 3010 SPEED Toby Litton / Alan Bell 41
11 3032 Rumbleflurg David Cummins / Jo Peart / Sue Antonelli / Martin Vinson 57
12 3156 Black Pig Pauline McCracken / Jason Pyke / Andrew Bansey 58
13 3221 Silverback Rory Barr / Steve Wilkinson / Paul Vernon 59
14 3318 Grey Goose Bruce Huber / Charles Nicholson / Neil McGrigor 65
15 3016 Saboteur Quintin O'Neill / Paul Wiseman 69
16 3163 Joules Argo II Alec Russell / Ed Mandasyde-Dick / Claire Paramore 73
17 3169 Woosterstock Luke Wooster / Luke Bradley / Andrew Yates 78
18 3055 Bish Bash Bosh Roger Hexton / John Shorrock / Peter Christie 80
19 3132 The Baron Ben Williamson / Oliver Quarmby 80
20 3215 Sail Navy Joe Henry / Matt Page / Sara Hellawall 104
21 3096 Red Kite Roger Harford / Tim Bigg / Mark West 104
22 3305 Bucephalus William Evans / Robert Evans / Alex Tilley 105
23 3056 Scoundrel The Third Peter Smithin / Paul Foddy 111
24 3104 Sybarite Dominic Akers-Douglas / Adam Gosling / James Wardle 111
25 3146 Bathstore Tim Cork / Mark Cockerill 113
26 3058 No Name Andrew Jones / Edward Parsons / Tony Hanlon 118
27 3078 Camel Pie Mark Cam / Fiona Frankling 120
28 3080 Millgate Homes Ann Jackson / Katie Haighton / Simon Haighton / Alan Skeens 124
29 3136 Slo-Mo-Shun Iain Chidgey / Ian Hudson / Richard Pelley 127
30 3177 Hot Pants Mike Wood / Alex Phillips 128
31 3067 Holligan Daniel Hawkins / Simon Jackson / Martin Gray 129
32 3110 Flippet Jonathan Blanshard / Christian Chilcott / Mark Longden / Hugo Blanshard 133
33 3224 Whizz Bang Nick Wright / Tom Day / Dom Greeves 139
34 3012 Barbarian Benjamin Sturges / John Elder 142
35 3267 Heart of Gold Tom Hayhoe / Natalie Sobling / Sue Clutton 143
36 3289 Twerk Martin Lossie / Jamie Pidduck 173
37 3242 Trio Gary Baker / Nick Bashford / Gareth Griffiths 190

Further information at: www.lasersb3.com